Very interesting take on how the Sustainability movement should adapt to the current moment. The changes required to implement this approach might take years to enact and set in, but I think they have the potential to do a lot of good if done quickly and carefully.
And the inclusion of the opinions of members of the military and the defense industry was clever too, showing how universal this issue is and how broad the support is in society - at least if a broad enough message from the movement can capture that support.
Thank you, John, for a perfect summary and reflection on Jeremy's work in developing lessons learned from his 9 years from the creation of SystemIQ. There is no question that Shock Therapy is the right strategy for the global sustainability movement. Ideas of framing the promise on freedom, abundance and home (quality of life, wellbeing) are key elements of the new action and communication agenda that is emerging. I spoke to Jeremy a few days ago and am writing a case study on Systemiq precisely to facilitate the emergence of this new thinking and doing. The work we are doing at the Leonardo Centre on Business for Society at Imperial is centred on exactly the same agenda, as you know. And we have unique evidence that shows how investors returns generated from only the most advanced corporate sustainability actions (innovations and transformational change initiatives) generate not just "reasonable" returns, but radically superior, risk-adjusted, returns compared to market rates. My main concern is: how do we coordinate effectively the action of a hugely fragmented movement of thought leaders, scientists, businesses, institutions, NGOs? How do we federate all on the same overarching agenda and, crucially, language?
Thanks for sharing John. I look forward to reading the essay.
It sounds very aligned to Kate Raworth's work at Doughnut Economics, and the managed degrowth that Jason Hickel, Tim Jackson, et al have been encouraging for many years.
We have the solutions, but have been lacking acceptance and courageous action by governments and business leaders.
There seem to be a growing number of groups 'preparing for societal and climate collapse'
Do you believe we can avoid collapse, or have we left it too late?
It's also interesting to hear how the banking and insurance sectors appear to be accepting and adapting to accelerating impacts of climate change - although not necessarily in ways conducive to sustainable prosperity for all in the way you describe in your post John.
ing micro-factories that fit into shipping containers - one the two breakthrough technologies we’ve been developing at Regenovation Ltd. Might be worth having a chat about that sometime.
With you all the way on this John- human thriving, a flourishing biosphere and tangible desirable outcomes are what motivates most of us, not the hairshirt of sustainability and deep ecology. That was why we created the Thriveability Foundation- to focus attention on regenerative distributive solutions, not the doomerism of collapsists- also a focus of my eight books. While watching the US and global economy swirling around the plughole after dinner on Bloomberg, I caught one of those many glimpses of hope with teeth- the new black gold, biochar :-) Something we’re going to be producing millions of tons of along with water and energy from our X-Prize winn
Very interesting take on how the Sustainability movement should adapt to the current moment. The changes required to implement this approach might take years to enact and set in, but I think they have the potential to do a lot of good if done quickly and carefully.
And the inclusion of the opinions of members of the military and the defense industry was clever too, showing how universal this issue is and how broad the support is in society - at least if a broad enough message from the movement can capture that support.
Good read!
Thank you, John, for a perfect summary and reflection on Jeremy's work in developing lessons learned from his 9 years from the creation of SystemIQ. There is no question that Shock Therapy is the right strategy for the global sustainability movement. Ideas of framing the promise on freedom, abundance and home (quality of life, wellbeing) are key elements of the new action and communication agenda that is emerging. I spoke to Jeremy a few days ago and am writing a case study on Systemiq precisely to facilitate the emergence of this new thinking and doing. The work we are doing at the Leonardo Centre on Business for Society at Imperial is centred on exactly the same agenda, as you know. And we have unique evidence that shows how investors returns generated from only the most advanced corporate sustainability actions (innovations and transformational change initiatives) generate not just "reasonable" returns, but radically superior, risk-adjusted, returns compared to market rates. My main concern is: how do we coordinate effectively the action of a hugely fragmented movement of thought leaders, scientists, businesses, institutions, NGOs? How do we federate all on the same overarching agenda and, crucially, language?
Thanks for sharing John. I look forward to reading the essay.
It sounds very aligned to Kate Raworth's work at Doughnut Economics, and the managed degrowth that Jason Hickel, Tim Jackson, et al have been encouraging for many years.
We have the solutions, but have been lacking acceptance and courageous action by governments and business leaders.
There seem to be a growing number of groups 'preparing for societal and climate collapse'
Do you believe we can avoid collapse, or have we left it too late?
It's also interesting to hear how the banking and insurance sectors appear to be accepting and adapting to accelerating impacts of climate change - although not necessarily in ways conducive to sustainable prosperity for all in the way you describe in your post John.
My thoughts on that here https://www.linkedin.com/posts/donnaokell_big-banks-quietly-prepare-for-catastrophic-activity-7312800153701154816-2Vsm?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAOYMk8BPuoPUOYSCFVGG4pZRCnM8JKkP60
We have left it much too late—and yet there is still time for some sorts of system change.
I hope you’re right John. On a scale of 1-10 how confident are you that we’ll do enough fast enough?
ing micro-factories that fit into shipping containers - one the two breakthrough technologies we’ve been developing at Regenovation Ltd. Might be worth having a chat about that sometime.
With you all the way on this John- human thriving, a flourishing biosphere and tangible desirable outcomes are what motivates most of us, not the hairshirt of sustainability and deep ecology. That was why we created the Thriveability Foundation- to focus attention on regenerative distributive solutions, not the doomerism of collapsists- also a focus of my eight books. While watching the US and global economy swirling around the plughole after dinner on Bloomberg, I caught one of those many glimpses of hope with teeth- the new black gold, biochar :-) Something we’re going to be producing millions of tons of along with water and energy from our X-Prize winn
Freedom, wellbeing and progress. This is the fast lane towards inevitable change. Great article John.