Myths about nature and the economy, regeneration and a change of paradigm

Our economic system can bring about the degeneration of the world, or its regeneration. We have the choice to keep on stealing the future from coming generations, or we can work to heal it, individually and collectively.

Nature is composed of extremely complex networks of relationships. Some of these, we are starting to understand, some are yet to be discovered. The disruption of these connections is at the heart of the breakdown of our ecosystems and societies, and at the same time, it is the place from where the solutions and actions that engage all people can stem from.

Over the last few centuries, our economy has taken an increasingly divergent path away from the logic that rules the physical world on which we depend on. We have lived under the mirage of an economy built on air, exclusively on human intellect, an economy that can grow unstoppably, as if it did not rely on finite resources and a finite world. This divergence, is indeed what is leading us toward the collapse of the ecosystems that sustain us as we exceed planetary boundaries. For better or for worse, we need to recognize that we can no longer doing business as usual.

For better or for worse, we need to recognize that we can no longer doing business as usual.

The principles and foundations from which our traditional economic system operates are based on systemic entropy, which could be defined as “a process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder”. In a broad sense, our current economic system is based on simplifying complex ecosystems, taking valuable natural resources, manipulating them, and selling products that do not reflect the real environmental cost that this interconnected world is paying for them.

Don’t see how? Let’s think about the mango you last ate. If you live in Europe for instance, it has probably traveled over 9,000 km from a Brazilian groove before reaching your plate. It is likely that large swathes of native and diverse old growth forests have been cut down and replaced with intensive mango monocultures, sprayed with fertilizers and pesticides shipped all the way from mines in China, the United States or Russia. Once the mango was ripe enough, it was shipped on a heavy refrigerated cargo, fuelled with Norwegian oil, and burnt for over 10 days to propel the ship all the way across the Atlantic. All of this, so you could eat a mango that provides you with 200 calories, or which is to say roughly 10% of all the calories a human needs in a day. Enough energy to fuel your body to get from your house to your workplace if you live 30 minutes away.

Now imagine that instead of using money we used calories (energy, the currency of nature) to run our economic system. Surely there would be no doubt that the mango you bought last week is the worst possible investment you could have made. You would have invested, let’s say over 500,000 calories for its growth and transportation, and in exchange, you got a product of 200 calories. Under these market conditions, the plums grown 15 km away from your local grocery seem like a way more juicy investment, don’t they? Now think that with the great majority of the goods that we consume, this is exactly how our economic system operates time and time again, draining our world of invaluable resources and life. As a result, our ecosystems are collapsing . However, fortunately for us, it does not have to be this way.

If you have got to this point, you might be thinking that by reading this blog, you are going to feel on your shoulders all the weight of our collapsing ecosystems because you and only you ate that one mango. Well, before you stop reading, thinking that this is a blog that will make you feel anxious, guilty, and solely responsible for the environmental crisis our world faces, let me tell you that the aim is exactly the opposite. This is the first of a series of articles that will aim to tackle the idea that you need to make a choice between “saving the planet” and your own well-being, happiness, and prosperity.

This is the first of a series of articles that will aim to tackle the idea that you need to make a choice between “saving the planet” and your own well-being, happiness, and prosperity.

It is equally true that our economic systems, investments, and policies, can bring about the degeneration of the world, or its regeneration. We have the choice to keep on stealing the future from coming generations, or we can work to heal it, individually and collectively. Regenerating our planet and avoiding environmental collapse does not mean that we need to go back to a cave and live in utter frugality. It does not require hope or despair, it requires action that is bold and fearless, action operating at a small and large scale. The great news is that we humans have proved to be brilliant at coming together and solving problems, but only those that are very specific.

As environmentalist and entrepreneur Paul Hawken states “if we are going to engage the bulk of humanity to end the climate crisis, the way to do it is counterintuitive: to reverse global warming, we need to address current human needs, not a dystopian future. […] Reversing the climate crisis is the outcome. Regenerating human health, security and well-being, the living world, and justice is the purpose”. If we want to address the climate crisis, we need to start now, we need to serve our children and engage with those our system has excluded. It is time we leave behind the idea that we live in a precarious world and that the needs of people and nature are conflicting and opposed. Reality is quite the opposite, our needs are entangled. This idea, simple but powerful, that human progress and natural restoration can go hand by hand, is called regeneration. Regeneration is, putting life at the center of every human action and decision.

"If we are going to engage the bulk of humanity to end the climate crisis, the way to do it is counterintuitive: to reverse global warming, we need to address current human needs, not a dystopian future".

Achieving a regenerative economy will certainly require a change of paradigm in the way we think, live, do business, and broadly how we organize our societies. The good thing is that it is not as if humanity had not taken on radical changes before. Just think of the coordinated response to Covid 19 which was able to cut down the development of a vaccine from 12 years to 1.2 years.

If you have got to this point, I invite you to join us on this series of articles, in which we will share the stories of people, companies, and organizations that have already embarked on the journey towards regeneration and are pathing the way towards a greener future. We will discuss their perspectives on the environment, the economy, innovative solutions, challenges, greenwashing, visions, and best practices that can help heal our world, and hopefully inspire you at a personal, civic, and professional level.