Inspiration Feed 01.08

currency design, solar energy, giving directly, cuban coops & more…
links selection  – 08.jan.15

The lot of the currency designer
By Graham Barnes (resilience.org)

Just as in the 1930s there are large numbers of clever and committed people working on currency alternatives and monetary reform. So how come we still have dysfunctional systems? There are two major differences between the situation in the 1930s and now that may give us a perverse hope. One is the wide availability of the Internet; the other is the clear and present danger of imminent converging environmental crises.”

How Solar Power Could Slay the Fossil Fuel Empire by 2030
By Nafeez Ahmed (vice.com)

In the end we’ll have to wake up to the impossibility of endless economic growth. Even with very cheap, zero carbon energy, we can’t have endless growth nor human progress defined by shopping.” “as the old energy paradigm dies, in its ruins, the opportunities for a new post-industrial paradigm are emerging faster than anyone anticipated.”

Is It Nuts to Give to the Poor Without Strings Attached?
By Jacob Goldstein (nytimes.com)

GiveDirectly’s work is an attempt to test one of the simplest ideas in economics — that people know what they need, and if they have money, they can buy it. Taken to its logical conclusion, this suggests that giving away money may often be more helpful to people than giving them cows, or medicine, or training or whatever. “This puts the choice in the hands of the poor, and not me,” Michael Faye, one of GiveDirectly’s co-founders told me. “And the truth is, I don’t think I have a very good sense of what the poor need.”

Cuba is Using Cooperatives to Decentralize its Economy
By Cat Johnson (shareable.net)

There are now almost 500 non-agricultural worker coops in Cuba ranging from beauty salons and auto repair shops to transportation companies and technical services” “people are accustomed to relying on the state for their livelihoods. A context of ownership culture needs to be created.”

Are Economic Growth and Social Justice Incompatible?
By Jason Hickel and Alnoor Ladha (truth-out.org)

We have a model of economic growth that is in fact profoundly destructive.”

* weekly inspiration illustration by Ilan Katin