thanks, Matt, for a great example of how to move in the right direction. At the same time, I think its important to keep in mind that such enterprises are transitions to a steady state economy (which we are far from). Eventually, we will have a much smaller and stable population and material throughput in our economy (by design or disaster). There will be no need for "profit" once living wages are ensured and income covers our needs, both short and long term. Even the good works supported by this enterprise will reach a limit and not require more expansion. At that point, even the small profit they talk about will be unnecessary. I hope any supports they provide to businesses providing basic services discourages profits for those businesses beyond their servicing their communities. Given our advanced state of ecological overshoot, it is essential that we reduce our overall economic activities to a level compatible with biophysical limits. Income to maintain sustainable levels of throughput makes sense. Income for growth which exceeds biophysical limits doesnt. We need to keep that big picture in mind as we struggle with the predicament we've created.
I’m guessing the people that run Coop57 might agree with you.
Very good article. I didn't know about coop57, thank you for enlightening me.
I only knew about SACCOSS which is kind of similar but different
thanks, Matt, for a great example of how to move in the right direction. At the same time, I think its important to keep in mind that such enterprises are transitions to a steady state economy (which we are far from). Eventually, we will have a much smaller and stable population and material throughput in our economy (by design or disaster). There will be no need for "profit" once living wages are ensured and income covers our needs, both short and long term. Even the good works supported by this enterprise will reach a limit and not require more expansion. At that point, even the small profit they talk about will be unnecessary. I hope any supports they provide to businesses providing basic services discourages profits for those businesses beyond their servicing their communities. Given our advanced state of ecological overshoot, it is essential that we reduce our overall economic activities to a level compatible with biophysical limits. Income to maintain sustainable levels of throughput makes sense. Income for growth which exceeds biophysical limits doesnt. We need to keep that big picture in mind as we struggle with the predicament we've created.