Doughnut Economics - Kate Raworth - Part 3 of 8

2020 Reading Challenge - Day 211

July 31, 2020

Book 58 - Doughnut Economics
Kate Raworth
Chapter 2 - pages 53-80

Reading Time - 60 minutes

This section looks at how we can See the Big Picture and move from a self-contained market to an embedded economy.

Raworth starts this chapter by comparing economics to a Shakespeare play... one in which there are characters. And like in a play, where the characters usually have small descriptions, those descriptions become self-fulfilling.

Traditional economics works on the circular flow model in which there are two primary actors on centre stage - the household and business. There are a few supporting actors like banks, governments and trade. But... the circular flow diagram, ubiquitous as it is, is deeply flawed, for it makes no mention of energy, materials or society.

In the circular flow diagram... these are the characters and their brief descriptions:

Market - efficient so give it free rein

Business - innnovative so let it lead

Finance - infallible so trust its ways (we all know how that turned out in 2008)

Trade - win-win so open your borders

State - incompetent so do't let it meddle

Household - domestic so leave it to women

Commons - tragic so sell it off

Society - non-existent so ignore it

Earth - inexhaustible so take all you want

Power - irrelevant so don't mention it

Putting blind faith in the Market however, means that we have ignored the living world and society and allowed the banks to have runaway power. Leaving us on the brink of ecological, social and financial collapse.

Raworth, however, has a different scenario, a new show, as it were, in which the economy does not simply float in a white space and concern itself solely with the flow of money and income. She sees the economy as embedded within society which is itself embedded within the natural world. And... at the heart of the economy is the household... The characters in this play would then be:

Earth - life-giving so respect its boundaries

Society - foundational so nurture its connections

Economy - diverse so support all its systems

Household - core so value its contribution

Market - powerful so embed it wisely

Commons - creative so unleash their potential

State - essential so make it accountable

Finance - in service so make it serve society

Business - innovative so give it purpose

Trade - double-edged so make it fair

Power - pervasive so check its abuse

Raworth then examines each character in more detail, well worth a read. Some key points that struck me...

The economy is not a closed loop (like in the circular flow diagram)... it is an open system that depends on the Earth to be a source (of materials and energy) and a sink (for waste). Right now... our economy is exceeding the Earth's regenerative and absorptive capacity through over-harvesting sources and over-filling sinks.

The Economy has four means of production and distribution - market, state, household, commons - and works best when all work together.

Mainstream economics is focused on the Household as the productivity of waged labour but completely skips over the unpaid work which makes waged labour possible. The Household is the core economy (original meaning in Greek) and sustains social life.  But... with the gendered division of paid and unpaid work... household work is undervalued and exploited. If every stay-at-home mom was paid for her labour... she would get $120,000/year. A working mom would get an extra $70,000/year. And yet the traditional economic models make no mention of this huge contribution to the economy.

The Market coordinates buyers and sellers but only for things that have a price tag and for those who can pay. The Market can become dangerous if it gets out of control and we can see that with widening social inequalities and economic instability. And the notion of a "Free Market" is a pipe dream. It doesn't exist. All markets are embedded and no market is a "Free Market"... think government bailouts of failing companies.

The Commons is the shareable resources of nature or society - forests, fishing, digital commons. Traditional economics has deemed the Commons to be tragic or doomed to fail  but... that doesn't have to be the case.

The State should support the household, market and commons in order to promote the common good... not just defend borders and enforce laws.

The 2008 financial crisis busted a bunch of myths about Finances. It is not infallible. Today's Finance has a dominating role but that needs to be flipped where Finance plays a supporting role.

Business needs a bigger purpose than making money and we need to look at the inequality between workers and owners.

Trade can be problematic as when manufacturing moves overseas resulting in domestic job losses. Raworth argues that there is no such thing as a "free market" or "free trade".

When 1% hold the same wealth as the other 99%, there is a power imbalance. We see this clearly in the US where the wealthy can reshape politics and economies in their favour. Money funds elections.

This chapter was fascinating and gives me hope that we can redevelop the world so that it is more equitable and just and safe for all concerned.... not just humans, but nature as well.

Doughnut Economics - Kate Raworth - Part 2 of 8

2020 Reading Challenge - Day 210

July 30, 2020

Book 58 - Doughnut Economics
Kate Raworth
Chapter 1 - pages 27-51

Reading Time - 60 minutes

This chapter takes a look at how we can Change the Goal. For decades, nations have focused on the GNP (Gross National Product) or GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to measure economic health and growth. But this has come at the expense of climate change which does not compute for the GDP economists. Using GDP is simply using a very narrow, single metric to measure a nation's economic health.

