Seven big ideas - reforming our economic view

Seven big ideas
(Seven big ideas and descriptions in Blue from State of the World 2008 – see reference, resources and links page;  examples and ideas in green from the collective consciousness and me).

1.     Adjust economic scale

- an economy that tries to grow beyond a size the biosphere can support will simply destroy it.  So there must be a limit on the size of the economy.

·      Example: online news production vs. newspaper/print production

·      Idea: centralised supply management to reduce duplication and waste.

·      Idea: online newsletter distribution vs. hard copy distribution throughout a company

2.     Shift from growth to development
- move from a growth mandate to a focus on development of value within living condition

·      Business production idea: improving production processes which offer a leaner approach to components (and subsequent landfill) whilst still offering quality product to consumers.

·      Service industry idea: focus on offering higher quality and more targeted services delivery rather than more services to the community.

·      Government idea: substitution incentives – tax relief / bonuses for reduction of negatively environment

3.     Make prices tell the ecological truth

- environmental costs are often unaccounted for by the market leading to misrepresentation of the true impact of business activities and there ability to be sustainable over time.

·      Example: government taxes and vouchers incentives to represent and promote accountability of waste production and disposal in the cost of doing business.

·      Business idea: incorporation of environmental impact targets within corporate budgets and business plans. 

·      Government buy-back incentives for domestic/household waste reduction.

4.     Account for nature’s contributions
- nature’s contributions are increasingly being factored into economic decision making through administrative and market mechanisms.

·      global economy idea: debt reduction incentives for countries which resist pressure to commercialise environmentally beneficial ecosystems –creation of environment economic value systems which compensate resource nations for loss of commercial income.

·      Farming idea: voucher incentives for complementary farming techniques which are developed in connection with nature’s ‘cycle’ and contribution to value creation, i.e. crop production.

5.     Apply the precautionary principle

Mas vale prevenir que lamentar (better to prevent than lament)
- where an activity raises threats of serious or irreversible harm to the environment or human health, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause-and-effect relationships are not fully established scientifically

·      Government policy idea: introduction of risk assessment standards for impact studies for new industry/projects which are formulated and monitored by independent assessors

·      Independent body with auditing powers which enable punishment and reward systems which are relevant to the financial scope of the industry; e.g. fining a mining company for inappropriate environmental practices for less than 1% of their annual revenue is an incentive for infringement rather than correction.

6.     Revitalize commons management
- private property ownership vs. communal interest management of resources – shared responsibility especially in the areas of resources whose use has an impact on the whole community not just the industry

·      International covenant - authority: establishment of an international representative body with the authority and power to oversee global ‘assets’ whose use affects existing and future populations within and without existing political/geographical boundaries.

7.     Value women
‘most poor people are women and most women are poor” according to a 1994 UN Report

·      Idea – incentive program encouraging organizations to include more women on management Boards:  in both developing and wealthy economies women are underrepresented on management Boards of companies, especially outside of the not-for-profit domain. 

·      Idea – sponsorship of education of women projects in countries where women are subjected to discriminatory inaccessibility to education.

·      Idea – development of a more equitable reflection of the economic contribution of full-time parenting women and/or women in primary caring roles (ageing, disabled, children); eg government sponsored superannuation fund contributions scheme which compensates for out of the paid workforce