Is Small Beautiful?

The original publication date of the collection of essays Small is Beautiful by E. F. Schumacher was in 1973, and yet MOST of his text continues to ring true today in 2012. A little history regarding the author would be beneficial before we discuss the relevance of this work in accordance with today’s society. Schumacher was a respected economist who worked with John Maynard Keynes and John Kenneth Galbraith, and for twenty years as the Chief Economic Advisor to the National Coal Board in the United Kingdom. He was opposed to the tenets of neo-classical economics, declaring that single-minded concentration on output and technology was dehumanizing. He held that one's workplace should be dignified and meaningful first, efficient second, and that nature (like its natural resources) is priceless.

Now that we have an understanding of the author and the publication date, we can now begin to discuss the relevance of the text with its relation to modern day society. What was very interesting in the reading was the references Schumacher made towards the value of natural capital and the imperative realization of this concept among economists. This concept of 'natural capital' has most likely been around in different forms and terms since the greeks and romans developed the first economies of scale. What is interesting is in 1973 we had a very influential economist stating the effects of not valuing natural capital and the environmental destruction that follows, and now in 2012 we still have many more influential economists stating the same information and authoring similar texts in regard to 'natural capital’. These authors include Paul Hawken, Amory B. Lovins, and many more, and unfortunately we are seemingly in the same position as we were in 1973.

But this is somewhat wrong for a couple of reasons. First, Schumacher states in his text that, “[S]tatistics never prove anything.” This statement made by Schumacher is relatively mis-educated, because currently in our global society statistics provide key data that helps organizations prove that, for example the value of 'natural capital’ through the collection of data regarding the depletion rate of resources in comparison to there demand from society. So this statement made by Schumacher expresses the generation from which he was educated in and developed his theories in (a time when computers had VERY limited computing power).

Since the publication of Schumacher’s collection of essays a lot has changed in society for the better. One example of an area that is experiencing a change in thinking is technology and its relation to the efficiency of innovation in energy. In 1973 Schumacher predicted that by 2028 we would be experiencing an energy crisis the world has never witnessed before. The optimistic outlook in this bleak prediction is, that technology and its creators are beginning to realize their importance in innovating the energy sector to create less supply while providing for the increase in demand. Technology has now helped society exponentially update the energy sector with new and more efficient energy solutions each year while creating less demand for the non-renewable resources (oil, coal, natural gas) that we have been dependent on since the beginning of the industrial revolution.

With this understanding of the relation of Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful to today’s society we can now understand and realize that even though the concept of ‘natural capital’ has been around for tens of thousands of years the realization of the concept takes a lot more effort than predicted. So why not educate yourself on an emerging paradigm that holds its creation in the oldest civilizations known to current societies.

Thank you for your interest, please comment and subscribe.

Onward,

Hayden van Andel