Schumacher at Oxford and engineering at Bradford
In mid-September, Oxford University held their annual alumni weekend, where a Schumacher centenary lecture was one of the events on the programme. This was held at Rhodes House, where Schumacher was enrolled as a Rhodes Scholar in 1930. Speaking to a packed house, Dr Donald Markwell, Warden of Rhodes House outlined details of Schumacher’s time at Oxford and his subsequent career, concluding that the Foundation had chosen very well when they selected him as a Scholar.
Schumacher’s daughter, Barbara Wood, author of his biography ‘Alias Papa‘, talked about her father and some of the influences that formed his philosophy and shaped his work.
Other speakers were Practical Action’s Simon Trace, who described how Practical Action is putting Schumacher’s ideas into practice in the developing world. The final speaker was Ann Pettifor of Advocacy International, who talked about the world’s current economic woes and the need to revisit the principles expounded in ‘Small is Beautiful’ to tackle our current crises both financial and environmental.
A lively crowd of science buffs came together on 14th September to discuss how engineers can help tackle poverty in the developing world. This event formed part of the British Science Festival which this year took place in Bradford and was one of a series of events that Practical Action is organising to celebrate the centenary year of our founder, E F Schumacher.
Taking as their starting point Schumacher’s ideas in ‘Small in Beautiful’ published nearly 40 years ago, Simon
Trace of Practical Action and Sacha Grodzinski of Engineers without Borders (EWB), led a lively discussion of technology options for poor communities in the developing world.
Technologies debated included biogas for cooking, animal vaccination programmes and the transport of crops across the mountains of Nepal. The audience were full of ideas and technical wizardry to solve these tricky problems, during a game of technology bingo.
Simon Trace introduced the audience to a range of Practical Action’s work and they were particulaly intrigued by the recipe for lollipops for cows and growing pumpkins on sandbars in Bangladesh.
Sacha Grodzinski then described how EWB harnesses the expertise of engineers from the UK to assist with projects in the developing world. Their programmes enable engineers to volunteer in projects in the developing world which take in account the a sustainable use of natural resources and minimise impact to the local environment by adapting existing low risk technology and using modern engineering methods.
Animated discussions were ongoing as the crowd departed for their next event at this exciting exploration of science and its impact on the world.
No Comments » | Add your commentFrom energy generating shoes…
to water saving showers, we’ve had lots of fabulous designs submitted from students who’ve entered our Small Is…Challenge. The final winning designs, along with others that were shortlisted from primary and secondary schools throughout the UK can be seen on our site.
Sensor shower - saving water and energy
The design challenge was launched to celebrate the centenary year of Practical Action’s founder Fritz Schumacher.
No Comments » | Add your comment100 Small things to make a difference
Our founder Fritz Schumacher believed that even small things could make a big difference to people’s lives. We think so too, so to celebrate his centenary year we have designed a poster to get school students thinking about what small things they could do to make a difference, to their community, their environment and to people in the developing world.
Ideas include
- taking toys to a charity shop so they can be loved all over again
- growing your own vegetables and buying locally sourced food
- refusing to use products that use lots of packaging
- volunteering to help in your local community
- repairing your bike when it brakes; and
- join Practical Action’s energy campaign
There are 90 ‘things’ on the poster and space left for students to add 10 of their own. Divided into the 6Rs of Reduce, Refuse, Recycle, Rethink, Repair, Reuse this FREE large A1 poster is sure to be popular with teachers and students.
Please do take a closer look at the poster and if you would like to request your own copy just email use at schools@practicalaction.org.uk
Why not try some of our small ideas yourself ?
No Comments » | Add your commentHappy Birthday Mr Schumacher
In my house the ritualistic making of tea always causes something of a debate. The traditionalists amongst us prefer a brew from a pot of tea whilst others (myself included) like it best when it’s a single cup (or ‘tea bag tea’) as we call it… (although obviously all tea is tea bag tea!)…
Anyway today whilst at a brilliant training course at the Directory of Social Change in London I spotted that the kitchen stocked a healthy supply of Traidcraft tea bags. And the strap line on the side of the box was ‘small is beautiful’…Clearly the marketers had one cup tea bags in mind (as well as Schumacher’s book of the same name I assume?)
