Short Circuit: Strengthening Local Economies for Security in an Unstable World

Douthwaite, Richard

ISBN 10: 1874675600 / ISBN 13: 9781874675600

Published by The Lilliput Press Ltd, 1997

About this Item

1997. Paperback. Very good copy with light shelf wear. . . . Signed Copy.

Seller Inventory # KCW0012702

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Short Circuit: Strengthening Local Economies for Security in an Unstable World
• Publisher: The Lilliput Press Ltd
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1874675600
• ISBN 13: 9781874675600
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Very Good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

With the deregulation of international trade and a free movement of capital, the world economy is more unstable than ever and liable to economic collapse. So precarious is it that it should no longer be relied upon to provided all the goods, fuel, food and services we need to live. As unemployment rises in every industrialized country, increasing numbers are excluded from participation in the market economy and face the reality of a world without job security. The solution proferred by Short Circuit is that each community should develop an independent economy capable of restoring full employment to its area and ensuring the supply of goods and services should the mainstream economy collapse. The book demonstrates how this can be done by supplying details of local energy-generation, currency, banking and food-supply systems. It contains case-studies of local communities at work in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and the USA, as well as in Britain and Ireland. Extensively illustrated and referenced, this annotated guide will identify sources of more specific information, and appeal to all concerned with how competitive forces are squeezing the life out of their environment. More broadly, it demonstrates how power can be returned to the community.

Review

" 'Short Circuit' resonates. A vital read for uncertain times.' -- Sara Parkin, Green Party founder and director of Forum for the Future

"A wonderfully irreverent challenge to our obsessions with the market place." -- - Anthony Sampson, author of 'The New Anatomy of Britain'

"Marvellous. Brilliantly written. Challenges the globalisation of the food economy and shows how re-localisation is possible." -- - Prof. Tim Lang

"Short Circuit combines brilliant analysis with straight reporting of the experience of people in areas almost invariably dismissed as 'alternative'. This is a book crammed with stories. There are stories of how people, working within their own communities, have created alternative financial systems, 'parallel financial micro-climates', within which local resources are appropriated, applied and exchanged... It provides a map of reality which is at least as real as the one depicted in the news columns and business pages, but is never acknowledged other than in a tokenistic and condescending way." -- - John Walters, The Irish Times

"Very valuable... the most readable and accurate account of the new money systems I've come across." -- - Michael Linton, developer of Local Exchange Trading Systems LETS