All Recent Updates – Page 15 – Stephen Hinton Consulting

New E-Book – addressing the market failures arising from the structure of the firm

We are in a time of transition. The world no longer seems to present vast frontiers of new forests to fell, mineral wealth under our feet to extract, or of new soils to plough. Instead the Earth has become more like a garden which we realise we need to steward carefully to keep it productive.

We also see another transition, from societies where everyone more or less had the basics to massive inequalities where for instance in the UK, one in 200 is homeless.

At least from a European perspective, where the state is seen as the protector of people and resources, and firms are partners in providing what people need, we can see this a massive market failure.

New E-Books on the circular economy

This week, the Investors in Peace Academy published two new titles under the category of Peace with the Earth. Each E-book is free to download (you will need to register for updates but you can opt out at any time.)

Explainer: Real Capital

This article follows on from the previous one in the series on explainers about capitalism “What exactly about capitalism means it extracts and exploits?“. We are gravitating towards offering a solution but we need to take a deeper look at what we mean by capital.

Dunbar shows the way to a world where all have agency

As I write this, COP 25 is going on. Children activists interviewed on stage, including Greta Thunberg, are stating simply that they represent the younger generation who want a chance to be able to live on the Earth in future and they see no action that is going to offer them more than a 50% chance of an inhabitable planet. No change since their last COP, only increasing CO2 levels. They, like most people cannot understand why they, their needs and the voices of scientists and ordinary people have no agency. Maybe there is way … building on insights from chimps.

Creative works: Common, not economic man

Just started to publish in blog format chapters from my new creative writing project with the code name Common, not Economic man.

The book follows Max Wahlter, a journalist who decided to enter a competition asking for proposals for alternatives to the UN. Understanding that there is a tragedy of the commons but also a sustainable, regenerative future of the commons, Max set out to use the creative inventing technique of imagestreaming to invent this new World Governance, and to win the prize.

The technique of imagestreaming allows users to “visit in one’s mind’s eye” a place that has successfully solved the challenge. The technique suggests imagestreamers record their impressions and analyze and document them.

Max made several visits to this “place” and brought back som really deep insights. However, it was not all plain sailing as he realised the task asked for a lot more intellectual power than he felt like like applying. On the other hand without it he could not solve the problem.

Follow Max’s trials and tribulations to find the pot of gold – the answer to global governance on A Very Beautiful Place. AVBP.net

Passenger cars – the inconvenient truth

The Sankey diagram below covers Sweden but could probably apply to most of Europe and the US. It shows the total energy input into the country and what it is used on. It tells us an inconvenient truth that no-one seems to be talking about: domestic CO2 emissions come largely from use of passenger cars. If we are serious about killing CO2 we have to look at killing the car as we know it. We have hardly started to even dare have that conversation. The other inconvenient corollary is that our transport system is oil-dependent. And oil is finite. We need to redesign from the ground up the way we arrange things. It is high time. Let me explain.

Models of sustainability

I know that the term sustainable is old fashioned, and people prefer “regenerative” for many good reasons. However, there are good reasons to take a look back at what sustainability is. One of them is that there are already well-accepted and widely used standards frameworks that, if put together, could give governments, local authorities and corporations best practice guidelines. That indeed would be a lot better than People, Planet, Profits triple bottom line thinking as I will explain.

Train thoughts: can we avoid flying?

As a circular economy aficionado, environmental enthusiast and consultant I always stress the importance of living environmentally. I ought to walk the talk, too. A great opportunity came up the other day when I was invited to conference in Barcelona, and had the time to travel by train. I live in Stockholm, Sweden so it is not exactly next door.

Exploring sustainable lifestyles through cases

Out now, this research paper gathers case studies from all over the world to try to understand the direction of development, possibilities and challenges to living in a sustainable way.

Sustainable Lifestyles Policy and Practice: Challenges and Way Forward provides an overview of the current (2019) situation for sustainable lifestyles globally. It includes 32 case studies from around the world, showing on-going efforts to support the transition to sustainable ways of living.

Selected as one of the top blogs on circular economy

Stephenhinton.org just learned that the aggregator FEEDSPOT has this blog listed as one to the top 20 sites on circular economy. See the full list here.