num_pages: 400
description: We find ourselves between a rock and a hot placecompelled by the intertwined forces of peak oil and climate change to reinvent our economic life at a much more local and regional scale. The Resilience Imperative argues for a major SEE (social ecological economic) change as a prerequisite for replacing the paradigm of limitless economic growth with a more decentralized cooperative steady-state economy.The authors present a comprehensive series of strategic questions within the broad areas of:Energy sufficiencyLocal food systemsInterest-free financingAffordable housing and land reformSustainable community developmentEach section is complemented by case studies of pioneering community initiatives rounded out by a discussion of transition factors and resilience reflections.With a focus on securing and sustaining change this provocative book challenges deeply embedded cultural assumptions. Profoundly hopeful and inspiring The Resilience Imperative affirms the possibilities of positive change as it is shaped by individuals communities and institutions learning to live within our ecological limits.Michael Lewis is the executive director of the Center for Community Enterprise and is well-known internationally as a practitioner author educator and leader in the field of community economic development.Patrick Conaty is an honorary research fellow at the University of Birmingham and a director of Common Futures. Since 1999 he has worked for the new economics foundation (nef) where he has produced a wide range of publications about predatory lending financial inclusion community land trusts and social venture finance.
language: English
title: The Resilience Imperative: Cooperative Transitions to a Steady-state Economy
publisher: New Society Publishers