The men and women of the United States were once builders of boats, weavers
of fabric, turners of pots, crafters of furniture, keepers of bees,
operators of mills, welders of steel, creators of new technologies, and in
general makers of the goods used in America . Entranced by the doctrine of
efficiency of scale, bulging corporations merged, closed plants, moved
production outside the U.S. , and effected a loss of regional manufacturing
skills.
We have skipped a generation in the continuity of these skills, but they are
still in our cultural memory. Our grandfathers and grandmothers even now
relate stories of the local seamstress, butcher, mechanic, mason, distiller,
logger, and how together they shaped the complexity of the community. The
processes of production were more visible, and young people aspired to fill
those positions.
To build stable regional economies in the U.S. and create an example for
sustainable development in other countries will require regaining dying
skills, especially in production of the basic necessities of food, clothing,
shelter, and energy. It will mean rebuilding a manufacturing
infrastructure, re-establishing technical schools, and recommitting to the
purchase of locally made goods. Jane Jacobs used the phrase "import
replacement" when describing this strategy‹smaller batches, more jobs, less
transportation, greater complexity, without more goods. A sound goal for a
new economy.
In their report "The Great Transition" our London partners at the New
Economics Foundation (neweconomics.org) identify re-skilling the work force
as a priority for achieving a diverse and sustainable economy (see text at
end of this email).
This is the fifth in a series of emails from the New Economics Institute
(NEI) drawing on the work of the New Economics Foundation (nef). NEI
emerged in 2010, building on the thirty-year history of the E. F. Schumacher
Society in the Berkshires region of Massachusetts with especially close ties
to nef in the UK . The New Economics Institute also looks forward to
introducing its friends to the work and thinking of members of NEI's
extraordinary Board of Directors, its Advisory Board, and others who seek to
bring about a socially and environmentally just and sustainable world.
At this juncture we especially want to mention Tellus Institute in Boston ,
Massachusetts , whose core mission is "Advancing the transition to a
sustainable, equitable, and humane global civilization — a Great
Transition." This work began in 1995, and since 2005 has been the central
theme of Tellus. We encourage you to visit their website,
http://www.tellus.org/programs/greattransitioninitiative.html.
Best wishes,
Susan Witt and Stephan Crown-Weber
Berkshire Office and Library
New Economics Institute
140 Jug End Road
Great Barrington , MA 01230
Board of Directors: Gar Alperovitz, Jessica Brackman, Eric Harris-Braun,
John Fullerton, Neva Goodwin, Hildegarde Hannum, Dan Levinson, Richard
Norgaard, David Orr, Will Raap, Gus Speth, Peter Victor, and Stewart Wallis.
Advisory Board: Peter Barnes, Merrian Fuller, Bill McKibben, Otto Scharmer,
Doug Tompkins, and Robert Wade.
*****************************************
"The Great Re-skilling continues the emphasis on re-localization, starting
from the position that greater local production will require us to relearn
many skills that have been forgotten. From agriculture to manufacturing to
the provision of local finance, returning to appropriate scale means
equipping ourselves with the means to do so. Becoming less passive in terms
of consumption and production we will start to regain our autonomy, which
will extend to culture and arts, where we see the beginning of a
life-enhancing renaissance. This is not the case only for the economy and
for the arts, however; local decision-making based on active participation
will be most effective when people are well informed about what makes their
local economy tick and what makes public services able to achieve the best
outcomes. Achieving consensus requires as full an understanding of these
issues as possible."
To read the full report go to:
