What if we could rebuild our economies—not from banks and big business—but from trust, community, and the promises we keep?
In Grassroots Economics: Reflection and Practice, William Ruddick takes us on a powerful journey across Kenya’s informal settlements and rural villages, showing how communities facing poverty and neglect are building something extraordinary: their own money.
But this isn’t just a story of printed notes and local markets. It’s about reviving ancestral systems of cooperation—rotating labour groups, pooled savings clubs, and shared commitments. Ruddick weaves these timeless practices with modern tools like blockchain and community currencies to show a simple truth: we already have everything we need to support each other—if we remember how.
At Living Earth, we see the same potential. In every village, town, or neighbourhood, there are people ready to grow food, build homes, care for children, and heal the land. But too often, they’re told they don’t have “money,” and so they wait… and suffer. Grassroots Economics reminds us that money is not value—it’s just a way to track trust and flow. And that flow can start small.
“What if every promise made and kept became the seed of a thriving community?”
This book is full of real-world solutions—ready to be explored, copied, and learned from. Whether you’re a youth leader in a village, a policy-maker, or someone simply dreaming of a better future, the tools are already here. It’s up to us to pick them up, adapt them, and start building economies rooted in people, not profit.
As Ruddick puts it: “This is economics as nature intended—fungal, decentralised, and rooted in care.”
We invite you to explore this book, reflect on your own community, and ask: What do we already have? What can we promise each other? And how might we begin to grow our own grassroots economy—today?
