Is small always beautiful? Small-scale industry is often functional and sustainable, but sometimes it seems to be limited to a peripheral role. Where and to what extent can it be dominant? When is small best, and when do we need to involve major players in order to achieve substantial change? Alternatives is looking for examples of successes and failures in artisanal mining, small-scale forestry, agriculture or other sectors in an attempt to discover whether, when and how small-scale and sustainable development are merry bedfellows. Ideas include, but are not limited to:
- Should sustainable forestry certification programs, such as FSC, prefer small-scale logging operations?
- With the current push for local food, can there be sufficient sustainable supply from nearby farms?
- Is there a role for small scale mining operations in developing countries, and are they necessarily better for the environment and nearby communities?
- Can we achieve sustainability without engaging large scale industrial operators?
- To what extent do we need provincial, national or even global government or governance initiatives to support attractive small scale operations in the face of the advantages already won by global corporations?
2 comments:
I didn't think this directly applied at first, but when I thought more carefully, I realized that I could easily write something on the scale of renewable energy (Solar PV in particular) that I think would be interesting.
absolutely--that's a pretty tight deadline, tho'; i have ideas about environmentally friendly photo-chemical practice that will not get written between now and then... oh well
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