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Small Is Beautiful: Impressions of Fritz Schumacher

This film is a short documentary portrait of economist, technologist and lecturer Fritz Schumacher. Up to age 45, Schumacher was dedicated to economic growth. Then he came to believe that the modern technological explosion had grown out of all proportion to human need. Author of Small Is Beautiful - A Study of Economics as if People Mattered and founder of the London-based Intermediate Technology Development Group, he championed the cause of "appropriate" technology. The film introduces us to this gentle revolutionary a few months before his death.
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This film is a short documentary portrait of economist, technologist and lecturer Fritz Schumacher. Up to age 45, Schumacher was dedicated to economic growth. Then he came to believe that the modern technological explosion had grown out of all proportion to human need. Author of Small Is Beautiful - A Study of Economics as if People Mattered and founder of the London-based Intermediate Technology Development Group, he championed the cause of "appropriate" technology. The film introduces us to this gentle revolutionary a few months before his death.

Social Issues Technology All subjects
  • director
    Douglas Kiefer
    Barrie Howells
    Donald Brittain
  • producer
    Douglas Kiefer
    Barrie Howells
    Donald Brittain
  • executive producer
    Peter Katadotis
  • script
    Donald Brittain
  • narrator
    Donald Brittain
  • photography
    Douglas Kiefer
  • sound
    Fraser MacAninch
  • editing
    Barrie Howells
  • sound editing
    Michel Bordeleau
  • re-recording
    Jean-Pierre Joutel
  • music
    Yehudi Menuhin
    Brian Macleod
    Yehudi Menuhin Youth Orchestra

Education

Ages 16 to 17
School subjects
History and Citizenship Education - Culture and Currents of Thought (1500-present) History and Citizenship Education - Economy and Development (1500-present) Social Studies - Economics
In what ways could Schumacher be considered a "revolutionary"? Explain what Schumacher meant by his term "appropriate" technology. Discuss the idea that bigger is not always better when it comes to technological growth. Discuss the ERCO plant and the oil refinery in Come-By-Chance as significant disasters in Newfoundland's history. What would Schumacher think of the technological explosion that occurred after his death?

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Small Is Beautiful: Impressions of Fritz Schumacher
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