Surprisingly, the global economy driven by multinational corporations shares something with most communist government economies: both are highly centralized. Marxist planned economies do it by design, whereas capitalist free markets inevitably become highly centralized due to intense competition and the relentless pursuit of profit. Companies merge in order to survive, leading to fewer but ever larger ones. Sadly, centralized economic planning, whether done by communists or capitalists, has been rather disastrous for both humanity and the planet.

There are generally considered to be three ways to own and manage a business: government ownership, private ownership and cooperative ownership. Ownership is important, because those who own the means of production reap most of the benefits. According to communist dogma, all businesses have to be government owned, and in theory the people get equal shares of the income, but too often this forced equality leads to widespread alienation and lethargy.

According to capitalist dogma, all businesses should be in private hands, and in theory salaries are paid in proportion to the value of the work done by the people involved. However the chief executive officers of many multinational corporations are now paid salaries with stock options that Fortune magazine describes as "outrageous!", on average hundreds of times more than common workers and without any objective measurement of their actual contributions.

What is a Local Economy?

One aspect of a local economy is that every bio-region should strive to produce as much as possible the food its population needs. This simple idea of regional food supply is radically different from today's corporate agriculture. Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith calculated in "The Case Against the Global Economy: And for a Turn Toward the Local" (Sierra Club Books) that food in the US travels an average of 2000 miles before it reaches your plate! The heavy use of fossil fuels in corporate farming and transportation to ship food around the world is unsustainable and contributes to global warming.

It is estimated that one of the major contributors to greenhouse gases is the methane produced by factory farms. The vast lands and enormous quantities of water used to produce cereals for livestock could feed everyone if planted with grains, beans and other crops for human consumption.

Cooperative businesses are another key to a sustainable local economy. Cooperative enterprises - industrial, agricultural, service, consumer and credit - encourage human beings to work together and help to create economic democracy.

The International Cooperative Alliance offers this definition of cooperatives: "A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise." Instead of striving for profits at any cost, cooperative workers produce what people in their community and region need. They require much less advertising, packaging or transportation than the corporate free market.

We often forget that garbage as we know it is actually a very recent invention! Only in the last 150 years or so have humans produced significant quantities of inorganic wastes that do not degrade quickly and naturally.

"Know the area"

The first task of planning a local economy involves the comprehensive study of an area and its people to understand the actual needs and problems. Doing firsthand interviews of inhabitants and leaders is just as important as collecting economic and social data from existing sources. The objective is to understand as much as possible the climate, geography, natural resources, agricultural and industrial potential, energy and water sources, and the education, cultural strengths and spiritual traditions of its various peoples.

Much "development work" in economically undeveloped countries by wealthy foreign "experts" has been badly out of touch with and often rejected by the proposed beneficiaries. Instead successful economic planning must be done by local people, those who reside in and identify with the area, not by outsiders.

This research phase is crucial to success. It is said that "knowledge is power", because it increases one's potential and ability to impact the world and improve it.

"Prepare the Plan"

By analyzing the data collected from research, interviews and personal experiences, one can formulate a workable development plan to achieve full employment and a sustainable economy. Planning must always begin at the local level, from the grassroots, because there are so many differences in terms of geography, climate, natural resources, infrastructure, communities and other factors between places. For this reason, it is not possible to create an effective plan for a large or medium-sized country at once. First one must study and plan at each local level before planning at the state or national levels.

To plan a local economy successfully, we need to raise our consciousness. We are all in the "consciousness-raising business". Every teacher is trying to awaken the student's desire to learn, discover and grow. We are trying to raise consciousness when we speak to individuals about recycling, reducing consumption, good nutrition or a healthy lifestyle. Whenever we inspire people to try to build a better world, we are also raising consciousness. The great educator Paulo Freire called this process conscientization: to authentically dialog with others, to experience their world, while at the same time challenging their beliefs to reach new levels of awareness about justice and exploitation.

The late Brazilian Archbishop Dom Helder Camara, who led the campaign for human rights in his country during the long military dictatorship from 1964-1985, said, "If I feed the poor, people call me a saint. If I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist." Today we all need to ask tough questions like he did. For example, why is there hunger on our planet when the UN calculates that enough wheat, rice and other grains are produced to provide every human being with 3,200 calories a day? Why is there poverty, when we could provide the minimum necessities of life to everyone with less than 20 percent of what the world spends on arms? Why are we unable or unwilling to stop pollution, deforestation and global warming, when scientists are warning that we are literally destroying the ability of our planet to support life itself?

"Another world is possible" is the theme of the World Social Forum. I believe there is tremendous power in this shared dream. But it invites the question, "What kind of world do we want?" I give hundreds of talks around the world, but when I ask audiences in Philippines, Poland, Scotland or Brazil, the answers are invariably the same: a world without war, hunger or poverty; with justice and human rights; with ecological protection. The truth is, almost all want the same thing: peace on earth!

Asking tough questions and challenging people to consider alternatives is essential to creating a good plan. As Albert Einstein said, "Problems cannot be solved at the same level of consciousness that created them." A local economy based on local planning can significantly contribute to a better, sustainable world for all.