The Next Economy

The next economy will not arrive as a silver bullet. Rather it is already here (albeit not yet evenly distributed):  in what food we grow, what we make, what we serve and how we create public experiences.

The buzzwords of our economy as being a "creative economy", "knowledge economy", or "green economy", are diversions preventing us from getting to the basics weaving in and out of the core foundations of what our economy is built upon.  We need to get past the language of jargon and go deep into what economy is for all: a way to nourish our livelihoods and to build our culture so we do more good and less harm. Some would say that isn't very "free market of you".  We say, in our economy, that free market is always in a creative tension with achieving the greater good. 

We sit at a crossroads − we can't keep extracting and exploiting (and manipulating) natural resources. Rather, we must evolve, go deep, and be truthful to what kind of society we want. Where will wealth, environmental and stakeholder concerns, and not just shareholder concerns, converge? Previously, the other voices, like stakeholders such as the ecology, were marginalized. Clearly, our earth won't tolerate this kind of thinking anymore, no matter how many economists say:"this model" rules. Each of us has a role in defining how we will "care for our household" the true definition of economics.  Our caring of the "household" must now embrace the whole system of how we live and prosper on this planet.  In the words of Paul Hawkens:

 At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product. We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And whenever we exploit the earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering. Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.

To get us started, here are some events, resources, and conversations to help you evolve your thinking and doing about shaping the next economy.  We link because we know this is the time to make changes that are beyond sustainability. It is now time to be mindful and proactive to our economic challenges as human beings.  

Comment on our Next Economy Blog posts

DOCUMENTS:

Conditions analysis

A Woman's Nation (14.47 MB)

Character and Community

Building Community in Place_Traynor (539 kB)

Community Capacities and Community Necessities (34.5 kB)

Spaces of Democracy (31.5 kB) 

We, the People-Developing a New Democracy (1.3 MB) 

Ecology

Necessary Revolution (812.62 kB)

McDonough- Design Ecology (109.65 kB)

Paul Hawken 2009 Commencement Address (73.15 kB)

Economics

A New Deal for Local Economies (173.95 kB)

Great Transition (1.07 MB)

Place and the New Economy R. Florida (45.68 kB) 

Entrepreneurship

 Economic Gardening (484.33 kB)
 It Is Okay for Artists to Make Money (172.64 kB)

 Entrepreneurship & the Next Economy (227.28 kB)

Innovation

Art, Heart & the Future (32.52 kB) 

Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? (44 kB)

 Emerging 4th Sector (1.03 MB) 

Regionalism

 Local Knowledge (98.5 kB) 

 Mysteries of the Region-John Seely Brown (686.36 kB) 

LINKS:

Michael Shuman

Business Alliance for local Living Economies

Kaufman Foundation on Entrepreneurship

Planetizen

Richard Florida

EF Shumacher Society

Structure Lab

Business Innovation Factory

John Abrams blog

Crash Course with Chris Martenson

DEMOS

Demos is a non-partisan public policy research and advocacy organization founded in 2000.

Artscape in Toronto
Over the last 24 years, Artscape has developed a reputation as Canada's leading practitioner in multi-tenant space development for the arts and culture sector, successfully transforming a portfolio of underutilized buildings across Toronto into dynamic community assets.

North East Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA)

NESEA is the nation's leading regional membership organization promoting sustainable energy solutions.

Northeastern Economic Developers Association  (NEDA)

New Economics Institute

The New Economics Institute is working to make the new economics, one which supports people and planet, mainstream in the United States.  Our current economic system is failing in its essential purpose: to provide fulfilling and healthy lives for all people while nurturing the social and natural systems on which the economic system depends.