{"id":115085,"date":"2018-07-23T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T11:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=115085"},"modified":"2018-07-21T17:21:22","modified_gmt":"2018-07-21T16:21:22","slug":"what-a-green-and-peaceful-future-could-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/07\/what-a-green-and-peaceful-future-could-look-like\/","title":{"rendered":"What a Green and Peaceful Future Could Look Like"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe cannot solve problems with the same kind of thinking that created them.<\/em>\u201d
\n\u2014 Albert Einstein<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

19 Jul 2018 – <\/em>I started at Greenpeace ten years ago. 2008 doesn\u2019t seem that long ago, but the world was a very different place back then. \u00a0\u201cTweetstorm\u201d wasn\u2019t a word; Wikipedia and the democratization of knowledge were utopian ideals, and social media addiction wasn\u2019t listed as a psychological disorder.<\/p>\n

Technology has changed our lives at a pace never experienced before. The global economic crisis, Trump, the refugee crisis, Brexit\u2026 these are just some of the symptoms of a broken system. Its demise has been accelerated, and in some cases triggered by the digital innovations of the past decade. There is a clear detachment between technology and our current societal needs.<\/p>\n

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Leaking drums of sodium cyanide at an open-pit gold mine in Papua New Guinea. \u00a9 Glen Barry \/ Greenpeace<\/p><\/div>\n

We\u2019re experiencing a deep systemic disconnection: an ecological, social and spiritual cultural divide. There\u2019s a discernible disconnect between the infinite growth imperative and the finite resources of planet Earth; between private ownership and the best societal use of property; between gross domestic product (GDP) and well-being.<\/p>\n

But the failure of our current socio-economic system has also brought a strong desire to change the world and co-create a better one. The Arab Spring<\/a>, Los Indignados<\/a> and Occupy Wall Street<\/a> spread new value systems and sparked political and economic initiatives that questioned the prioritization of profit over people and the endless growth paradigm. These movements used technology to envision a new, more inclusive, equitable economic system that operates within the environmental limits of our planet.<\/p>\n

Sharing and circular economies were attempts in this direction. They started in response to the economic crisis as people were pushed to utilize excess capacity, time and goods and companies started to suffer from the impacts of climate change and resource scarcity. Unfortunately, as with many other ideas, they\u2019ve been hijacked by the private sector and its main driver; growth. The idea of a circular economy<\/a> carries a rebound effect<\/a>; meaning we could end up increasing<\/em> overall production, which would offset any benefits.<\/p>\n

The environmental crisis can\u2019t be addressed in isolation; concepts like the sharing and circular economy will only work if they are integrated into wider strategies for economic system change.<\/p>\n

Just imagine\u2026. What if we shaped a new economy to:<\/p>\n

Put people over profit<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prioritise people and the environment over narrow and short-term economic interests. Serve the health and wellbeing of people and other life forms, environmental sustainability, and social justice instead of undermining them in the name of growth. Promotes justice, accountability and transparency in political and economic processes.<\/p>\n

Include everyone<\/strong><\/p>\n

Treat unpaid caregivers and parents raising children as contributors to society in their own right. Maintain the commons; a space where communities can organize to manage a resource they care about based on their own rules, rather than one defined by the market or the state.<\/p>\n

Reinvent institutions and structures to be less hierarchical and more inclusive; democratizing knowledge, information and resources, distributing power and decentralizing energy and food systems. \u00a0Recognise human diversity while giving everyone equitable opportunities regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, sexual orientation, gender, social class, age and mental or physical ability.<\/p>\n

Share resources<\/strong><\/p>\n

Distribute the ways we create and exchange goods, to redistribute wealth in an equitable way. New business models (like cooperatives, user-owned platforms and peer to peer lending and repairing networks) can be enabled by breakthrough technologies (like Blockchain<\/a>, the Internet of Things<\/a> and 3D printing) that, if used properly, have huge potential to soften how we view ownership.<\/p>\n

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Students from the Government school in Jalka, India, shout out for more solar power in their village. \u00a9 Peter Caton \/ Greenpeace<\/p><\/div>\n

Put experiences above things<\/strong><\/p>\n

Offer an alternative vision of living based on civic participation, affiliation, universalism, and shared experiences, providing an antidote to consumerism. Measure economic success, not just in the quantity of goods and services produced (GDP), but in contributions to preserving public resources and welfare.<\/p>\n

Be genuinely sustainable<\/strong><\/p>\n

Put regeneration at the core of how we exist, and manage our finite resources with care: by protecting biodiversity, using renewable energy for all our power, growing our food ecologically, and travelling with greener public transport. We can prevent pollution and eliminate waste by putting reduction and reuse first.<\/p>\n

Limit economic activity <\/strong><\/p>\n

This would mean:<\/p>\n