Raworth asks... what is our goal... she suggests... prosperity for all, within the means of the planet. And then she looks at how the goals have changed over the last few hundred years.

In the 1700s, the goal of economics was secure living and jobs for all. In the 1800s, with John Stuart Mills, that changed to the production of wealth and figuring out the laws of economics... laws that would make economics one of the hard sciences. Today, economics is the study of how society manages its scarce resources bu there is no mention of goals.

If we look at GDP... the goal is simply exponential growth upwards and forwards... words that are taken to mean something is "good".. but is more better? Is unending growth desirable? Focusing on GDP as the sole indicator of economic health omits a number of other indicators. In addition... it raises some interesting questions: growth of what and why? growth for whom? growth for how long?

Rather than a goal of unending growth... what about having this as a goal: advancing the richness of human life. What about enlarging people's capabilities so that they can be healthy, empowered and creative. The doughnut model looks at two areas... the area that humans need and the area that the planet needs. What if our goal were to provide for every person's needs and safeguard the world at the same time.

Shortfalls in the Social Foundation and Overshoots in Ecological Ceiling

If we look at the indicators of the social foundation and the ecological ceiling... we can see that we are not doing too well... Millions of people still live without the basic necessities of life. And the planet is under immense pressure as we blow past the upper limits of things like biodiversity loss and climate change.

We live in a precious time, the Holocene ,which has seen a remarkably stable climate... but we are now moving into the realm of human-induced climate change and we don't know what that might do. We live in a complex socio-ecological system and human thriving depends upon planetary thriving. In the same way that Copernicus rocked the world when he said that the Earth was not the centre of the solar system... we need to understand that we are not the centre or the pinnacle of the ecosystem. We are highly dependent upon everything from water to air to worms and bees.

Raworth argues that we don't need onwards and upwards... we need to come into dynamic balance. We could even map out our own lives on the doughnut model... are we living a doughnut life? Companies and cities can do it as well. To live in a society that is equitable and sustainable.

Doughnut Economics - Kate Raworth - Part 1 of 8

2020 Reading Challenge - Day 209

July 29, 2020

Book 58 - Doughnut Economics
Kate Raworth
  Introduction - pages 1-26

Reading Time - 60 minutes

I've been wanting to read this book for a while and finally got it from the library. It's amazing and well worth a read! One might expect a book about economics to be boring and/or dense... but it's not. And it makes so much sense. I admit to falling behind in the blogging department with this book, so am going to catch up by doing a chapter at a time, rather than 50 pages at a time.

Introduction

I had not idea but... apparently a lot of economics students are rebelling against the narrow and biased ideological perspectives of traditional economics... perspectives that are out of touch with reality. It's pretty clear to these students that the earth, and humanity, is headed for a day of reckoning and they want to reprogram the doomsday machine that is capitalism.

Buckminister Fuller once said that one can never change things be fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. And that's what this book is about. Rather than capitalism's existing model of endless growth (which is ridiculous on a finite earth)... Raworth suggests a new economic model... the doughnut model. The book offers seven mind-shifting ways to think like a 21st century economist... rather than a 19th or 20th century economist. Part of the drive to a new model is what is happening on the earth and within society:

• gross, and growing, inequality - 1% of the population owns more wealth than the other 99% of the population
• deepening degradation of the planet
• rising population and a growing middle-class (globally) that wants the same things other middle-class groups have had

Economics will play a defining role in addressing these issues as everything has now been assigned a monetary value - from parks and rivers to fisheries and forests. But... traditional economics, that is running the world today, is rooted in textbooks from the 1950s which are themselves rooted in theories from 1850. These theories are based in flawed assumptions and have common blind spots which, if left to continue unchecked, will spell disaster for the 21st century.

The author studied economics and began to wonder... what would happen if it was flipped on its head... what if we started with what humanity's long-term goals are and then seek out the economic thinking to make that happen?

What if the lower boundary is the social foundation... above which there is a safe and just space for humanity and below which there is human deprivation.

And what if the upper boundary is the ecological/environmental ceiling beyond which planetary degradation takes us into disaster territory, but below which, we can live within the boundaries of earth's bounteous generosity. Voila... the doughnut model...

Within those two boundaries, there is a safe and just space for all of humanity to enjoy life. The question then becomes... if this is our goal... how do we get there. What ideas and theories would help to achieve this ultimate goal. Raworth decided that images hold a lot of power and many of the traditional economics diagrams are based on deep assumptions. So, Raworth came up with a bunch of diagrams that can reframe how we understand the economic world... moving from diagrams that are out of date, blinkered or just plane wrong... to diagrams that offer us hope for a different world.

