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Course Overview
• Focus on overall economic context• some attention to practical business problems
• Postindustrial: the Redefinition of Wealth• Sectors & use-value• Distinctions between
– protection & alternatives– big & small business; corporate & community
• Importance of “values-driven” or “mission-driven” business
• Relationships within and outside of the firm
What is Sustainability?
Bruntland: “"…development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
Durability Definition
"…refers to the ability of a society, ecosystem, or any such on-going system to continue functioning into the indefinite future without being forced into decline through the exhaustion or overloading of key resources on which that system depends." - Robert Gilman, Context Institute
Wish List definition:"Our vision for the future is of a region
characterized by sustainable development, including economic vitality, justice, social cohesion, environmental protection and the sustainable management of natural resources, so as to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." -- Committee On Environmental Policy for
the Economic Commission For Europe
More Qualitative
“Sustainable development is a dynamic process which enables all people to realise their potential and improve their quality of life in ways which simultaneously protect and enhance the Earth’s life support systems.”
--Forum for the Future
(used by Interface)
Postindustrial
Most Qualitative:
“…development focused directly on human and environmental regeneration through both the unleashing of human creative potential, and the benign integration of economic activities within natural systems.”
3-D’s of Green Development
• Dematerialization• Detoxification
• Decentralization
Common Sense Economics
Herman Daly “Trade Recipes,
not Cookies.”
Increase restrictions on the flow of material goods and physical capital (to minimize transport costs, etc.)
Lessen restrictions on the flow of information and culture.
note:
Globalization does exactly the opposite: via free trade and intellectual property law.
Green as Postindustrial
• from mechanics to organics• from machinery to the landscape• culture-based development• substitutes intelligence for resources
(people-intensive)• focus on end-use, or human and
environmental need• from quantity to quality: redefining
wealth
The Green Economy
• A Historical Transition: …from Quantity to Quality
• A Question of Potentials …not simply limits
• Key to Sustainability: Redefining Wealth
Principles of a Green Economy1. The Primacy of Human Need, Service, Use-value,
Intrinsic Value & Quality 2. Following Natural Flows 3. Waste Equals Food4. Elegance and Multifunctionality5. Appropriate Scale / Linked Scale6. Diversity7. Self-Reliance, Self-Organization, Self-Design8. Participation & Direct Democracy9. Human Creativity and Development 10. The Strategic role of the Built-environment, the
Landscape & Spatial Design
Human Development in the Green Economy
• Production: human creativity the key
• Consumption: “end-use” Direct targeting of human need = massive resource savings
• Regulation: participation at all levels.
Labour & Resource Relationship
• Industrial economy: resource-intensive. labour productivity: Substitutes resources for labour.
• Green Economy: people-intensive / resource-saving. Substitutes human creativity for resources
The Centrality of the Landscape
“The industrial age replaced the natural processes of the landscape with the global machine…while regenerative design seeks now to replace the machine with landscape.”
…John Tillman Lyle
Industrialism: The Divided Economy
Invisible Visible Use-value Exchange-value “Consumption” “Production” People Things Unpaid Paid Women Men Informal Formal Private Public
Invisible Economy (1) Total Productive System of an Industrial Society
(layer cake with icing)
GNP-Monetized
½ of CakeTop two layers
Non-Monetized
Productive ½ of Cake
Lower two layers
GNP “Private” SectorRests on
GNP “Public” SectorRests on
Social Cooperative
Love EconomyRests on
Nature’s Layer
“Private” Sector
“Public”Sector
“underground economy
“Love Economy”
Mother Nature
All rights reserved. Copyright© 1982 Hazel Henderson
2
Invisible Economy (2)
Basics of a Green Economy
1. The Service Economy“Hot Showers and Cold Beer”
Nutrition, Illumination, Entertainment, Access, Shelter, Community, etc.
2. The “Lake Economy”Flowing with nature, Every output an input,
Closed-loop organization, Let nature do the work
The Economy in Loops
Industrialism: Accumulation• Production-for-production’s-sake• Invisibility of key factors• Centralization of production, massive upfront
investment • Focus on labour productivity : resources
substitute for human energy• Cog-labour: humans as component parts• Regulation: controls as limits• Scarcity-based: role of waste since WWII• Globalization: free trade & intellectual property
Postindustrialism: Regeneration• New relationship of culture to economics: centrality of
human development• Substitution of human creativity for resources• Direct targeting of human need: conscious consumption• Human-scale technologies: production ‘distributed’ over
the landscape ; Integration: ALL places are places of production
• Qualitative Wealth is PLACE-BASED• Distributed regulation: incentives for positive action
throughout economy.• Self-reliance / interdependence:
“Trade recipes, not cookies”
Structural obstacles to sustainability
• Nature of the Corporation
• Centrality of Economic Growth
• Ownership patterns inconsistent with Stewardship
• Alienated relationship to human need– Creating rather than responding to it
The Business Case for Sustainability
• Single Bottom Line Sustainability (SBLS)
• Essential to large corporations
• Not sufficient to create ecological economies
• Corporations need outside help!
Internal & External Action
• The balance is different for big & small business
• Relationship between democracy & economic evolution
• Centrality of Stakeholder relationships
• Importance of New Enterprise Networks
Market Transformation
• Social & Environmental Values become drivers of “mindful markets”
• Money & capital increasingly a means (not the end-goal) of economic development
• Involves the transformation of regulation —incentives & disincentives built into everyday economic life
Value Revolution & Market Transformation
• Values-driven businessBALLE, GET
• Green/social EvaluationLCA, Eco-footprints,
Community Indicators• Green/social Certification
LEED bldg., FSC wood, LFP food
• Transformative /collective consumerism
Corporate Strategies• Corporations as financial, not
production, entities• Structural problems: the ‘bottom
line’ • documentary: The Corporation• Need to change corporate DNA• Need for outside help: regulation
(EPR), new enterprises networks, certification
• The Stakeholder Corporation & democracy
Community / Small Business • The realm of cutting-edge alternatives in almost
every sector• Need for new & stronger networks• Local market power based on solid knowledge• Import substitution • Regenerative finance• Necessity of empowering all sections of the
community• Community development Plans & Indicators
Companies that provide products or services that improve the quality of life in their communities
Companies that operate more responsibly
Companies that invests their profits in
social or environmental causes
Values-Driven Business
employees
suppliers
customers
community
company
5 Dimensions of Values-Driven Business
Living in De-Material World
Redesign not simply controlsDirect focus on human (& environmental) need
The Service Economy:Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
encouraging provision of services not stuff.
Servicizing (voluntary EPR).
The “Lake Economy”: economic biomimicry:sectoral orientation: regenerative food, energy,
manufacturing, c ommunications.
New forms of economic security
Conscious support of the Commons
Disarming the autonomous power of money
Building a community/ecosystem base: localization.
Social Change Today• Strategic priority of
ALTERNATIVES over opposition.• Community as the key locus for
change, but every level requires action
• Need for long-term VISION• Need for incremental change
and PIONEER ENTERPRISES in ecological economic succession.
• Need for incentives/disincentives thoughout the entire economy.
