"Systems thinking is too advanced for undergraduates" an economics professor once told me.
I just taught the basics of feedback loops to my 11 y.o. twins and then they drew this.
It's time to teach & use the tools we all need for the complex challenges we face now & ahead.
Police water cannons are yet again turned on the scientists. Today an estimated 10,000 peaceful protestors in the Hague, are demonstrating against Dutch government subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, totalling at least 37.5 billion euros a year.
This is big and bleak news. The planetary boundary for chemical pollution (aka 'novel entities') has been quantified for the first time - and it's now clear that humanity is massively transgressing levels that are safe for life on Earth. Plastics! Read on.
I am so so sorry to hear that the brilliant Herman Daly - founding father of ecological economics - has died. His paradigm-changing work flipped my little econ head inside out & inspired me to write a book on rewriting economics… Here are just some of his big ideas 1/n.
The UK government's ruthless and reckless policies that "go for growth” require us all to ask the essential questions that Donella Meadows - mother of systems thinking - set out decades ago. So join me in answering these questions... 1/n
This Tory government's aim to "max out" on North Sea fossil fuels up until 2050 is the most duplicitous and cynical abuse of power, and a devastating lack of vision and leadership. Can't wait to see them gone.
Very proud of my 10 year-old daughter today, and the many thousands of school students worldwide who are showing us all what leadership means. I look forward to joining them on the march in London tomorrow.
#YouthStrike4Climate
#SchoolStrike4Climate
@GretaThunberg
Following the overwhelming success of the nine euro ticket experiment last summer, Germany will introduce a permanent €49 pass this spring.
The monthly subscription will allow unlimited travel on buses, trams, subways, and local trains across every region in the entire country.
Economists tell me I make a ‘big mistake’ when I antagonise them. I would like to point out that economists have been antagonising ecologists, sociologists, historians, physicists, feminists, psychologists and political scientists for decades (sorry if I left anyone out).
Three students who joined last week's climate strike have been banned from their school prom.
@AlbanyAcademy
- kudos for producing students with global engagement, long-term vision and personal conviction. Please reconsider. Twitter, if you agree pls RT.
While France is banning short-haul flights, the UK government is now promoting them, under the slogan 'Grow the Economy'
More like 'Kill the Living World'.
Policies like this, in times like these, will be recorded in the history books as ecocide.
Brilliant analysis by
@guardian
. Thanks to decades of privatisation, the UK's water supply is managed not in the interests of UK households or the UK's wildlife but in the interests of corporate shareholders worldwide.
The book 'Doughnut Economics' opens with the story of Yuan Yang who, as a young economics student back in 2008, was challenging the outdated theory she was being taught. Last night she was elected as the first-ever MP for Earley & Woodley. Huge congratulations
@YuanfenYang
!
I'm delighted to see this quote featured in today's
@nytimes
international edition. It's time to teach 21st century economics to 21st century students and
@DoughnutEcon
we've got plans for 2023...join us.
I'm looking forward to being a guest on Greta Thunberg's edition of BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Monday 30th December, 6-9am UK time, I'll be joining live at 7.15am
I'm delighted to discover that the Doughnut features in David Attenborough's new book. Here's to creating economies that are in compatible with the continuity of life. It's time to thrive instead of trying to grow endlessly. There is much work to be done.
The first principle of 21st century economics is to protect the life-supporting systems of the living world. That’s why I stand, with my daughter, with
@XRebellionUK
and all who rebel for life.
#doughnuteconomics
I have no desire to be in the wrong side of the law. But I really don’t want to be on the wrong side of climate change. That’s why I stand with
@XRebellionUK
Hypercapitalism is killing us. The world's 10 richest men have *doubled* their wealth during this pandemic - while 99% of people have seen incomes fall. A one-off 99% tax on these 10 men's pandemic windfalls could fund vaccines for the world says
@oxfam
.
I was born in 1970: within my lifetime, two thirds of Earth's wildlife population has been decimated. I hope I live long enough to be able to say I saw it start to regenerate.
Read the devastating Living Planet Report 2020
@wwf_uk
MAJOR UPDATE: All planetary boundaries are assessed, and six are crossed.
