What is your book about?
It is about  bottom-up initiatives such as box schemes, community-supported agriculture, land and community trusts, credit unions, local transport schemes, ethical banks, community businesses, co-operative shops, etc. in Britain and the Czech Republic.  I tried to find out things about how to keep  the local shop viable, how to get affordable housing for the locals, how to keep the public transport going and how to keep farms paying their way.  Interviewing the people in my book was a voyage of discovery for me and  hopefully will be for the reader as well.

Why did you write it?
Over the years, I have witnessed the economic decline of the small Czech village where I live. A process which was kick-started by Communism has continued under the laissez-faire variant  of Capitalism, with its one-sided emphasis on economic bottom-lines. I felt a book was needed pointing to existing alternatives to this unsustainable model.  Such alternatives appear to be more developed in Britain than in my own country.  They even have a name there – they are called “social enterprise“.

What are social enterprises?
They are often defined as businesses with a triple bottom line – economic, social and environmental.

Which were the most interesting social enterprises which you discovered on your travels?
The Isle of Eigg Trust, a social enterprise based on non-profit ownership, was one. Another well-developed specimen was WyeCycle, a local food and recycling business in Wye. However, all the 71 projects, 25 of them in the  Czech Republic, were interesting and each was in some way unique. 

How does all this tie up with the Centre for Human Ecology?
I did the interviews while studying at CHE in 2001-2.  The CHE flexible teaching approach allowed me to blend my work and my study in a way which  I think enhanced both, and it provided the human and intellectual support one needs in a strange country. My colleagues, students and teachers, suggested projects, provided feedback for my ideas – even helped out with accomodation on my travels. 

Now that the book is published, what are your plans for the future?
This year I am planning to develop the book into a PhD thesis to conclude my doctoral programme at the Masaryk University in Brno. A Czech series which I am writing for the Czech Friends of the Earth magazine along the lines of Living in the Cracks will hopefully be published as a book in 2006.  Other plans include more teaching, writing and research on new economics – perhaps in co-operation with Feasta and the New Economics Foundation which have co-published my book.

Where can readers get your book?
It can be ordered online via Amazon or from Green Books, or hopefully from around May 2005 it can be downloaded free from Feasta…or you can buy it in a bookshop and support your local bookseller.