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This is the second part of a conversation between Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org and Jem Bendell, professor of sustainability leadership at the University of Cumbria, and author of the now famous 2018 Deep Adaptation paper that claimed that we’re on an inevitable path to civilisational collapse. Read more

Microfibre pollution and wastewater? What can be done? Read more

A growing question for environmentalists is the extent to which the existential threat we face means that countries and populations should be forced to reduce consumption, and hence whether an authoritarian politics is the best way to face the future. Read more

If a fair share of the planet is a couple of ‘useful’ global hectares per individual, the planet could sustain about 10 billion people living primitively. Read more

12 easy ways to make your laundry eco-friendly. Read more

This is the latest in a series of articles documenting our group’s attempts to build the commons economy in Stroud, in a way that can be implemented in other towns, and connected together to build the foundations of a new, commons economy. It covers what we’ve done so far, and how people can get involved. Read more

Read about the importance of street trees and one group’s mission to make sure their role in our life is recognised. Read more

This article from Tom Greco contains the basics of what you need to know about money, currency, credit and exchange. Read more

Today (August 2nd) is Earth Overshoot day. Not heard of this? It means that between January 1st and August 2nd our use of Earth’s resources is equivalent to what it can regenerate in a year. Our demand on nature exceed it’s biocapacity. Sadly, since 1971 this date has crept forward as we continue to live… Continue reading Earth Overshoot day and the importance of low impact living Read more

Following on from a recent post by Tom Greco, on the essential nature of money, Dil Green of Lowimpact.org and Mutual Credit Services here talks about its apparent scarcity, how that negatively affects our communities and our well-being, and how it could be different – based on mutual credit and the commons economy. Read more

An easy to follow recipe for homemade lipbalm that will protect your lips this autumn. Read more

Part 1 of an interview with Julian Jones, a water engineer and distinguished fellow of the Schumacher Institute, about building a water commons for Stroud. Read more

A resistance festival of free workshops and music is taking place at Monkton Wyld Court, nr Lyme Regis. This is in support of the community that has run Monkton Wyld Court for the last fifteen years, and is now threatened by incoming charity trustees. Monkton Wyld Court is the site of a microdairy which dates… Continue reading Resistance Festival to help save Monkton Wyld Court Read more

Convert your washing machine to pedal power! Read more

Bridport Cohousing launches a range of natural build courses. Read more

part 2 of an interview (see video below for more details – well worth it!) with Julian Jones, a water engineer and distinguished fellow of the Schumacher Institute, who has worked and provided consultancy for water companies, NGOs, the Environment Agency, universities and governments. Read more

Water is the ubiquitous precondition for life on Earth. The great hydrological cycle, which passes through us, as much as through any river, cloud, or ocean, encompasses the living soil, plants and animals. The Gaian system is one, unified, watery, cycle. Water is essential to the functioning of our bodies, and to linking all living… Continue reading Hydrological Democracy Read more

Modern industrial cheesemaking uses a bunch of electricity and single-use plastic, but there are ways to go back to basics and make beautiful cheeses using homemade cultures and off-grid cheese aging setups. In this article I’ll look at several aspects of cheesemaking, and how to approach each one in a low impact way. Milk Milk… Continue reading Low Impact Cheesemaking Read more

Llandeilo commons: invitation to join a formative group and public event in West Wales. Read more

The Farmers Land Trust is diversifying participation in our food system and helping to create stronger communities that can not only survive the land, climate, and social injustices of the world, but can thrive while helping to heal them. Learn more about the work of The Farmers Land Trust and the Farmland Commons. Read more

We’re following the exploits of Stroud Commons, in trying to build a commons economy for the town, and helping groups to launch in other towns. As well as a core group, there are now groups forming for various sectors of the economy, including housing, energy, land/food/water, community spaces – and now, climbing! Read more

Why we need to replace capitalism with a commons economy; who will do it and how. Read more

Andy Reynolds author, instructor, experimenter, forester, and long term promoter of low impact and self reliant living has partnered with lowimpact.org to release an updated version of his popular book ‘Wind and Solar Electricity: A practical DIY guide’. Read more

Can you have a low impact Halloween? Read on for some tips for a sustainable Halloween that will save you money and be low impact! Read more

This is a draft outline of a design for an energy commons in any town – an energy sector owned by communities, providing affordable, locally-generated, renewable energy. Read more

Every neighbourhood had a friendly society. At their height, just before WW1 9 million people were members of friendly societies in the UK! Read more

