ABSTRACT

This chapter presents the community economy framework as a good vehicle for the required transition toward a more ecologically sustainable society. Models of the community economy represent substantive economic activities. Communities of both producers and consumers are formed to meet the needs of both of them at the lowest cost and minimized risk by a long-term arrangement. Competitiveness is a self-serving ideology that is employed by mainstream business to pursue its profit at the expense of nature, society, and future generations. This ideology requires a fundamental correction to enable companies to develop sustainable and responsible ways of doing business. Community economy basically uses local resources to meet the needs of local people rather than the wants of a faraway market. World prices do not determine what will be produced, and the key production processes need to be run entirely without inputs from the world system.