{"id":4012,"date":"2009-01-04T12:39:16","date_gmt":"2009-01-04T18:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=4012"},"modified":"2009-01-04T12:39:16","modified_gmt":"2009-01-04T18:39:16","slug":"book-review-small-is-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/book-review-small-is-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Small Is Possible"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In the international marketplace of ideas, Lyle Estill is not a widely known expert on human-scale, local economies. He may never attain that status, if only be because he’s too busy making economic theory a sustainable reality in his little corner of North Carolina.<\/h3>\n

In Small Is Possible: Life in a Local Economy<\/em><\/a>, Estill chronicles the failures and victories of an ongoing movement for sustainability and local resiliency in Chatham County, located in the piedmont region of North Carolina. Estill is a legitimate source on the subject: he co-founded Piedmont Biofuels<\/a>, a biodiesel co-op that went from backyard operation into an industrial plant in a few short years. He has recorded his adventures with biodiesel and other sustainable businesses in his first book, Biodiesel Power<\/em>, as well as in local newspaper columns and on his own Energy Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Daniels of Chatham County<\/h3>\n

The characters in Estill’s world are both entertaining and endearing. Many of them show a flinty defiance, positioning themselves as courageous Daniels against the Goliaths of corporate greed and globalization. Just as important, they are also innovators and risk-takers. The author often leads the charge with business incubators, co-housing experiments, agricultural experiments, and college loan schemes that keep money in town.<\/p>\n

Keeping track of this book’s huge cast of characters is not easy. <\/em>It doesn’t make for smooth reading, but it does illustrate Estill’s intimate knowledge of his neighbors and the gains he’s made to foster interdependent networks of sustainable enterprise<\/a>. “Good ‘economic development’ is little more than an effective Rolodex,” he writes, thereby dispelling the mystery. What Estill calls “Hometown<\/em> Security” is possible. Theory can become practice.<\/p>\n

Readers interested in academic arguments for local economies can find other books on the subject, but if they want a compelling story about noble attempts to walk the talk, Small Is Possible <\/em>delivers.<\/p>\n

Image Credit:<\/strong> The Abundance Foundation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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