Read about the progress with a self-build project from RUSS in Ladywell. Shaped by future residents from the start. Read more

I read the first edition of this book around 12 years ago. It changed my life and put me on the path to where I am now – trying to build the commons economy. New 2024 edition, free online. Read more

Autumn has always been my favourite season, and over recent years it brings additional succour, signalling time to start preparing in earnest for the winter’s Deeper Dive. This now-annual tradition has become a real highlight of my year, as a new small group capped at just fifty folk gathers to reflect meaningfully on our tumultuous times,… Continue reading Surviving the future: The deeper dive 2024 Read more

We’d like to see the commons economy grow to allow people (especially young people) to stay in their communities, rather than having to move to big cities to work in the corporate sector and pay extortionate rents. Here, Paul Jennings (who we’re liaising with about the commons in Llandeilo) talks about the concept of ‘Restanza’… Continue reading Restanza and the cultural commons Read more

A simple recipe for home made surface cleaner using natural ingredients. Read more

Are you sick of having to always use corporate software, that uses your data to track your activities, to try to sell you things, and who knows what else? Read more

Commons ideas have gone down well in Stroud and we have thriving groups in various sectors. We’ve been approached by formative groups in several towns in the UK and in other countries. Read more

Rhubarb – one of the easiest, almost indestructable perennial plants. Read more

How can strawbale construction support a low carbon lifestyle? Read more

The word ‘commons’ can mean different things to different people. We’ve been working with specialists to help build the commons economy, so we’d like to concisely describe what we mean, and how you can join us. Read more

In Brett Scott’s blog post, The War on Informality, he talks about his impressions of London after some time away, how it’s becoming more and more difficult to escape surveillance capitalism, and how it’s seeping into every area of Londoners’ lives. Read more

Keeping active has huge benefits for physical helath – and walking and cycling are the perfect low impact exercise. Read more

Landworkers Alliance (LWA) launched its brand new report “Horticulture Across Four Nations” at a panel discussion at the Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC). Read more

Far from being an expensive or exclusive hobby, organic gardening is a brilliant way to buffer the cost-of-living crisis, allowing you to grow fresh, cheap and abundant food close to home, while at the same time nurturing nature. Read more

We were invited to give a presentation at the Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution on Jan 9th. Here’s the transcript and slides. Read more

At this time of year Nature appears to be still, sleeping perhaps. It’s a quiet month for gardeners and foragers alike but those who take time to look a little closer are delightfully rewarded with sweet promises of Spring Read more

Beautiful article by El Habib Ben Amara on how development is desertifying ancient ksars (fortified oases) in north Africa, and what we can do about it. Read more

Home compost is a great source of mulch for your garden, it will improve your soil over time. Read more

The climate crisis is real and is having an impact on our life now. Read ways that we can help you and fight that anxiety. Read more

Hear from Mark from Vertical Veg about how you can grow a fresh salad at home in small space! Read more

Support the lowimpact community – help sustain our site and continue our membership. Read more

A Festival of Commoning in the UK: Stroud, Gloucestershire, September 13/14/15 2024. The time is right for a Festival of the Commons. Read more

El Habib Ben Amara, an architect and urban designer from a tribal ksar (fortified oasis) in Algeria, who’s been working with a partner of ours. He’s an activist against desertification and one of the foremost authorities on sustainable water management in the Sahara. Read more

I was invited to be interviewed about the commons and mutual credit for a show on the radio station ‘Voice of Islam’ called ‘Beyond Capitalism: Mutual Economics’. Read more

We’ve put out requests for help before – in blog articles, at public events and via word of mouth. And they worked. In Stroud, we now have a core group of 10 people and three sector groups – housing commons, land common and leisure commons, with 8-10 people each. Read more

Once famed as a green and pleasant land for its verdant and varied habitat, the UK now ranks as one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. This comes as no surprise to those with an interest in the countryside who have witnessed what has happened to it. Compounding the corruptions of big business… Continue reading What’s happening to hedgerows in 2024? Read more

Creating white willow involves a number of processes and a large amount of specialist knowledge and skill. A mixture of patience and haste is also required. Some stages take a great deal of time while for others speed is of the essence. Read more

Dil Green is a founder member of Mutual Credit Services, who are working with Stroud Commons to design models for the commons economy for various sectors of the economy. This article first appeared on his blog 5 years ago, but it’s so relevant to the current commons movement, that we’re re-posting it here. Read more

