That is a good line from Don’t Look Up Tiza. You are not a failure! Thank you for your candor, honesty, and vulnerability. I struggle mightily in development and waiting, waiting, waiting… for signed contracts on written proposals that shift from business as usual = 100’s of hours of education, research, getting out of my comfort zone, meeting folks, forming teams, forming relationships… and I’m exhausted and thinking nothing will ever change…
I fired off a 10-person professional email to associates in different backgrounds recently to discuss Gaia’s Web by Karen Bakker, The MIT Press, 2024. I found kindness, empathy and most importantly, support. They are points of light for me.
Maybe relationships are what matter most? Little by little. Maybe we all move forward?
With the help of dear writer friends, I’ve only recently begun to analyze capitalism (something I’d never really questioned critically) vs. degrowth. Per your policy discussions and GDP measurement/metrics, I’m so curious if you’ve read Less Is More – How Degrowth Will Save The World by Jason Hickel:
“There is now a fast-growing list of alternative metrics (to GDP), including the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare and the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), both of which set out to correct GDP for social and ecological costs. And this new thinking is beginning to trickle into policy too. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern captured headlines in 2019 with her promise to abandon GDP growth as an objective in favour of well-being.” Pg 203
Tiza, do you hear GPI discussed in those rooms you are in? <Love that you are in those rooms> Or is GPI “one of those things” not taken seriously?
Dear Sidney, thanks for your kind words of support. I have read Jason Hickel's book and am an ardent admirer. GPI is not discussed in the rooms I'm in. I recently brought up how we have so many other indicators that exist and we are already monitoring, like SDGs, and asked why they are rarely brought up as good indicators of economy. The answer was that GDP determines a country's credit rating, and that in turn affects decisions by development banks, private banks and foreign investment.
So cool on Less Is More – love that! And so appreciate your response, Tiza. Your policy work floats above… everything.
I search for easy ways to understand and communicate BIG difficult issues in sustainability across industries. Thank you for doing that for us here regarding GDP. I will continue discussing this – especially with my financial services friends – kindly, with questions. I’m looking forward to talking with them… I think. :D
Sooo many questions...
Sorry, if I may please write just a bit more (hoping you read it – and I am so not you): why can’t we ‘correct GDP’ with simple full accounting? Accounting for the unaccounted. Start with the *$10 trillion + 25 billion hrs/year of unpaid care and domestic work globally. Work that is increasingly harder-to-impossible to do in the face of climate destabilization. ‘Our’ capitalist engine – measured by GDP – doesn’t acknowledge/account for this – am I right? And won’t run without it?
*Pg 25 Intertwined – Women, Nature, And Climate Justice, by Rebecca Kormos, 2024, The New Press (our June Climate Change Book Club reading) :)
That is a good line from Don’t Look Up Tiza. You are not a failure! Thank you for your candor, honesty, and vulnerability. I struggle mightily in development and waiting, waiting, waiting… for signed contracts on written proposals that shift from business as usual = 100’s of hours of education, research, getting out of my comfort zone, meeting folks, forming teams, forming relationships… and I’m exhausted and thinking nothing will ever change…
I fired off a 10-person professional email to associates in different backgrounds recently to discuss Gaia’s Web by Karen Bakker, The MIT Press, 2024. I found kindness, empathy and most importantly, support. They are points of light for me.
Maybe relationships are what matter most? Little by little. Maybe we all move forward?
With the help of dear writer friends, I’ve only recently begun to analyze capitalism (something I’d never really questioned critically) vs. degrowth. Per your policy discussions and GDP measurement/metrics, I’m so curious if you’ve read Less Is More – How Degrowth Will Save The World by Jason Hickel:
“There is now a fast-growing list of alternative metrics (to GDP), including the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare and the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), both of which set out to correct GDP for social and ecological costs. And this new thinking is beginning to trickle into policy too. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern captured headlines in 2019 with her promise to abandon GDP growth as an objective in favour of well-being.” Pg 203
Tiza, do you hear GPI discussed in those rooms you are in? <Love that you are in those rooms> Or is GPI “one of those things” not taken seriously?
Sorry for the long post!
Thank you and kind regards
Dear Sidney, thanks for your kind words of support. I have read Jason Hickel's book and am an ardent admirer. GPI is not discussed in the rooms I'm in. I recently brought up how we have so many other indicators that exist and we are already monitoring, like SDGs, and asked why they are rarely brought up as good indicators of economy. The answer was that GDP determines a country's credit rating, and that in turn affects decisions by development banks, private banks and foreign investment.
So cool on Less Is More – love that! And so appreciate your response, Tiza. Your policy work floats above… everything.
I search for easy ways to understand and communicate BIG difficult issues in sustainability across industries. Thank you for doing that for us here regarding GDP. I will continue discussing this – especially with my financial services friends – kindly, with questions. I’m looking forward to talking with them… I think. :D
Sooo many questions...
Sorry, if I may please write just a bit more (hoping you read it – and I am so not you): why can’t we ‘correct GDP’ with simple full accounting? Accounting for the unaccounted. Start with the *$10 trillion + 25 billion hrs/year of unpaid care and domestic work globally. Work that is increasingly harder-to-impossible to do in the face of climate destabilization. ‘Our’ capitalist engine – measured by GDP – doesn’t acknowledge/account for this – am I right? And won’t run without it?
*Pg 25 Intertwined – Women, Nature, And Climate Justice, by Rebecca Kormos, 2024, The New Press (our June Climate Change Book Club reading) :)