The Preston data has a texture to it. A 9% improvement in life satisfaction. A 2% decline in depression. Not from a wellness program. From changing who an economy buys from.
Like the difference between fluorescent light and morning sun through a window. Same room. Different quality of being alive in it.
The circulation of money is also the circulation of care. When wealth stays local it builds relationships not just infrastructure. Soup should be free economics. Written into law. Working.
Oh is this music to my soul! We are trying here in Singing Bridge — a small community in Vermont where we actually lived this way in the 1970s. We are both remembering and reimagining and making it happen here in the USA — we cannot express how we have been longing for light from across the pond to help us keep bridging and strengthening our models and sharing data points and helping us spark a rural renaissance of sharing and caring communities and helping us get to the other side.
Thanks for this article, Michael 🙏🏻 This is very exciting. Thanks also for the tips on how to get involved in the CWB movement. To my own surprise, I have become very passionate about CWB and have been thinking about how to make this happen where I actually live (which is currently not far from Paris, France…), and the tips are super helpful and have given me ideas.
I “discovered” you 🙃 at ChangeNOW this year (my first time) and I’m really glad I did. Thanks for all the work you’re doing with Better Future Media (including this Substack): I had dreamt for what you’re creating and doing with it 🙏🏻
This is what happens when a nations links its government with its largest demographic, workers and families. And it doesn't even have to be local, so that's even better when it doesn't limit creativity and innovation. The key is ensuring that workers' needs are the priority.
Interesting piece. The Preston example gives the argument substance because it shows tangible improvements rather than abstract theory. I do, however, think the article slightly glosses over how difficult it is to sustain local economic models inside a wider economy still dominated by multinational capital and finance.
Nonetheless, it’s brilliant to read an argument that treats the economy as something politically shaped rather than inevitable. The key question is whether community wealth building can genuinely scale up, or whether it ultimately remains dependent on the very system it’s trying to move beyond.
I am eager and hopeful to see how this plays out! As a Canadian, I wonder how it could work here. Scotland is small in both geographic and population terms, while Canada stretches a whole continent.
I think an option for larger countries (geography or population-wise) could be to focus in on provinces/states/governed regions. I live in Quebec, which is a declared as a "nation within a nation”, (a bit like Scotland, I suppose) and so there is much legislative room for self-determination. We have a lengthy history of more socialist-leaning policies, so jump-starting that conversation here could be fruitful. Montreal actually has the largest Anarchist conference and book fair in North America, and mutual aid is increasingly common in the community.
I’m originally from the Maritimes, the often-forgotten east coast region, and I think they would also greatly benefit from something like this, and we know that our federal government is not currently interested in any of this. In such a case, I see this type of reorientation as a means of giving more economically depressed regions a sense of power and hope.
Interesting news, thanks! Allison McDowell in the early days of the Covid response was one of the few voices pointing out how the 4th Industrial Revolution with financial reset, digital passports and banking, human impact bonds and disaster indices was piggybacking on the new disease protocols. She noted that while other experts were censored for cautioning against lockdowns and experimental health mandates a small group of Ivy League dissidents with conflicts of interest in telehealth, common pass, impact investing, blockchain, behavioral levers, neuroscience and focused protection managed to cobble together a widely celebrated "medical freedom" declaration.. controlled opposition getting their foot in a door that opened from mass noncompliance with disaster capitalism masked as collectivism.. feel good top down measures to further managed degrowth, multipolar world order with global governance. For example, Local Futures org is just UN Agenda 21/30 talking points packaged in grassroots relocalization efforts. Keep this in mind, the fight is just getting started. Thanks for reading!!
The Preston data has a texture to it. A 9% improvement in life satisfaction. A 2% decline in depression. Not from a wellness program. From changing who an economy buys from.
Like the difference between fluorescent light and morning sun through a window. Same room. Different quality of being alive in it.
The circulation of money is also the circulation of care. When wealth stays local it builds relationships not just infrastructure. Soup should be free economics. Written into law. Working.
