edited by the Club of Rome
50 years ago, in 1972, the first report to the Club of Rome called “The Limits to Growth” warned us that we are heading towards system collapse if we do not reconsider how we act in this world.
This year, leading scientists in the field of transformational economics reexamined the scenarios developed in this first report. They found that the model used fifty years ago was surprisingly accurate.
They also had to observe, that we have not learned much from these first warnings and continued on a rather destructive path for decades.
However, all is not lost. There is still time to turn the ship around and move towards brighter more sustainable future if we act now. The authors conclude that there are five main areas in which Changs needs to happen now:
- Fight against poverty
- Reduce inequality
- Empower women
- Transform our energy system
- Move towards healthy and sustainable food system
In all these areas we need drastic turnarounds from the direction we are headed in now to create wellbeing for everyone and ensure that the ecosystem in which we live in remain relatively stable. This requires us to rethink the core structures and values our economic system is currently centred around: we need to rethink capitalism and broaden our approaches towards measuring wellbeing (to go beyond GDP as the single most important indicator).
The authors demonstrate how the world would benefit from these changes, and show how all can profit from a more evenly distribution of wealth and wellbeing. However, implementing these drastic changes, that certainly would also require the currently powerful and wealthy to step back, will not be easy. There are no clear suggestions how to make these changes happen.
I think it is worth exploring this further – how can the wellbeing of all become more important than the wellbeing of individuals? How can we get away from everyone fighting on their own for their own and instead move towards a more strongly community oriented decision-making approach? Let’s try to figure it out together!