john thackara: how to make less, more

1the economy does not need to be fixed

it needs to be replaced

A Doomsday Machine Economy

Climate change = sea level rise60 centimetres - or 25 metres?

Peak Oil

< < “net energy cliff”

Renewable Energy

Peak credit

Peak Food

WHY?

Peak Food = Peak Fat

1 kg Rice: 3,400 litres

1 kg Beef: 15,500 litres

1 kg chocolate: 24,000 litres

[ Hoekstra ])

Peak water

Resource extraction

“US ICT industry to quadruple its consumption of electricity between 2009

and 2020”

[Institute for Sustainable and Applied Infodynamics & Rice University, 2010]

Climate change

Biodiversity

Energy

Water

Materials

Food

Fat

Doomsday Machine Economy [Adbusters]

Living Planet Index

GROWTH

"A thief who tells a judge he is stealing less than before will receive no leniency. So why do companies get environmental awards for ‘polluting less’ - even though they are still polluting ? ".

[ Gunther Pauli ]

!

so, what is the alternative?

a green economy

a restorative economy

a solidarity economy

a happiness economy

a steady-state economy

green, restorative, solidarity, happiness, steady-state ....

four design principles:

Design principle 1:

From human-centered to l ife-centered

Design principle 2:

From extractive to restorative

Design principle 3: from productivity to solidarity

Design principle 4: focus on system, not on symptoms

nice sermon, john - but:

what work will people do?how will it be paid for?

answer: prosperity based on

what we’ve already got

2

5% SOLUTIONS

BY

CHANGING THE QUESTION

5% mobility

“how are we to pay for transport infrastructure and subsidies?”

1,000%

5%

existing infrastructure

Load-management

via ICT

£7k

smart paratransit

5% schools

“what are we to do now the government has cancelled new school building projects?”

45,000 euros per classroom seat $1 per child per year

5% food

“how will the government stop us eating the junk food that is making us all ill?”

foodsheds

resources...

resources...

resources...

resources

DOTT £100k > > MEC £4m

[12/10/10]

FINALIST, BBC Food & Farming Awards 2010

5% health

Text

“Cubans achieve the same

level of health with only 5%

of the health care

expenditure of Americans."

(SCIENCE, 30 April 2010)

Text

clean drinking water

low-income, high well-being

primary health care

maternal care

nutrition

5% health

HelloHealth

(Brooklyn, USA)

C ACTIONS

Map existing value

Connect the actors

Services for sharing

Social innovtion labs

Five Days Halifax : mapping the territory

map resources...

Ingrid Koivukangas

MARA ADAMITZ SCRUPE

talent-spotting

socialassets

“we love our mash-up city” [10/10/10]

= social wealth

Dance of the BIG and the SMALL

Connect the actors

Open Space meeting

[Connecting the actors]Explorers Clubs

SOCIAL INNOVATION LABSeg Designs of The Time

SOCIAL INNOVATION LABS

City Eco Lab (France)

LAB

LAB [Secret Garden Party]

THANK YOU

THACKARA.COM