It would be very easy to establish and run The Simpler Way – if that was what we wanted to do. It does not involve complicated technology and it does not require solutions to difficult technical problems, such as how to get a fusion reactor to work. lt does not require vast bureaucracies or huge […]

The first thing everyone can do is to talk about these issues as much as possible. We urgently need to get the limits analysis of our situation and the desirability of The Simpler Way onto the agenda of public attention. But the most effective contribution will be to initiate in our localities some of the […]

The third essential characteristic of the alternative way is that it must be very commu­nal, participatory and cooperative. Firstly, we must share many things. We could have a few stepladders, electric drills etc. in the neighbourhood workshop, as distinct from one in every house. Many goods and services would be produced by cooperatives. We would […]

The political situation would be very different compared with today. There would be genuine participatory democracy. This would be made possible by the smallness of scale, and it would be vitally necessary. Big centralised governments could not run our many small and wildly different localities. That could only be done by the people who live […]

The Simpler Way is not opposed to modern technology. In fact there will be more resources available for research and development of the things that matter, such as better medical services and windmill design, than there are now, when the vast sums presently wasted on unnecessary products, and arms, cease being spent. However it is […]

These changes cannot be made while we retain the present economic system. The fundamental principle in a satisfactory economy would be to apply the available productive capacity to producing what all people need for a good life, with as little resource consumption, work and waste as possible, in ecologically sustainable ways. Our present economy operates […]

In a satisfactory society the basic economic priorities must be decided by discussion and debate and deliberate, rational decision. Chapter 10 emphasised that market sys­tems cannot meet the most urgent needs or produce just or ecologically sustainable development, because they inevitably allocate resources to the highest bidder. It is axiomatic that if there are to […]

Above all, these strategies will enable us to ensure that all have a livelihood. This is of central importance. The conventional economy sees no problem in allowing those who are most rich and powerful to take or destroy the business, markets and liveli­hoods of others, and thus accumulate to a few the wealth that was […]