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The concept of strong sustainability is based on the scientific fact that all human life and activity occurs within the limitations of planet Earth, or the 'biosphere' where humankind lives, including all societal functions, such as the economy. It is a self-evident truth that without a functioning biosphere there can be no society or 'sociosphere', and without a sociosphere there can be no societal functions, including an economy or 'econosphere'. Strong sustainability recognises that in order for human civilisation to continue, the true model for sustaining the planet on which we rely to survive should look like this (see above).
If we focus on just one issue, say affordable housing, and forget about its relationship to bank created credit and a tax system which favours real estate investment, we will miss the target. Spain built more houses and it didn’t solve their affordable housing problem. If we think about the big problem of low wages for the working poor and just ignore its relationship to the tax system, the lack of investment capital for jobs and growing debt, we can come up with a temporary solution of a higher minimum wage. But it won’t solve the problem of the declining affordability of food and housing. You see if you ignore the living system in which the problem is embedded, the problem persists. If we focus on climate change only and forget the flawed money system which demands economic growth, we won’t get very far at all. The next international conference will deliver exactly the same result where politicians favour economic growth over habitat protection. If you focus on getting a Universal Basic Income and forget about the fundamental reasons for tax havens (a faulty tax system) and the growing private debt issue, you won’t get very far.
Watch over 400 of the best social change documentaries free to watch online, all via one massive wall of films on a single page.
Bitcoins developed as an alternative to the international banking system, but a new form of financial interaction is taking shape on the world’s social networks. What is the currency of reputation and good will worth?
Also downloadable as a pdf: http://www.notforprofit.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/Social_Investment_Glossary.pdf The Centre for Social Impact (CSI) has developed an online glossary of terms for social investment. CSI’s director of research Les Hems said CSI has produced a social investment glossary because it demonstrates its ambition to help build knowledge and promote professional understanding of social finance across the social, business and government sectors of Australia.
My fascination with change is twofold. First, I believe that life is in continuous evolution and incessantly changing. And, second, I believe evolution leads to higher complexity, which requires a greater ability to handle change. One of the capabilities that can assist us with both of these notions is planning.
We need an indicator that estimates the wealth of nations--natural, human, and manufactured. The United Nations is now proposing the "Inclusive Wealth Indicator" as a challenge to the myopic focus on short-term profits and economic capital inherent in GDP. In its early findings, it found that natural capital declined 46% in Brazil and 31% in India during the last 17 years. This reduced the countries’ blazing GDP growth rates to a more modest "inclusive wealth" increase of 3% in Brazil and 9% in India. Much less to get excited about.
Leave it to the Dutch, who throw away only 3 percent of their municipal waste into landfills, to come up with a socially appealing innovation that does even more to reduce waste: the neighborhood Repair Cafe! As described in today’s NYT, volunteers with a talent for fixing things come together several times a month to repair anyone’s broken household items for free.
Recently a new website AskShareGive was launched in New Zealand. AskShareGive is a not-for-profit website that allows people to share their time, skills, transport and old or unwanted goods. The website is the brain child of an Auckland business man who runs a software company. He felt inspired by the ideology of a gift economy – where goods and services flow through a community through sharing and without money changing hands. He felt that as a rule our homes are cluttered with an abundance of things and stuff and we have this trend of continuing to buy more rather than spread what we have amongst each other.
Mobile Greenhouse Project by Compass Green Compass Green is a fully functional greenhouse built in the back of a box truck that grows vegetables and herbs and is powered by waste vegetable oil. They...
People are finally taking things into their own hands ....
Summary of Key Points A natural agenda of issues is shaping the future, especially for corporations with global scope • The social divide: the ever-widening gap between those participating in the increasingly interdependent global economy and those not. For how long can 15% of the people get 85% of the goodies? • Redefining growth: economic growth based on ever increasing material use and discard is inconsistent with a finite world. How long can we keep piling up more junk in the same box? • Variety and inclusiveness: developing inclusion as a core competence in increasingly multi-cultural organizations.
Who is “the we?” • Attracting talented people and realizing their potential: developing commitment in a world of “free agents” and “volunteer” talent. What are we committed to, really? • The role of the corporation: extending the traditional role of the corporation, especially the global corporation, to be more commensurate with its impact. Just how accountable will society expect us to be? • The system seeing itself: the challenges of coordination and coherence in social systems.
How can we stop going faster while dimming the headlights?
Sacred Economics traces the history of money from ancient gift economies to modern capitalism, revealing how the money system has contributed to alienation, competition, and scarcity, destroyed community, and necessitated endless growth. Today, these trends have reached their extreme - but in the wake of their collapse, we may find great opportunity to transition to a more connected, ecological, and sustainable way of being.
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Andrew Simms: A family-oriented nation of fairness, social justice and mutual ownership? It exists – just not all in one place
Doing It Ourselves aims to broaden understanding of the debt crisis and peak resources and encourage action for the sake of personal preparedness, happiness ...
Charlotte Squire talks to Jill Hayhurst – PhD candidate at the University of Otago – about Golden Bay’s complementary currency HANDS (How About a Non-Dollar System) and the social capital benefits this system is having upon its community.
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Tristan C
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Milpa Films - Cultures en transition - A film by Nils Aguilar... The film, optimistic but clear-sighted nonetheless, is showing that agro-food crises in fact are positive challenges!
Looking at the difficulty of the challenges that confront us, it is easy to go into denial or to become frustrated or cynical. In our current research project on “Transformation of Capitalism” we pose the question: How can we create an economy that generates wellbeing for all?
Do you want to live more efficiently and reap the benefits of a closer community? Cooperative living is a great strategy for getting and staying out of debt while building community, resilience and security in a tenuous economy. But it requires a change in attitudes, and a return to more communal ways of living.
This paper develops the case for a currency issued by a local authority and proposes a contract where a land levy is paid to council in exchange for local dollars to assist would-be purchasers to buy land. It addresses both land and money together. It argues for a currency that has a built-in incentive to circulate fast. It will supplement the existing interest-bearing monoculture of a national currency. It introduces a local Citizen’s Dividend. Local currencies need to shift up a gear. It describes the probable effects of such a marked change in the scale of complementary currencies, where they are issued in millions rather than hundreds of dollars. It argues that such a currency will stabilise the price of property, cause new prosperity, move business towards sustainability, stimulate new industry, create new jobs and move to a low carbon economy. The knock-on effects on the central government are discussed. It argues for a smooth gradual introduction of this dual currency system linked to land.
Rob Hopkins’ leaky bucket animation on this TEDx presentation is a great resource for communities wanting to strengthen their local economy.
Accelerated by the financial crisis, Europe has seen a trend for small businesses looking to make more cashless exchanges. Nantes is becoming Europe's first major city to experiment with a virtual currency that can be used both businesses and individuals.
A new way to produce is emerging. By this I mean: a new way to produce anything and everything, whether it is software, food, or cities. What once required rigid organisations and a society defined by the mentality of hierarchies, we are discovering now (and in many cases re-discovering) how to do through free association of peers.
A study of how leaders and change agents with postconventional consciousness design and engage in complex change initiatives....
Via Anne Caspari
Contrary to popular belief, humans have failed to address the earth’s worsening emergencies of climate change, species’ extinction and resource overconsumption not because of a lack of information, but because of a lack of imagination, social scientists and artists say.
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