Prosperity without Growth

The UK's Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) have recently produced one of their bravest publications, Prosperity Without Growth. It clearly lays out the evidence and rationale for and against contiuned economic growth, and the importance of differentiating between relative and absolute decoupling. It also lays out the scale of task in front of us:

"The scale of improvement required is daunting. In a world of nine billion people, all aspiring to a level of income commensurate with 2% growth on the average EU income today, carbon intensities (for example) would have to fall on average by over 11% per year to stabilise the climate, 16 times faster than it has done since 1990. By 2050, the global carbon intensity would need to be only six
grams per dollar of output, almost 130 times lower than it is today."

Whilst the routemap and policies needed to get us there are not yet clear, the SDC's role in bringing the need for change into the public arena through documents such as this is of profound importance.

Stepping up to change

One of the most important skills that the government can learn to accelerate progress on climate change and sustainability is that of letting go; the system can't change itself from inside as the norming behaviours stop it doing so.

To affect real change means leaving behind the new.gov language of strategic partnerships and formal relationships, which alienate as many people than they include, to a view that's closer to an ecosystem of supporting relationships, with the appropriate levels of information and energy moving around to support each individual and organisation.

The fastest changes in the UK are happening on the edges / the boundaries of organisations where third sector knowledage and business entrepreneurship innovation can flourish. One County Council (representing an area of around 180,000 people) are about to go for a goal ogf reducing their carbon emissions by 20% in one year. By letting go, not holding on.

Growing from Cradle to Cradle

Diana den Held is a strategy consultant in the Netherlands who's been working with Michael Braungart's EPEA organisation to scale up the adoption of Cradle to Cradle as the basis for design and procurement at nation-scale.

In this useful article, Diana interviews Braungart and unpicks some of the questions that perplex others, around how to accelerate speed and adoption of this important approach. One good question she asks Braungart is "Could you name a few examples what the government effectively could set out?". The apparent simplicity of his responses belies the complexity of achieving the results:

· Make a plan to encourage that within 5 years all the paper used at government, whether it is a newspaper or cardboard, will be suitable to enter the biosphere. Then, the entire industry will change.

· Encourage that in 10 years the indoor air in a city building will be better than the outdoor air.

· In five years no more chemicals will be used that can be found in mother’s milk.

· Encourage the building of plants that makes healthy and safe children’s toys.

· Within 3 years, set up a program that encourages the textile industry to make clothing suitable for wearing on one’s skin.

Encourage the building of schools and daycares to be set up with materials that keep the indoor air healthy, so that the chance of illness is lessened.

Set up a work method where within 10 years we make the earth fertile again instead of only using it up. (Currently, we lose 5000 times more than what we create.)

In every city indicate a neighbourhood where as of now all new houses get green roofs, so that the air in the cities becomes cleaner.

Setting SMART targets for sustainability is something that government and business need to do more - and getting the general direction right first is key. Braungart's comments are a great start.

Charting a course for Sea Change

This afternoon's meeting was one of those quiet, strong affirmations that the course we've been pursuing is one that's engaged the hearts as well as minds of TYF's staff team.  At the centre of our philosophy is a vision of enlisting 500,000 people in a journey of Sea Change through inspirational and informed activities that range from keynote talks to adventures on the wild coastlines of Pembrokeshire.

Sea Change is a simple, powerful 'Triple Top Line' process that brings together:

• The science that underpins Sustainaibility - learning to live as part o nature on one planet in a smart, post-oil, low carbon economy
• A spirit of Enterprise - to find new ways around old problems and 'stuck thinking' that slows down progress.
• Action - the commitment and skill to make things happen once we know what's needed. Personal responsibility, courage and high speed learning from what works and what doesn't

We'll be taking the Sea Change message into everything we do - work, rest and play, and find a way to make profit doing it, because if we don't fund ourselves, no-one else will.

Biomimicry at Schumacher College

Details of the next course on biomimicry are now available on the Schumacher College website . The June programme on Biomimicry: Nature as Mentor, Model and Measure will look at different perspectives, with  Dayna Baumeister giving an overarching view, Michael Pawlyn using biomimicry for design of the built environment and space. I'll be demonstrating how a nature-inspired approach to organisation development and behavioural change can reap benefits all round.

The last programme we taught at Schumacher, September 08, sold out around a month before the programme, and brought together a powerful range of professionals and students for a week of innovative thinking and creation of new pathways to waste reduction, design and change.