She comes up with seven areas in which we can think like a 21st century economist:

1. Change the Goal from GDP to Doughnut model - shift from a model that fosters inequalities and destruction of the planet to one in which we can thrive in balance
2. See the Big Picture - move from the circular flow diagram (economics is just consumers spending money to business which pay money to consumers for labour) to a model in which economics is embedded within society and within the natural world
3. Nurture Human Nature - move from the image of the "rational economic man" to social, adaptable humans
4. Get Savvy with Systems - move from a simplistic supply and demand model which is based on mechanical equilibrium to systems thinking which is dynamic and fluid
5. Design to Distribute - move from inequality (the rich get richer and the poor get poorer) to one in which there is a network of flows designed to distribute wealth (not just income) equitably.
6. Create to Generate - move from pollution to regenerative by design - a circular economy
7. Be Agnostic about Growth - move from the idea of endless growth (impossible) to economies that may not grow but allow us to thrive

Let's go...

How to Give up Plastic - Will McCallum - Part 4 of 4

2020 Reading Challenge - Day 208

July 28, 2020

Book 57 - How to Give Up Plastic
Will McCallum
 Part 4 - pages 160-206

Reading Time - 60 minutes

This last section covers different ideas for giving up plastic in your community and is mostly focused on activism. McCallum offers tips on how to start local groups, campaign for a reduction in plastic production and, as a second-choice, arrange things like beach clean-ups. As we've learned from this book, recycling and clean-ups don't really address the problem which is indiscriminate production with no end-point in view.

McCallum says that when we are united, we can really make a difference. He suggest that instead of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, we should aim for Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It's always good to remember that "Recycle" is at the tail end of the long chain of plastic...

How to Give up Plastic - Will McCallum - Part 3 of 4

2020 Reading Challenge - Day 207

July 27, 2020

Book 57 - How to Give Up Plastic
Will McCallum
 Part 3 - pages 44-159

Reading Time - 60 minutes

Ahhh... grocery shopping, so much fun... and such a huge source of plastic. Apparently some people say that plastic packaging actually reduces food waste but... when they have done studies, they've found that as plastic packaging goes up... so does food waste. The problem is that we are now buying things in bigger containers (with more packaging) and even going whole hog with BOGO offers which also leads to more waste.

Some options for reducing waste in the kitchen, and its associated grocery store run are:

• make a list and stick to it
• ditch the plastic bags - over 1 million plastic bags are used every minute... surely we can find a better solution - like reusable shopping bags
• go to local markets, delis and butchers - ask your local store to reduce its use of plastic
• pick loose veggies over plastic wrapped ones
• avoid non-recyclable plastic - like styrofoam and polystyrene - and avoid black stryofoam like the plague - it is cheaper for the store to buy but... its black colour means the machines can't sort it in the recycling stream (because the black colour blends with the black conveyor belts)
• take-away food is a huge culprit - talk to your favourite take-away about other options (one of ours still uses styrofoam) - we can make a difference... remember when burgers used to come in styrofoam shells?
• use bee's wax wrappers instead of plastic wrap (we do this now!)
• use dish and floor cloths that can be reused rather than paper towels... and stay away from microfibre cloths (darn... we have a bunch of these!)

There's a bit of overlap between the different chapters because the same culprits keep showing up again and again. So the next chapter was on Giving up Plastic on the Go... Here are some top tips:

• bring your own water bottle (try metal) - plastic bottles are horrible... 20,000 sold every second
• if you need a disposable drink - aim for a glass bottle, can or cardboard container - pick a brand with more recycled (cloudy) plastic - dispose of it responsibly
• bring your own reusable coffee cup
• carry your own cutlery (I do this!)
• make your own lunch rather than buying a pre-packaged sandwich or salad

Another big area of plastic use is in the nursery or kids' rooms... and the biggest culprit is disposable diapers. In the US alone, 27.4 billion nappies are used every year and 90% of those end up in the landfill where they take over 500 years to break down. Try going for reusable nappies or biodegradable ones. Some other tips:

• buy pacifiers made of natural rubber
  
• avoid glitter like the plague... all it is is tiny bits of plastic...
• for parties - try to go for plastic-free decor and use non-glossy wrapping paper (cause it is coated with plastic)
  
• for toys - look for quality hand-made, sustainable toys... or go for second-hand toys

If you are at work... McCallum recommends encouraging colleagues to give up the top five: plastic bags, plastic bottles, coffee cups, plastic straws and single-use plastic cutlery

How to Give Up Plastic - Will McCallum - Part 2 of 4

2020 Reading Challenge - Day 206

July 26, 2020

Book 57 - How to Give Up Plastic
Will McCallum
 Part 2 - pages 49-93

Reading Time - 60 minutes

All is not lost... if we begin to give up hope. McCallum gives us some stories of hope in the global movement against plastics. Cities and countries that ban plastics... it can be done. And when you think that the average plastic bag is used for just 15 minutes and yet will take 500-1000 years to break down... you know we have a choice to make.

