If you only ever read one article on this site, make it this one. Gunter Pauli has written the most compelling call for abundance I have ever read. Period. He calls this “The New Blue Economy.” I call it beautiful. A paradigm shift in five pages. Download the PDF here.
The essay begins with a bold statement:
Up to now, the model driving our economies depended on perpetual growth, requiring ever more resources and investments. This model has inherent flaws. It leads to unjust societies, highly skewed and exploitative economies, and devastated ecosystems. The business model that defines corporate environmental responsibility in terms of size of investment, and defines corporate success as increased shareholder value and grandiose executive compensation, must be replaced. The new economy must be more effective and more collaborative. It must become truly sustainable, introducing innovations that permit less investment, generate more revenues, and build the strengths of a community and builds up social capital – not debt. This is the business framework that will drive the new Blue Economy. This is the framework that will seek out and define true sustainability for all living species on Earth.
And he has proof. Pauli lists over 100 innovations in his new aptly titled forthcoming book: The Blue Economy: 10 years, 100 Innovations. 100 Million Jobs.
The first set of innovations, all proven and benchmarked at a remarkable scale, cascade nutrients and energy the way ecosystems do. This means that everything contributes according to its capacity, and everything stays in the nutrient stream – even waste is not wasted. Instead of contrived scarcity and shortages, what we see in the new economic framework is abundance – of food, energy, jobs, and revenue.
His “New Blue Economy”
will increasingly rely on less energy and provide more diversity through innovations brought to the market by ever more entrepreneurs fortified with a vision of real sustainability and prepared to take the risks. More players will be encouraged to respond to critical needs, linking the triangle of innovation, sustainability, and entrepreneurship away from scarcity and into abundance. Debt becomes social capital, external costs become opportunities to differentiate on the market.
The thing to remember folks is this is already happening. Many of the members of Abound have innovated products, services and business relationships that are already showing the way to abundance. This is not science fiction, futuristic or wishful thinking. This is happening NOW. Scarcity or abundance. You decide. Just remember who your decision is affecting.
Image source: Dawn Gaskill, Abundance
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