Ken White

The more you connect with other people the more their resources are in your problem-solving process. We have enough. We have enough together, but nobody has enough by themselves.

It’s a fascinating thought experiment, and for many of the Vermonters whose essays are collected in Most Likely to Secede, it’s a viable and urgent project: Why, how, and with what beneficial impact could Vermont secede from the United States, and become a radically local, largely self-sustaining democracy?

We asked environmental activists if they could imagine a world without growth, and how all this uncertainty made them feel and react. Of the 91% who said they had a moderate or strong understanding of the current economic situation, 74% said a return to economic growth would not resolve the situation…

Please forgive us, your elders, for the many sins we have visited upon you. Specifically (for I know the list is long), for failing to foresee the end of growth. Given our quest for infinite growth on a finite planet, we should have seen this coming. And it has come…and, unfortunately, just as you and your peers are entering the work…errr un/der-employment force.

One way or another, most philanthropy and social change efforts assume a growing economy. But what if that assumption no longer holds?

US public education has been retreating into an ever-narrower curriculum for several decades, and the early casualties have been programs that involve kinesthetic experiences and the manipulation of materials: arts, physical education, music, and particularly crafts like woodworking, nutrition and food preparation, drafting, sewing, and metalworking.