For the first time ever, scientists have quantified all nine planetary boundaries. Six of them are already transgressed and we are increasing pressure on the others.
Read more:
Parliament Square utterly overflowing with school strikers for climate. Thousands and thousands of future leaders out here today. Kudos to the youth.
#schoolstrike4climate
I gave Keir Starmer a copy of Doughnut Economics just 10 days before he became Labour Party Leader. So will the book make it onto his bookshelves in Number 10? More importantly: will policies for a regenerative & distributive UK become real under this government?...
Today we launch Amsterdam's City Doughnut - a holistic tool for reimagining and remaking the future of the places we live. In this time of crisis, we hope it provides Inspiration everywhere.
Hello
@Fidelity_UK
. You own 7m shares in Rockhopper plc, which is suing Italy's government for acting on climate change, & hoping to use the winnings to drill for oil in the Falklands / Malvinas. Which side of history do you expect to be on? These are morally stranded assets.
Tomorrow we publish the methodology for how to downscale the Doughnut to the city. If you want to explore how you could downscale the Doughnut where you live, watch this space on Monday morning!...
In the final hours of 2021 I'm reading the final chapters of this brilliant book. It's the opposite of
#DontLookUp
- a success story of how humanity halts climate breakdown. It's not easy & it's not perfect. But if you want to start 2022 full of gritty possibilism, start here.
We have economies that need to grow, whether or not they make us thrive. Now we need economies that enable us to thrive, whether or not they grow. Here's what I just wrote about it in
@guardian
1/2
I'm honoured to have contributed a chapter to this powerful & highly readable book, in solidarity with over 100 scientists, activists, artists & changemakers all sharing key perspectives & possibilities. Thank you
@GretaThunberg
for bringing so many voices together.
#climatebook
What's stopping faster government action on climate? In part, the fear of being sued by fossil companies over 'lost profits' if they are no longer permitted to drill, mine & destroy. The ISDS rules literally privilege corporate power over life on earth.
From a Doughnut perspective, every country - whether rich or poor - is a 'developing country', with social shortfall &/or ecological overshoot. Turning this around is our generational challenge. How's your country doing? Find out at this fantastic website
David Attenborough says we need to 'curb capitalism' and create a different economic system than one based on maximising profit. Thanks
@lizbonnin
for drawing him deeper than most on the underlying issues...
I'm creating a workshop for unpacking the black box of capitalism, and will start with a range of possible definitions of what it means - pls do share the definition you use (ideally an exact quote with source). I'll share back the whole workshop online once it's ready - thx.
Labour's mission should be to create a UK economy that's regenerative & distributive by design - one that meets the needs of all within the means of the living planet. Aiming for 'growth' simply won't deliver on that.
@UKLabour
rise to the moment & offer us a vision worth backing
Let's go, Ireland! The Irish President, Michael D. Higgins, is - as far as I know - the first Head of State to publicly declare that humanity's overriding goal should be to get into the Doughnut's safe and just space. Who's next?...
Wow - RT this! Christiana Figueres, lead architect of the UN's 2015 Paris Agreement, stands unequivocally in solidarity with
#ExtinctionRebellion
&
#YouthStrike4Climate
. You couldn't ask for a more credible & respected international ally.
@Cfigueres
Want to start 2022 re-energised to act to stop climate & ecological breakdown? Then in the last days of 2021 watch
#DontLookUp
. It's profound and devastatingly familiar. Kudos to
@GhostPanther
, cast & crew.
2012 vs 2020 What a transformation. Highlighting the inefficiency of the automobile as means of transporting people.
@Anne_Hidalgo
2014 vision of re-engineering the city's roads and Junctions to be less car centric has really paid off. Less pollution, congestion & more cycling
I'm delighted to be part of this sisterhood - and amused that Forbes think I promote 'sustainable growth'. Some paradigms run so deep, people can't imagine that others have walked away from them.
What happens when Doughnut Economics meets Braiding Sweetgrass? It was a big honour & pleasure to meet Robin Wall Kimmerer
@hayfestival
this weekend - with luck this was the 1st of many conversations that we'll have together about embedded new economic thinking in living systems.