My first thoughts were (and I’m a little ashamed to admit this!) of irritation. “That’s Practical Action’s ethos- you’re stealing it!” I thought, in my naivety. And then after my hot head calmed down and I had a few moments of reflection I was immensely proud that this wonderful idea of Schumacher’s is branded onto an ordinary box of tea.
Schumacher isn’t just on tea – at the moment it seems that everywhere I turn I am coming across people and organisations who have been influenced by his great theories. Tonight I even discovered that the first charity for which I worked (the fabulously revolutionary Reader Organisation) takes some of its thinking from Schumacher’s writings on education.
This year Practical Action is celebrating 100 years since the birth of Schumacher. More than ever I feel so privileged to work for the charity which he founded and so incredibly proud that I can tell the world that small is beautiful was Schumacher’s idea. And that that idea is helping to transform the lives of millions of poor people around the world.
PS – if you’d like to watch Practical Action at the Gadget Show, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbWuTn6kgpw
No Comments » | Add your commentSmall Is…Challenge goes Global
On Global Youth Service Day, April 15, Peace Child International launched Practical Action’s Small Is…Challenge to its worldwide audience.
The content of the challenge remains similiar, for young people to learn about inventions of the last 100 years – then to develop an idea for a technology or concept that could help up to lead more sustainable lives in the future.
The young people who have developed the top ten most impressive ideas will be invited to present their ideas to governments, UN officials and other young people gathered at the Rio2012 Summit or at the UN preparatory meeting in New York in November 2011.
For details of the challenge and how to enter go to: http://geebiz.biz/sml_guide.htm
Please help us to spread the word about the challenge to friends and colleagues who work with young people around the world.
No Comments » | Add your commentSlums and their uses!
I heard a remark today that I have not been able to remove from my mind…
‘Why do we support the Slums?’
At first I was taken aback at the suggestion that we, individuals, NGO’s or otherwise should adopt a different policy from the general rule.
The general moral, ethical rule which says that ‘we’, should help to support people who are living in the harshest poverty, and who are in need of any support that we can offer collectively or individually.
But with further thought and while listening to a short debate in one of the opening funding meetings of my visit to Kenya, I am forced to rethink the intricate nature of the opening bold and somewhat shocking comment.
‘Should we
support or split,
develop or disband,
energise or eradicate the slum areas of Kenya?’
It is interesting to note that after only one day on my first visit to Kenya that I have encountered many contrasting views as to the best way ‘to deal’ with the slum areas of Nairobi city.
There are currently over 1 million people living in the Kibera slum in Nairobi within what equates to a space of just 1.5 square miles. Comic Relief has recently reported on the BBC directly from the slum and highlighted the important role that Aid plays in maintaining life albeit in the simplest form. (living to exist not existing to live)
There are huge questions being asked in Kenyan government and NGO society at present as to how best to work within or without the ‘slum’ areas and to clearly define what options there are.
By providing services to slums are we encouraging people to inhabit those areas?
The usual charity answer is yes however we have found that part of the Kibera slum is now located directly above a pipe line. A sanitation facility built with NGO funds, above a dangerous pipeline here would therefore defeat it’s own existence, Wouldn’t it?
Practical Action works with the worlds poorest women, men and children in order to challenge the poverty that they find themselves in.
How should we tackle the issue of slums?
What appropriate action should we advocate?
Why is our approach different?
These are all questions that I hope to develop within the course of my visit but for now I refer back to the views of our founder Fritz Schumacher from ‘Small is Beautiful’.
“I have no doubt that it is possible to give a new direction to technological development, a direction that shall lead it back to the real needs of man, and that also means: to the actual size of man. Man is small, and, therefore, small is beautiful.”
3 Comments » | Add your commentTo blog or not to blog
Hi,
I’m Joseph Nunn, Innovation Executive at Practical Action, a UK NGO with a difference. Practical Action uses technology to challenge poverty working with the worlds poorest women, men and children.
Starting to blog in March 2011 I hope to develop an understanding of the key reasons that Practical Action exists. What drives the work of the organisation and how our founder Fritz Schumacher influences the work that we do today, 40 years into our existence.
I will be able to report first hand as to how our work is helping the people of Kenya in my first visit to the country in March and hopefully this will enable me to comment on how Practical Actions approach is different, what issues we face as a UK NGO working in Kenya and finally what impact our work has.
I will also attempt to comment on how Practical Action is influenced within the framework of International Development.