We can make a difference... McCallum says that we if we just looked at the Big 4 Plastic Pollutants, each of us can make a difference:

• single use cups & lids
• straws
• bottles
• bags

Reduce our consumption of any of those and... we are making a dent in the problem. He also has some specific tips for different areas of our households...

In the bathroom... OMG... there is a lot of plastic! Think of all the bottles and containers and jars for shampoo, conditioner, lotions, make-up, etc. And let's not even talk about diapers or feminine hygiene products... Some tips that stuck with me:

• buy in bulk - shampoo and conditioner - bigger bottles are better
• try soap, shampoo and deodorant bars that come in non-plastic containers
• keep an eye out for microbeads and avoid any products with "poly-anything"
• get lip balm in a tin not a plastic tube
• try to get toilet paper in a box not a plastic package

Some ideas from the bedroom where, honestly, I thought I didn't have a lot of plastic. But... hello micro-fibre sheets and clothing! This includes polyester and nylon clothing... as well as fleece. Some tips to reduce plastic include:

• wash less frequently and wash in cold water with liquid soap and fabric softener
• buy fewer clothes
• buy fewer new clothes
• buy fewer synthetic clothes
• aim for cotton or silk sheets (not polyester or micro-fiber)
  

How to Give Up Plastic - Will McCallum - Part 1 of 4

2020 Reading Challenge - Day 205

July 25, 2020

Book 57 - How to Give Up Plastic
Will McCallum
 Part 1 - pages 1-48
Reading Time - 60 minutes

I ordered this book, and several other eco-books, from the library as they had zero wait time while some of the ones I really want to read have a lonnnnggg wait list. I take what I can get and this seemed kind of a pertinent topic. Mind you, with Covid-19... everything seems to be going backwards and single-use plastics are making a huge come-back.

The author, McCallum, is a Greenpeacer and one of the most common questions he gets is "what can I do to help". His standard answer is to make informed choices about plastic and to look at single-use plastics to start with: plastic bags, straws and coffee cups. Getting rid of those would be one way in which we can, individually have a big impact. But it's more than that as well... our entire society (Western society) is built on a disposable model, or as McCallum says: "We have developed a throwaway culture around single use that is not healthy, for society or for the oceans."

In the Introduction, we learn that Greenpeace ships have found plastic in every single ocean in the world, even around Antarctica, thousands of miles from any human habitation. By 2050, plastic might outweigh fish in the oceans. If there's one message he wants us to take away - it's this - plastic affects all of us and we all share responsibility, both individually and collectively. We created this problem and we are going to have to be part of the solution.

In Chapter 1, the author introduces us to a short history of fighting plastic and touches on a few key areas, like micro-beads and plastic bottles. The root of the problem, ultimately, is that we produce too much plastic and we have no plan as to what to do with it afterwards. Less than half of all plastic bottles in the UK will be recycled. We need to move from a throwaway culture to one where we minimize our footprint.

In Chapter 2, we learn about some of the problems with plastic... it never decomposes... it just keeps breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces. And because colourful plastic looks so inviting... 90% of seabirds have plastic in their guts. And it also ends up in, or tangled around, turtles, seals and whales, to name a few high-profile animals. Plastic isn't inert either... it's a petroleum product, so it releases toxins... which means that it migrates its way up the food chain as little fish eat little bits of plastic and bigger fish eat the smaller fish, etc. Not only that, plastics can soak up toxins from the water... like PCBs... nice.

There are 150 million tonnes of plastic in the oceans and clean-up efforts are a drop in the bucket. Clean up a beach one day and return the next day to see it covered in plastic again.The problem needs to be handled at the source. Five to thirteen million tonnes of plastic are being added to the oceans every year. What boggled me is that one third of the plastic is micro-fibres from our clothing. It's making me take a good, hard look at the micro-fibre sheets that we bought... every time we wash them, we are releasing more plastic in to the water system.

And while I might feel good that we are doing our bit with recycling stuff into our blue bin... the recycling system is broken. We all heard a few years ago when China started turning away recycling from western nations. And the Philippines... and other countries. Because, really, so much of what we send is garbage - things like coffee pods and single-use sachets... like ketchup packets. Companies just produce these things because they are useful but... there is no concern for their disposal... and that is the problem. Indonesia has actually banned single-use plastics and... it works. Maybe it's time to take that on here... The biggest resistance, of course, comes from the plastics and petrochemical industry... but we can make a difference too...