8 Steps to Radically Transform our Economy
I see a shift happening in the way that we think about our economy and our role in it, and it’s being lead by young people. On an intuitive level, we know that in order to transform the fate of our planet, we need to change how we think about our resources. I wanted to share an article I read recently and I really enjoyed, in Yes Magazine: “8 Steps to Radically Transform Our Economy.”
As more and more young people with $$$ to spend [hold their favorite brands accountable for realizing change], they are leading the shift away from an extractive approach to our planet’s resources, toward a closed-loop economy and regenerative model.
It helps that many brands see young people as occupying the ideal position that will ensure longterm brand strength and loyalty. [INSERT COOL BOOK QUOTE] the first arc of the wave that they should target.
For basically ever, pop economic theory has been based on extractive premises. According to David Korten of Yes Magazine,
“[Our current model] values life only for its market price; uses GDP growth as the defining measure of economic performance; assures students that maximizing personal financial return benefits society; recommends policies that prioritize corporate profits over human and planetary well-being; and ignores the natural limits of a finite planet.”
I’ve noticed the numbers of new socially and environmentally engaged businesses grow…as communities orient around a shared vision of a better future. Kortens lays out these 8 principles that he believes will transform our economy:
Evaluate the economy’s performance by indicators of the well-being of people and planet; not the growth of GDP.
Seek only that which benefits life; not that which harms life.
Honor and reward all who provide beneficial labor, including nature; not those who exploit it to get rich.
Create society’s money supply through a transparent public process to advance the common good; not through proprietary processes that grow the profits of for-profit banks.
Educate for a lifetime of learning in service to life-seeking communities; not for service to for-profit corporations.
Create and apply technology only to serve life; not to displace or destroy it.
Organize as cooperative, inclusive, self-reliant, regenerative communities that share knowledge and technology to serve life; not as incorporated pools of money competing to grow by exploiting life.
Seek a mutually beneficial population balance between humans and Earth’s other species; not the dominance of humans over all others.
Do you know anyone that’s embodying these principles? Are there other principles that you’d like to add? To read David Korten’s full piece, click here.
https://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/how-to-radical-economy-20190702