Using a blog to capture thoughts, observations and general questions will enable me to continue to develop issues of importance and report back over time.
No Comments » | Add your commentBecause we are worth it, or what would Fritz say?
Margaret GardnerBourton on Dunsmore, Warwickshire CV23 9, UK, Bourton on Dunsmore
January 10th, 2011
‘The Price of Everything’, a book reviewed in yesterday’s Sunday Times, horrified me. Everything was costed – relationships, printer ink, sex, children, women working, even a year of a person’s life in different parts of the world. £2,028 for a year of good health in India compared to £29,000 in the UK.
I have an inherent abhorrence of this reductionist view. You can’t describe or value people in purely monetary terms. Or rather maybe you can but in my view it’s wrong. This obsession with money devalues all of us.
People want their material needs satisfied – food, shelter, education, access to basic services and so on – but beyond this the quality of people’s relationships, their ability to contribute to society, the respect of fellow citizens and living in peace with your neighbours are all vitally important and cannot be measured in purely monetary terms.
It feels slightly strange railing against a book; it’s rare that I am so annoyed. Particularly as Practical Action was founded by an economist - the author of ‘Small is Beautiful’, Fritz Schumacher. Fritz’s view was fundamentally opposite to that set out in this book: he argued that everything couldn’t be costed, and that in trying to relate everything to the market we devalued ourselves, with everything equated to everything else.
One quote from Fritz that I love and that encourages me to think big is:
‘The way in which we experience and interpret the world obviously depends very much indeed on the kind of ideas that fill our minds, If they are mainly small, weak superficial and incoherent our life will appear insipid, uninteresting, petty and chaotic.’
I wonder what he would have said about interpreting the world in its totality though the lens of money.
Margaret
1 Comment » | Add your commentSmall Is…Challenge
Small Is…Challenge
Practical Action’s education unit launched its exciting Small Is…Challenge to celebrate Schumacher’s centenary at the Design and Technology Show in Birmingham last week.
Attendees were mainly trainee and qualified design and technology teachers, advisors and inspectors, and tutors from
teacher-training institutes.
The challenge was really well received with 400 professionals taking the technology timeline back to their schools to sign up to the Small Is… Challenge. With so much enthusiasm, we’re looking forward to next April, when schools submit their students’ inventive ideas of sustainable technologies for the future.
While we were at the show, we took some time to find out how teachers are using our teaching materials, including, The Sustainability Handbook and the Sustainability Matters CD. It was fabulous to get a real sense that our materials are making such a difference.
‘Practical Action is the only place teachers can go for really good resources on sustainability. The work you do is fantastic’ (Bernard Cooper, President of D and T advisors and inspectors)
‘The green book has saved our lives! It’s an excellent source of information for teachers and students‘ (Tina Ambrose, D&T teacher)
No Comments » | Add your commentA breakthough a day keeps the crisis at bay!
Next year is the 100 anniversary of our founder and author of Small is Beautiful, Fritz Schumacher’s birth. Alex, who works with us, has just suggested that we set up a book club each week reading one chapter from Small is Beautiful and debating what it means for us today.
I opened the book at random; I love it but wanted to think about how best it could work with others. I landed on page 128. It reads..
‘Let us admit that the people of the forward stampede, like the devil, have all the best tunes or at least the most popular and familiar tunes. You cannot stand still, they say; standing still is going down you must go forward; there is nothing wrong with modern technology except that it is as yet incomplete; let us complete it….
..If there is trouble with the environment, we shall need more stringent laws against pollution, and faster economic growth to pay for anti-pollution measures. If there are problems around natural resources we shall turn to synthetics; if there are problems about fossil fuels we shall move from slow reactors to fast breeders and from fission to fusion. There are no insoluble problems. The slogans of the people of the forward stampeded burst in to newspaper headlines every day with the message ‘ a break through a day keeps the crisis at bay’.
And what about the other side? This is made up of people who are deeply convinced that technological development has taken a wrong turn and needs to be redirected. The term ‘home-comer’ has, of course, a religious connotation. For it takes a good deal of courage to say no to the fashions and fascinations of the age end to questions the presuppositions of a civilisation which appears destined to conquer the whole world;’
Theres certainly lots to debate there – I’ll go to the book club. Personally I think Schumacher had some of the best ‘tunes’ or at least words. Anyone else who would like to join in if we can develop the debate online?
Margaret
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