This is something for investors in peace with the Earth: the concept of environmental insolvency. It happens when a business creates an environmental liability (in this case, when water cleaning activities pour sewage into rivers and coasts requiring massive reparations). This liability comes when the operational contract requires restitution and the firms do not have enough assets to fund the restoration and upgrade.
Continue reading “UK water industry is environmentally insolvent”Our UBI simulation game has been going awhile and every time it’s played is a new experience and new learning for participants. This is because – like all games – there are several factors interacting at the same time. Think UBI is all good – all bad? When you play the game you will see that even with simple factors to adjust, economics gets complex when humans are involved.
Continue reading “Want to take part in the UBI simulation game online?”This video describes the types of industries that make up supply chains, and points at the areas where they need to adapt to circularity and sustainability.
The decision basis most policy makers have to go on are overwhelmingly economic data. This is needed but economics is far from being a science. For one thing, the units economists use are much less concise than those of physics, biology etc. For another, the world would continue without economists. Science-based professions, like engineering and medicine, would stop working without its science-based practitioners.
Is it possible to create a rational decision basis using metrics other than money? Can this be presented in a way that will help decision-making? Especially decisions about transition to a circular economy?
I need help to make these threads better. Feel free to comment below.
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It wasn’t Yasgur’s Farm, they went one better. Filling the EU parliament with multi-stakeholder representatives from all over Europe and beyond, speaker after speaker talked alternatives to basing society on economic growth.
The Woodstock likeness is fitting: a moment where many gather and co-create around a new way of thinking. If Woodstock was a defining moment for a counter culture generation, Beyond Growth similarly redefined the role of economics as no longer the only kind of music governments sing. Wellbeing, equity, care for the Earth, sufficiency were blasted out from the stage. For three whole days.
Continue reading “A post-growth Woodstock moment”Investors in Peace newsletter has been going for a while. Here are some highlights:
The philosophy of the Circular Economy is really the philosophy of Peace with the Earth. Read why it’s important here. And the first principle is described here.
The business of business is Peace. By putting Peace first, the rest comes easier. Read the introduction and the deeper explanation why Peace is the biggest opportunity.
And what about creating a culture of peace. The time is right to think about a new world. What would a culture of peace look like? Can we measure how peace-promoting our culture is?
Catch all the editions of the newsletter at investorsinpeace.substack.com
John D. Liu was speaking at the recent conference Nature Based Solutions for Water and Peace. The UN Water Conference March 22-24, 2023, at the UN Headquarters New York.
He pointed out that the basis of the economy is buying and selling, but the basis of life is nature. And without life, there is no economy.
Indeed the whole seminar is a fascinating listen.
Read more on the Investors in Peace Substack
Given the warming already locked in, as well as the lack of measures in place, municipalities should prepare for weather pattern instability as well as to be ready for fast changes in political will. The work of Igor Ansoff gives guidance.
ABSTRACT
This report looks at the consequences of the recent IPCC synthesis for municipal authorities in their longer-term planning. Although the main focus is Sweden, the report should be relevant to municipalities in other countries. It suggests that given the warming already locked in, as well as the lack of measures in place, municipalities should prepare for weather pattern instability as well as to be ready for fast changes in political will. The report suggests following the advice of strategist Igor Ansoff to set up capabilities to deal with a turbulent operating environment. This includes capability to monitor the situation, work with a range of scenarios and to ensure the organisation is agile enough to deal with unexpected changes, be they physical, social or political. The report suggests municipalities address three basic strategic questions covering global inaction, energy transition and food provision. It proposes a holistic approach analysing each measure to address climate instability on several dimensions to avoid, among other things, adaptation putting unfair pressure on the poorest.
I heard that Marx struggled at the end of his life to learn enough mathematics to demonstrate his insights as calculations. He didn’t make it. But it is understandable. Society runs on expert calculation. We see them every day about the effects of interest rates and output and unemployment, estimates of share prices etc. The problem is, we are dealing with complexity and treating it like a simple case of “doing the maths” when mathematics is poorly equipped to do that.
Continue reading “Another way to model complexity in economics: game it!”
Stephen Hinton Consulting 