Love what you’re seeing 🤍 Thanks for the perspective 🙏🏻
Oh is this music to my soul! We are trying here in Singing Bridge — a small community in Vermont where we actually lived this way in the 1970s. We are both remembering and reimagining and making it happen here in the USA — we cannot express how we have been longing for light from across the pond to help us keep bridging and strengthening our models and sharing data points and helping us spark a rural renaissance of sharing and caring communities and helping us get to the other side.
This makes me want to move back to Scotland. Thank you for sharing this with such clarity!
Amongst the plethora of defeatism and victimhood (blaming others), it is so lovely to read a positive article, especially with solutions.
Thanks for this article, Michael 🙏🏻 This is very exciting. Thanks also for the tips on how to get involved in the CWB movement. To my own surprise, I have become very passionate about CWB and have been thinking about how to make this happen where I actually live (which is currently not far from Paris, France…), and the tips are super helpful and have given me ideas.
I “discovered” you 🙃 at ChangeNOW this year (my first time) and I’m really glad I did. Thanks for all the work you’re doing with Better Future Media (including this Substack): I had dreamt for what you’re creating and doing with it 🙏🏻
How excellent this is! Thanks for sharing 🔆
This is what happens when a nations links its government with its largest demographic, workers and families. And it doesn't even have to be local, so that's even better when it doesn't limit creativity and innovation. The key is ensuring that workers' needs are the priority.
NOW WE'RE TALKING!!!!!!
THIS a few other changes and we're on the right track!!!!
Love this!! We need to re-center people in the economy.
This is absolutely fantastic, thanks for alerting me to what I didn’t even realise had happened in my own Country!
Just coming to show some love to my fellow writers on the climate leaderboard! Howdy neighbor!
Interesting piece. The Preston example gives the argument substance because it shows tangible improvements rather than abstract theory. I do, however, think the article slightly glosses over how difficult it is to sustain local economic models inside a wider economy still dominated by multinational capital and finance.
Nonetheless, it’s brilliant to read an argument that treats the economy as something politically shaped rather than inevitable. The key question is whether community wealth building can genuinely scale up, or whether it ultimately remains dependent on the very system it’s trying to move beyond.
Thanx 💚
I am eager and hopeful to see how this plays out! As a Canadian, I wonder how it could work here. Scotland is small in both geographic and population terms, while Canada stretches a whole continent.
I think an option for larger countries (geography or population-wise) could be to focus in on provinces/states/governed regions. I live in Quebec, which is a declared as a "nation within a nation”, (a bit like Scotland, I suppose) and so there is much legislative room for self-determination. We have a lengthy history of more socialist-leaning policies, so jump-starting that conversation here could be fruitful. Montreal actually has the largest Anarchist conference and book fair in North America, and mutual aid is increasingly common in the community.
I’m originally from the Maritimes, the often-forgotten east coast region, and I think they would also greatly benefit from something like this, and we know that our federal government is not currently interested in any of this. In such a case, I see this type of reorientation as a means of giving more economically depressed regions a sense of power and hope.
Interesting news, thanks! Allison McDowell in the early days of the Covid response was one of the few voices pointing out how the 4th Industrial Revolution with financial reset, digital passports and banking, human impact bonds and disaster indices was piggybacking on the new disease protocols. She noted that while other experts were censored for cautioning against lockdowns and experimental health mandates a small group of Ivy League dissidents with conflicts of interest in telehealth, common pass, impact investing, blockchain, behavioral levers, neuroscience and focused protection managed to cobble together a widely celebrated "medical freedom" declaration.. controlled opposition getting their foot in a door that opened from mass noncompliance with disaster capitalism masked as collectivism.. feel good top down measures to further managed degrowth, multipolar world order with global governance. For example, Local Futures org is just UN Agenda 21/30 talking points packaged in grassroots relocalization efforts. Keep this in mind, the fight is just getting started. Thanks for reading!!
Wish them luck its the bane of modern society - Georgist and LVT policies considered?