August 16th marked the centenary of the birth of E. F. Schumacher, author of the seminal Small is Beautiful, one of the most influential books on economics ever written. To mark the anniversary, I wrote tributes to Schumacher and his legacy for the Catholic Herald in England and the National Catholic Register in the United States. To mark the centenary, James Schumacher, EFS’s youngest son, is embarking on a gruelling sponsored cycle ride across Germany and Switzerland to raise money for a charity that his father founded. The charity, which sponsors practical grassroots subsidiarity, or distributism, is well worth the support of anyone interested in promoting genuine justice around the world. Here is James Schumacher’s own description of his planned cycle trip. Please consider making a small donation to this noble cause:

I’m E.F.Schumacher’s youngest son and with this month marking the centenary of Fritz’s birth I’m taking on a challenging 1,200 mile cycle ride in an attempt to raise money and awareness of the fantastic charity, Practical Action (www.practicalaction.org) that he founded in 1966 (then known as ITDG). Given your interest in Fritz’s ideas I was wondering if you might be interested in sponsoring me?

Practical Action work alongside communities to find practical solutions to the poverty they face. They see technology as a vital contributor to people’s livelihoods and their definition includes physical infrastructure, machinery and equipment, knowledge and skills and the capacity to organise and use all of these.

The ride itself will be a massive challenge. Setting off from Bremen, northern Germany I’ll head west to Duisburg and the Rhine which I’ll follow south through Bonn, Koblenz and Mainz. I’ll then cycle on to Switzerland before taking on the most challenging part of the ride, the 440 mile stretch from Geneva over the French Alps to Nice. On the itinerary are two classic Alpine climbs which featured on the route of this year’s Tour de France: the Col du Telegraphe (1,566m) and the Col du Galibier (2,645m). The latter marked the Tours highest point and was climbed twice in this year’s Tour.

I’m paying for the trip out of my own pocket so all money raised will go directly to Practical Action and I will happily send anyone generous enough to sponsor me £25 or more a free copy of “Small is Beautiful” or “A Guide for the Perplexed” should they want one.

If you would like to make a donation I have set up a  web page at www.justgiving.com/pedalling4pop

Please let me know if you would like any further information.

Many thanks for any support you might be able to give.

Best wishes,

James Schumacher