The commons is a movement to create a different world, not just the same system with a few tweaks to make it more bearable. If successful, obviously there will be entities out there that will try to undermine it, buy it and ultimately, to crush it. But there are aspects to the commons model that will, I think, make it more resistant to this than existing models. Read more

Hear about the building of, and ongoing use of, a compost toilet in Brazil. Read more

There’s huge overlap between the principles of agroecology and of commoning, and growth in the commons movement could mean a shift towards agroecology and away from damaging industrial agriculture. Read more

We’re building a housing commons in Stroud, and recording everything so that it’s replicable in any town. We’re finalising our partnership agreement, after which we’ll put the first house in the commons. Read more

The catastrophic problems of privatised English water companies are well known. Sewerage function and drinking water supply are now more deficient than even before privatisation. Terminal failure was in-built from the start, within the cultural, operational, & regulatory processes applied. Correcting these foundational criteria can help inform the quickest resolution. Read more

Permaculture teacher and forest gardener Tomas Remiarz reviews two of the best books that he’s read recently: Entangled Life and the Medicinal Forest Garden Handbook Read more

Dave Darby of Stroud Commons and Lowimpact.org talks with Rosie Bristow and Nick Evans of Fantasy Fibre Mill, working to resurrect the flax / linen industry in the UK, as a commons. Read more

How likely is financial collapse? Matthew Slater, blogger and co-author of the Credit Commons white paper, looks into it: Read more

Will Ruddick of Grassroots Economics talks about the French mutual aid tradition of Corvées. Read more

This is Part 1 of a two-parter, about how the housing crisis causes debt-bondage and wage-slavery, and how the housing Commons can release people from debt and give them freedom to do what they know needs to be done. Read more

I was sent a ‘Waterblade’ by Nigel – it fitted onto our bathroom tap easily, and the reason it causes no problems is that it spreads the water out into a thin sheet that actually makes it easier to wash your hands, for example, rather than more difficult. Read more

Our friend Andy is determined to be self-sufficient in energy should there be a collapse of the National Grid (and / or societal collapse), and has maintained a wind and solar electrical system with a bank of second-hand forklift batteries for 25 years. Read more

This is the second article generated from Mark Boyle’s book Drinking Molotov Cocktails with Gandhi. The first was about the ineffectiveness of reformism when faced with corporate capitalism – ‘The Machine’ as he calls it. Read more

There are many ideas out there on how to change the world – but very few include a strategy for implementing those ideas. Implementation is key. I had a conversation the other day with Roger Hallam, who used to be involved with Radical Routes, has lived in various communities and now Read more

Landmatters co-op is a low impact community in Devon. We’re seeking letters of support for a new round of planning application. Letters of support are invaluable commendations and hugely boosting for a project’s prospects – and morale.  Read more

A week ago, we posted about a large, 50-room Victorian mansion with lodge house, stable block, the largest walled garden we’ve ever seen, and 21 acres of woodland that was up for sale on the Worcestershire / Shropshire border. Read more

I’m beginning to think that we could actually win this struggle against TTIP – the latest in the corporate strategy to undermine democracy. Yesterday, ‘Business Against TTIP’ launched – no corporations involved, obviously, but Read more

Investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS) have been around for over fifty years. Originally meant to protect investors from losses due to government actions – what may have seemed a good idea at the time has spiralled out of control Read more

Not far from Worcester is a stunning Grade II mansion house, 50+ rooms, stable blocks, 2-bed detatched gatehouse, 21 acres of woodland plus huge walled garden. Lowimpact.org, plus other like-minded organisations, would like to secure it as an intentional community Read more

How to hitchhike / A guide to hitchhiking for beginners (anybody) / The rules of hitching. Call it what you will, this post is intended to provide useful advice for anybody who wants it. Read more

Sometimes, when I’m sitting in front of my laptop screen, I forget how many great people there are out there doing wonderful things, and it’s easy to believe that we’re never going to get rid of this damaging system, and that it will eventually damage ecology so much Read more

I’m at the Real Farming Conference in Oxford, and I’m writing this as a session on GM food is taking place. I’m sorry to have missed it, but I fell into a conversation until it was too late to join the session. However, I know someone who attended that session, and she’ll hopefully write a… Continue reading Live from the Real Farming Conference: why genetically-engineered food is about politics not science Read more

I’m blogging from the Real Farming Conference in Oxford, in Oxford Town Hall. This is the seventh annual conference, set up as a counter to the corporate farming conference running at the university in Oxford. I wasn’t expecting such a huge affair – 850 attendees, with some fantastic sessions. Read more

