E. F. Schumacher, Environmental Economist, born (1911)

Ernst Friedrich Schumacher, author of the renowned environmental book, Small is Beautiful, was born on August 16, 1911 (died 1977).  Schumacher was born in Germany, but immigrated to England before World War II to avoid the scourge of Nazism in his homeland.  He lived in England throughout his life and became a British citizen in 1945.

Schumacher was a brilliant but unconventional thinker.  He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, studying economics.  When he later fled back to England, he lived in a cottage in a rural community, working as a farmer and growing his own vegetables.  During World War II, he was interned with Germans, Italians and others considered dangerous to the British war effort.  Later, serving as an economic consultant for three years in Burma, he further developed his ideas that society needed to be just, not just wealthy.  These experiences shaped Schumacher’s worldview that economics, and life, was about more than creating the highest GNP and the largest, most industrialized economy.  He wrote, “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.”

From 1950-1970, he was the economist for the British Coal Board, a time when he realized that how we treat the environment was the fundamental issue for the future.  In 1966, he formed the organization Intermediate Technology Development Group, which sought to develop—and apply—practical ideas for improving the human condition in the developing world.  The group is now called Practical Action and continues to apply his principles around the world.

He wrote and spoke extensively throughout the post-war years, becoming a leading intellectual in England and throughout Europe.  His major contribution was the 1973 book, Small is Beautiful:  Economics as if People Mattered.  The book speaks to the need for “appropriate technology,” helping developing countries improve their quality of life by creating better small-scale technology that will work in their locales—not by importing industrial-scale technology that works in developed economies.  His ideas take the form of today’s mantra to “think globally, act locally.”  He also developed the idea of “natural capital,” understanding that over-use of renewable resources will lead to a lower quality of life in the future.  Nature, he has taught us, is not inexhaustible.

Schumacher is also inspirational for his indomitable spirit and cheerfulness.  Despite seeing the destruction of his beloved Germany and living as an enemy of his adopted England, he reveled in good humor and joy.  His wife remembered that “he was the easiest man to live with, incredibly even-tempered, who believed that the first Christian duty was cheerfulness.”

 

References:

 

McCrum, Robert.  2011.  EF Schumacher:  Cameron’s choice.  The Guardian, 26 March 2011.

 

Practical Action.  EF Schumacher—founder of Practical Action.  Available at:  https://practicalaction.org/ef-schumacher.  Accessed August 15, 2017.

 

Schumacher Center for a New Economics.  Honoring E. F. Schumacher.  Available at:  http://www.centerforneweconomics.org/Schumacher.  Accessed August 15, 2017.

 

 

World Wisdom.  E. F. Schumacher’s life and work.  Available at:  http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/authors/EF-Schumacher.aspx.  Accessed August 15, 2017.

This Month in Conservation

March 1
Yellowstone National Park Established (1872)
March 2
Theodore Geisel, or Dr. Seuss, Born (1904)
March 3
World Wildlife Day and Creation of CITES (1973)
March 3
Isle Royale National Park Authorized (1931)
March 4
Hot Springs National Park Established (1921)
March 5
Lynn Margulis, Evolutionary Biologist, Born (1938)
March 6
Martha Burton Williamson, Pioneering Malacologist, Born (1843)
March 7
Luther Burbank Born (1849)
March 8
Everett Horton Patents the Telescoping Fishing Rod (1887)
March 9
The Turbot War Begins (1995)
March 10
Cape Lookout National Seashore Established (1966)
March 11
Save the Redwoods League Founded (1918)
March 12
Girl Scouts Founded (1912)
March 12
Charles Young, First African American National Park Superintendent, Born (1864)
March 13
National Elephant Day, Thailand
March 14
First National Wildlife Refuge Created (1903)
March 15
Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, Born (1874)
March 16
Amoco Cadiz Runs Aground (1978)
March 17
St. Patrick and Ireland’s Snakes
March 18
Nation’s First Wildlife Refuge Created (1870)
March 19
When the Swallows Return to Capistrano
March 20
“Our Common Future” Published (1987)
March 21
International Day of Forests
March 22
World Water Day
March 23
Sitka National Historical Park Created (1910)
March 24
John Wesley Powell, Western Explorer, Born (1834)
March 25
Norman Borlaug, Father of the Green Revolution, Born (1914)
March 26
Marjorie Harris Carr, Pioneering Florida Conservationist, Born (1915)
March 26
Kruger National Park Established (1898)
March 27
Trans-Alaska Pipeline Begun (1975)
March 28
Joseph Bazalgette, London’s Sewer King, Born (1819)
March 29
Niagara Falls Stops Flowing (1848)
March 30
The United States Buys Alaska (1867)
March 31
Al Gore, Environmental Activist and U.S. Vice President, Born (1948)
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