Last December I was invited to present Doughnut Economics to the Biden Treasury Transition Team. Here are some of the key ideas I shared with them....(1/n)
It's long been a question: could all of humanity actually live within the Doughnut? Thanks to Hauke Schlesier et al it's just been quantified for the 1st time. And the answer is probably yes - if we transform to economies of sufficiency. Read more here:
Dear frustrated economics students. If you are being taught only a narrow slice of economics perspectives, go straight to this website, teach yourself, and make up your own mind. Oh, and show it to your teacher too : )
Just found out that when climate-change lawyer Farhana Yamin got arrested today for gluing herself to the pavement outside Shell HQ, she had a copy of Doughnut Economics in her pocket ready for reading in her police cell. I'm very very honoured by that.
Here's a question, Twitter. Think of a city - any city you love - and imagine that by 2040 it is living in the Doughnut (yes!). What policies & strategies has it adopted to become regenerative & distributive by design? Bring your big, bad, best ideas...
This is the moment MPs shout at
@Jacob_Rees_Mogg
to 'sit up' after his body language and attitude during the ongoing Brexit debate is criticised by Green Party MP
@CarolineLucas
.
Read more:
Seeking Twitter hive mind! Names matter - so to get beyond erroneous 'developed / developing' countries, we're proposing new country clusters, in terms of their journey towards living in the Doughnut. For starters: Rise-Shift-Fulfil-Reduce. What else do you suggest?...
When I first heard
@GeorgeMonbiot
make this argument, I was instantly persuaded. I have sinced talked of climate breakdown, not climate change - and while we are at it: 'the living planet', not 'the environment'. Language matters.
Yes! At last... Watch national Doughnuts changing over time. Published today: 150 countries, 1992-2015. Eye-opening & powerful work by
@AndrewLFanning
& coauthors. Check out the website - an incredible teaching resource...
Yesterday I spoke on
@BBCRadio4
to challenge Truss's rally cry for 'growth, growth, growth'. It's tough figuring out how to overturn a deeply entrenched paradigm in just a few sentences - I gave it a go. What else would you have said? Listen in at 2:47:00
Let's go, Copenhagen! The city council just committed to turning Copenhagen into a Doughnut City - a good life for all within planetary boundaries. Check out the proposal:
Delighted (and tickled) that this new Economics textbook opens with the evolution of economic thought - starting with Smith, ending with the Doughnut.
Let the new economics teaching begin...
h/t
@Ms_MacEnomics
One week, two meetings - a worldview apart. The history books will remember us as The Age of Dissonance, whose international institutions were simply unable to connect ecology and economy.
2021: a new year and a new transport ethic. Today we gave up our car & are delighted to become members of our local car-sharing club (but we still love our bikes best). Here's to letting go, if you can, of what no longer belongs. And here's to the love of bikes and trains.
Today I turn 50 and it's certainly making me reflect on the last half century of life on this incredible planet. As for transforming the 50 years ahead - I couldn't hope for better company than the amazing changemakers gathering
@DoughnutEcon
- do join us in this Big Team Work...
Genuine question.
To those who are focused on Reimagining /Reinventing /Resetting / Creating Caring /Conscious Capitalism.
What are the essential features of ‘Capitalism’ you are seeking to preserve?
"If they don't offer you a seat at the table, pull up a folding chair". Channelling the inspirational Shirley Chisholm tonight, at the launch of Doughnut Economics Live in Oxford. It's time for new economic thinking to get due recognition in the economics curriculum. Everywhere.
On this day of hyper consumerism, why not jump in the opposite direction. Try out a lifestyle - even if just for a few months - that's compatible with a thriving planet. Loving this challenge
#taketheJUMPnow
- check it out, try it out - jump. I'm in.
If you want to start 2023 with eyes wide open then I recommend this packed & pithy paper by
@NJHagens
on economics for the future.
Humanity + energy + debt + growth addiction + planetary boundaries: guess what's coming.
Can we learn to bend not break?