A new report from the US Department of Agriculture assesses the potential effects of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on farmers. It’s pretty difficult to decipher, but our position is that we don’t want an increase in Transatlantic trade when it comes to agriculture. Read more

We bought a house with a demolition order on it, not something that many people will do, then we rebuilt it, not something many people will do, and we always repair stuff, not something that many people will do – you get the idea. Read more

Recently I hosted a radio show where I asked the question What Does Your Allotment Mean to You?, what was interesting was just like the many approaches to growing your own, there were just as many reasons for doing so. Read more

This was a very challenging and thought-provoking read. Mark lived without money for three years, and wrote the Moneyless Manifesto, published in 2012. This is his latest book about the corporate ‘Machine’ and appropriate responses to it. Read more

Promoters of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) claim it’s good for all business, but is this really true?  The European Commission (EC) and the USA say it will especially help SME businesses (small and medium-sized enterprises), not just multinationals. Read more

Ah, Žižek – he’s so weird, often quite inaccessible and yet so right about almost everything. Below is a video in which he is very accessible, and as usual, right. Read more

Today, Christians all over the world celebrate the birth of their prophet. We’re not sure of the date of Jesus’s birth or even whether he definitely existed – but that’s not the important point. The important point is his message of anti-imperialism and love. Read more

Here’s an article that I came across recently. It was written by Tim Harford, the ‘Undercover Economist’, who points out that physicists are telling economists that economic growth can’t continue forever because of the exponential function Read more

A quick update on Sharenergy-supported projects and share offers. Firstly some great news – the first wind turbine supported by Sharenergy is now up and running in Dingwall Read more

It’s widely believed that we have democracies in the West. We’d like that to be the case, but it’s not – because ultimate power is corporate, not political. By ultimate power, we mean the ability to control the direction in which humanity moves. Read more

This blog is about the house that Charlie and Meg built. It’s a straw-bale roundhouse with a reciprocal roof, built in the countryside where they grew up. The exterior can be seen above, the interior below, with Charlie, Meg and sprog in the middle. Read more

Do you label yourself ‘left’ or ‘right’, or somewhere in the middle? Do you think the Labour party in the UK or the Democrats in the US, are left-wing parties? Or do you have only a vague idea about what those labels mean? Read more

My name is James Dexter and I am one of the new tenants at Greenham Reach which is a low-impact farming project established in north Devon by the Ecological Land Coop  (ELC) Read more

A group of around 15 of us meet one evening a month, for something we call ‘Philosophy Club’. The topic of this month’s meeting, which happened last night, was ‘is it ethical to eat meat?’ Read more

Seven years ago, a handsome builder came on a Lowimpact.org ‘how to make biodiesel’ course at Redfield and stole one of our staff. They now live with three children in Cornwall, in an earth-sheltered house that he built himself on his own land. Read more

How do we develop cycling from a leisure activity to part of everyday life? I recently went for a bicycle ride with my partner along the Camel Trail in North Cornwall. Read more

Our friend Lee has been using a ‘humanure’ compost toilet system, made famous by Joe Jenkins in his book the Humanure Handbook, for over 9 years. I interviewed him to find out how it’s going. Read more

We are in contact with an English man who has a French property but will no longer be able to live there. He’s happy to give it away to someone who will turn it into the kind of eco-home / low-impact smallholding that he intended. Read more

In December 2011, South Africa welcomed the United Nations Framing Convention on Climate Change. The host city was Durban, where a number of years before, and just after his release from prison, Nelson Mandela had Read more

The simple answer is that they don’t have it. They check your credit record, decide you’re OK, type some numbers into a computer and suddenly you owe them a significant portion of your income for 25 years, plus interest. Read more

Our entire lives depend on seed. Almost all of the food we eat starts out as a seed – from the vegetables, fruits and roots we grow, to the bread we bake, the milk we make and even our meat, which comes primarily from animals that live on food grown from seed. Read more

The wonderful Art Ludwig of Oasis Design in the US was asked to design and build an ‘eco-home’ for a client. He wrote a letter to the client to explain that he couldn’t take on the project because green ‘add-ons’ aren’t green at all when tacked on to a house that is too big Read more

In 2012 some households in our village decided to start a pig co-op/club. Living in a Somerset village and with several interested neighbours, one of whom had the space needed, we all got together for an informal meeting Read more