Here’s what troubles me about degrowth: I just can’t bring myself to use the word. And with the help of smoke bombs, elephants and lighthouses, I can explain why. Check out the five reasons why I think degrowth needs a new name in my guest post on Duncan Green’s Poverty to Power blog. Giorgos Kallis, one of … Read more
It’s Davos time and the roundtable discussions are getting underway. So here’s the ultimate roundtable that I invite – or dare – every Davos CEO to take a seat at and tell their company’s story. The table is the Doughnut – the safe and just space for humanity – which lies between the planetary boundaries … Read more
Mother Earth has a never-before-seen portrait now on show, thanks to three pieces of planetary-scale research published this week. Together they paint the most up-to-date image yet of our planetary home – along with the extreme demands that we, her most demanding offspring, are making of her. So what does this most modern of mother-and-child … Read more
Want to help rewrite economics? Then here’s the guerrilla campaign for you – set out in my newly posted TEDx Athens talk on Why it’s time for Doughnut Economics. There’s one diagram at the heart of economic teaching and thinking which gets embedded in the back of the head of every economics student and sets … Read more
Have we have entered the Anthropocene – the planetary era that is dominated by the environmental impacts of human activity? Ironically, the scientists deciding this important question seem to have overlooked the fact that their own deliberations are dominated by white Northern male opinion. The Anthropocene is at risk of becoming the Manthropocene (and – … Read more
Humanity’s central challenge in the 21st century is to meet the human rights of all people within the capacity of Earth’s life-support systems. In other words, we need to get into the doughnut: the safe and just sweet spot between social and planetary boundaries (Fig. 1). Fig. 1: The Doughnut: humanity’s sweet spot So where … Read more
So, how’s the state of your Econ 101? I’m talking about those fundamental economic assumptions you took on board way back when, which are probably so comfortably settled in that you don’t notice them much any more. If you got them from economics textbooks, they might be just a tad dated – by the odd century … Read more
The UN has just published a proposed set of Sustainable Development Goals – to guide humanity’s social and ecological journey through to 2030. So will these SDGs steer us into the doughnut? Check out my 3-point analysis in a guest post on Duncan Green’s great development blog. My top line view? These draft SDGs contain … Read more
The policymakers of the future – today’s economics students – are being sold a model of the economy that is not just long out-of-date, but downright dangerous. Why? Because it is silent on four critical issues that 21st century macroeconomics cannot afford to ignore. I couldn’t resist the chance to talk about it at a 5×15 … Read more
The rewrite of economics is on the move. Student groups from 30 countries (and rising) recently issued a call for a pluralist approach to teaching economics. Known as ISIPE – The International Student Initiative for Pluralism in Economics – they plainly point out that, ‘What is taught shapes the minds of the next generation of … Read more