He flipped the story inside out, depicting the economy as a subsystem of the living world, dependent on Earth's sources & sinks, and constrained by nature's regenerative capacities. This redrawing is *the most radical act* of 21st century economics (and all it takes is a pencil).
Here's why I - as an economist - know that the only place to be right now is in the streets with Extinction Rebellion. Join us, from Monday 7th October, wherever you are.
@ExtinctionR
To financial investors, double-digit returns are the expected norm - even when investing in ESG. Here's a question for ecologists, biologists, epidemiologists: what in nature grows with double digits? Asking for a nearby planet.
I'm chuffed & honoured to become the first Professor of Practice at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
@HvA
. Really looking forward to working with the Faculty of Business and Economics to practice economics that's fit for the 21st century...
Out today: this
@guardian
article on putting Doughnut Economics into action. It's not easy to be written about publicly - many thanks to
@hettieveronica
for her thoughtful research.
I just added my name to this emergency appeal for climate action by Greta, Vanessa, Mitzi, and Dominika. Sign now and share, and they'll deliver our voices directly to governments at the
@COP26
climate summit.
What do you get if you remix Doughnut Economics with Extinction Rebellion? Find out in this powerful & pithy new book. I’m dead proud to have contributed a chapter and I can’t wait to read the rest - an amazing array of authors.
@ExtinctionR
Let's open up the black box of capitalism. I discussed what it means & what it does with
@BernieSanders
and
@martinwolf_
on
@BBCR4
last week. Here's how I defined it - how would you put it differently? 1/n
Next Tuesday (29th) we launch Doughnut Economics Action Lab. An online community for teachers, communities, cities, businesses, governments & anyone who is working to bring humanity into the Doughnut.
I pretty much can't wait.
Join us at
@DoughnutEcon
Tonight in Oxford we launch Doughnut Economics Live - a free course for all econ students in the city who want to think like 21st c economists. It's time for every university's economics curriculum to address the world's extraordinary & extreme realities.
It's World Book Day and almost International Women's Day - so I can't resist a shout out to many of the amazing thinkers, doers & changemakers who inspire me every day, and who just happen to be women.
#WorldBookDay
#IWD23
My 13 year old son - an avid reader - just walked into my study and looked at my bookshelves. "Mum", he said, "I want to read a book about economics". Now there's a moment...where to begin? Because where we begin shapes where we go...
First, the problem: in mainstream economics, destruction of the living world is treated as an 'environmental externality'. As Daly wrote, ”we classify things as ‘external costs’ for no better reason than because we have made no provision for them in our economic theories”.
This is fascinating. Instead of GDP targets, China is focusing on jobs and living standards. Is it a momentary hiatus, or a flicker between paradigms? Are we seeing the beginning of the end of the obsession with endless growth? See thread...
So many debates about the future of ‘capitalism’ don’t even define what it means, treating the concept as a black box that's never unpacked. But ‘capitalism’ clearly means different things to different people. It’s time to lift the lid. So what do you expect to find in this box?
When the
@DailyMailUK
reports that humanity is tracking the projections of the 1972 Limits to Growth report - and notes that pursuing endless economic growth looks near impossible - then you know something is shifting in the world.... h/t
@PlanB_earth
Today we launch Amsterdam's City Doughnut - a tool for reimagining and remaking the future of the places we live. My new blog with all the details – and how you can bring this tool to help transform the place you live.
I’m shocked and devastated to hear that the brilliant climate scientist Will Steffen has died. I am deeply grateful to him for so many things - so here is a thread of 5 thank yous (and please feel welcome to add more).
@sarahkbingler
Dear Sarah's son. Geography helps to reconnect humanity with the life-supporting systems of this delicately balanced living planet, and that's a connection on which all of our futures depend. Here's to your studies, and to the difference you can make with what you learn.
It was a privilege to contribute
#Newsnight
yesterday – but there is never enough time to do justice to the arguments. So here’s what I actually wanted to say, in 5 tweets…0/5...
“Nothing on planet earth thrives by trying to grow forever.”
@ecioxford
’s
@kateraworth
says governments’ “addiction and dependency on creating growth” is an obstacle to tackling climate change
#Newsnight
|
@kirstywark
READ MORE: