"We need to focus less on symptoms of corporate abuse and more on the underlying cause--excessive corporate power. We must recognize that ultimately our struggle is for power. It is not just to make corporations more responsible, but to make them our servants, in much the same way that elected officials are public servants."

"We need what the movement now lacks: a coherent vision of the role we want corporations to play in our society and a strategy for achieving that vision. It's about putting We the People back in charge of our future, rather than the robotic behemoths that set their sights on short-term growth and high profits, regardless of the consequences."

"Imagine... Responsible companies protect the environment as though there is a tomorrow, and they view worker knowledge and company's reputation in the communities where they operate as their greatest assets."

In this article by Michael Marx and Marjorie Kelly, the roots of many of societal and environmental illth is pointed at the excessive power of corporations. Their analysis of the situation made clear that it is we that had recklessly given that power, and only we can take it back and bring corporations back in the service of public good.

To do that, three major strategic tracks were highlighted in the article:

1. We need to restore democracy and rebuild countervailing forces that can control corporate power.
2. We need to severely restrain the realms in which for-profit corporations operate.
3. We need to redesign the corporation itself, as well as the market system in which corporations operate.

They also speak of how a global citizens' movement operating under a coherent strategy can bring corporations back under control within 20 years.

Read the full article at YES! Magazine >>

Related readings

1. Commerce, Culture and Nature - a Clash of Chronologies by Paul Hawken
2. Corporate Design: The Missing Business and Public Policy Issue of Our Time by Marjorie Kelly and Allen White
3. The Urgent Need to Redesign Corporation by Wibowo Sulistio
4. Toward a Global Citizens' Movement to Bring Corporations Back Under Control by the Strategic Corporate Initiative (SCI)
5. 7 Cool Companies: The Best Alternatives to Corporate Power by Gar Alperovitz and Steve Dubb & Ted Howard
6. B Corporations: a community of for-Benefits corporations

(Image by B Tal. Some rights reserved.)

Quoted from the article:

"Postindustrialism is all about closing resource loops and directly meeting human need--for nutrition, access, shelter, illumination, entertainment, community, and self-actualization--in the most elegant and efficient ways possible."

"... we want 'hot showers and cold beer' and not necessarily power plants and fossil fuels. The latter are just means-to-the-end, and usually not very sensible means... by focusing on real needs, and working backwards to find the most elegant and efficient ways of meeting those needs, one could routinely dispense with lots of unnecessary supply."

"... a core characteristic of green development [is] to substitute human creativity for resources. Some have described a green economy as labour-intensive. But "people-intensive" better suggests that green work is a very different, more developmental, kind of labour than the body- and soul-destroying cog-labour endemic to capitalism."

"A holistic focus on end-use takes us beyond simple efficiency to questions of the purpose of production... In the eco-service economy, manufacturing would be kept local and subordinated to service; stuff would simply be means to the end of satisfying needs for nutrition, shelter, entertainment, illumination, communication, etc."

"Postindustrial or qualitative wealth--in contrast of the quantitative industrial wealth of standardized mass production--is specific to place and circumstance... Community is the nexus through which a green economy's qualitative wealth, organizational efficiencies, and participatory democracy revolve."

"Just as a green economy features distributed or decentralized food, energy and goods production, so also it needs distributed regulation, expressed in finance, certification, communication, education, community design, civic culture, and many forms of participation. The scale of a green community-based economy is, in itself, a key factor encouraging democracy, participation and accountability. It is no panacea, but it makes most of the other positive elements more possible or effective."

"Small values-driven businesses, while they can put social and eco-values in command, need support networks, access to finance and information, and markets. Big business has more resources and access to information, but it is far more constrained by the single bottom line. So it too needs help from the outside--be it via regulatory rules, new enterprise networks, stakeholder pressure, or certification systems."

"Absolutely fundamental to creating ecological or knowledge-based economies are measures of qualitative value. It's an apparent paradox that qualitative development requires more quantification than old-line accumulation which was a pretty simple matter. Qualitative wealth requires complex information on ecosystems, communities and economies: from mass-balance accounts, to eco-footprints, genuine progress indicators, to life-cycle assessment, to social and educational indicators, to local economic multipliers, to sustainable community indicators, and many more."

Read the full article >>

Other writings by Brian Milani

1. From Opposition to Alternatives: Postindustrial Potentials & Transformative Learning (read >>)
2. Mindful Markets, Value Revolution and the Green Economy: EPR, Certification and the New Regulation (read >>)
3. Beyond Environmental Protection: Ecological Alternatives & Education for a Green Revolution (read >>)
4. (Book) Designing the Green Economy, The Postindustrial Alternative to Corporate Globalization (read review >>)

(Photo: Some rights reserved by kenwood)

GreenEconomics.net has this enlightening article on what constitutes a green economy. It begins with the following statement:

"Green economics is the economics of the real world--the world of work, human needs, the Earth's materials, and how they mesh together most harmoniously. It is primarily about 'use-value', not 'exchange-value' or money. It is about quality, not quantity for the sake of it. It is about regeneration--of individuals, communities and ecosystems--not about accumulation, of either money or material."

It then list the following interrelated principles that cover key dimensions of a green economy:

1. The Primacy of Use-value, Intrinsic Value & Quality
2. Following Natural Flows
3. Waste Equals Food
4. Elegance and Multifunctionality
5. Appropriate Scale / Linked Scale
6. Diversity
7. Self-Reliance, Self-Organization, Self-Design
8. Participation & Direct Democracy
9. Human Creativity and Development
10. The Strategic role of the Built-environment, the Landscape & Spatial Design

It also stresses the importance of community by saying "The basis for self-regulation in a green economy would be community, and intelligent design which provides incentives for the right things." And, in another article, "Community is the nexus through which a green economy's qualitative wealth, organizational efficiencies, and participatory democracy revolve."

Read the full article >>

(Photo by Thomas Hawk)

"In A Conservation Economy, Economic arrangements of all kinds are gradually redesigned so that they restore, rather than deplete, Natural Capital and Social Capital."

What does a sustainable society look like?

On ConservationEconomy.net, fifty-seven patterns provide a framework for an ecologically restorative, socially just, and reliably prosperous society. They are adaptable to local ecosystems and cultures, yet universal in their applicability. Together they form what we call a Conservation Economy.

Together, the patterns form a visual and conceptual framework that can be used to inspire innovation, focus planning efforts, and document emerging best practices. A conservation economy comprehensively integrates Social, Natural, and Economic Capital to demonstrate that a sustainable society is both desirable and achievable.

What is a pattern language?

A pattern language is a structured method of describing good design practices within a field of expertise. It is characterized by

1. Noticing and naming the common problems in a field of interest,
2. Describing the key characteristics of effective solutions for meeting some stated goal,
3. Helping the designer move from problem to problem in a logical way, and
4. Allowing for many different paths through the design process.

When a designer is designing something (whether it is a house or a computer program or a stapler), they must make many decisions about how to solve problems. A single problem, documented with its best solution, is a single design pattern. Each pattern has a name, a descriptive entry, and some cross-references, much like a dictionary entry. A documented pattern must also explain why that solution is considered the best one for that problem, in the given situation. When design is done by a team, pattern names will form a vocabulary they can share. This makes it necessary for pattern names to be easy to remember and highly descriptive.

A Pattern Language for Sustainability - Toward a Conservation Economy

In A Conservation Economy, Economic arrangements of all kinds are gradually redesigned so that they restore, rather than deplete, Natural Capital and Social Capital. While A Conservation Economy functions on a global scale, it can be imagined as a healthy mosaic of Bioregional Economies forged within coherent biological and cultural units. Even in a globalizing economy, diverse Bioregional Economies that are more self-sufficient in meeting their own needs will be more competitive and less vulnerable.

Pattern Index

A Conservation Economy

Social Capital

• Fundamental Needs: Subsistence Rights, Shelter For All, Health, Access To Knowledge
• Community: Social Equity, Security, Cultural Diversity, Cultural Preservation, Sense Of Place, Beauty And Play, Just Transitions, Civic Society

Natural Capital

• Ecological Land-Use: Connected Wildlands (Core Reserves, Wildlife Corridors, Buffer Zones), Productive Rural Areas (Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Forestry, Sustainable Fisheries, Ecotourism), Compact Towns And Cities (Human-Scale Neighborhoods, Green Building, Transit Access, Ecological Infrastructure, Urban Growth Boundaries)
• Ecosystem Services: Watershed Services, Soil Services, Climate Services, Biodiversity

Economic Capital

• Household Economies
• Green Business: Long-Term Profitability, Community Benefit, Green Procurement, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Materials Cycles, Resource Efficiency, Waste As Resource, Product As Service
• Local Economies: Value-Added Production, Rural-Urban Linkages, Local Assets
• Bioregional Economies: Fair Trade, True Cost Pricing, Product Labeling

"Our industrial-affluent-consumer society is extremely unjust and ecologically unsustainable. The argument [in this article] is that these problems cannot be solved in a society that is driven by obsession with high rates of production and consumption, affluent living standards, market forces, the profit motive and economic growth. A sustainable and just world order cannot be achieved until we undertake radical change in our lifestyles, values and systems, especially in our economic system."

"The alternative we must work for is the Simpler Way, based on frugal "living standards", co-operation, high levels of local economic self-sufficiency, and zero economic growth. There is now a Global Alternative Society Movement in which many small groups are building settlements of the required kind. The final section below argues that the top priority for people concerned about the fate of the planet should be starting to build these new lifestyles and systems within existing towns and suburbs." (Ted Trainer)

Read the full article >>> (Central theme: local cooperative and participatory economic self-sufficiency)

For a more detailed account of the rationale for, and the probable shape of such alternative sociey, read:

1. The Problem of Affluence and The Values and Worldview of Consumer Society - The Biggest Problem
2. Saving the Environment - Do You Realise What It Will Take?
3. Renewable Energy Can't Save Consumer Society
4. Capitalism: A Brief Critical Outline, Is a Humane Capitalism Possible? and Why Marx Matters
5. Our Empire, It's Nature and Maintenance
6. Our Economic System - Why It Must Be Scraped
7. Conventional Development vs. Appropriate Development and Appropriate Third World Development
8. The Alternative Sustainable Society - the Simpler Way
9. The New Economy for the Simpler Way
10. Can We Set Up a Community Cooperative Firm?
11. The Radical Implications of the Limits to Growth Analysis for the Design of Settlements
12. Agriculture: Conventional vs. Alternative and Can Permaculture Save the Planet?
13. How Cheaply We Could Live and The Way I Live
14. Spiritual Significance of the Simpler Way
15. Education: A Radically Critical View and Education in the Alternative, Sustanable Society
16. Cartoons Dealing with "The Simpler Way" Themes
17. The Transition is Underway and Thoughts on the Transition to a Sustanable Society
18. The Way It Could Be: A Visit to a Sustainable Society. This is a 250 page novel by Ted Trainer describing the experiences of a person who visits a fictitional settlement that has adopted Simpler Way principles. It is in 12 parts, all of which are available online free to read. (Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6. Part 7. Part 8. Part 9. Part 10. Part 11. Part 12)
    

W. Warren Wagar, who first sounded the call for a world revolution in his book Building the City of Man: Outlines of a World Civilization, explained the need for a large-scale movement in his chapter entitled "The Policy of the Whole Hog":

Unfortunately master strategists of world revolution are in chronically short supply. It is easier to attend to selected small problems ready at hand. The general public, and most intellectuals as well, dither from one issue to another. Now it is Korea, now Algeria, now Vietnam. Petitions for world government are followed by civil-rights demonstrations, which in turn give way to bomb-shelter building and emigration to New Zealand. Everyone rallies around the Common Market; next the Peace Corps; then campus revolution. Every year brings its new approved activity: marches on nuclear installations, silent vigils, ghetto riots, draft-card burnings, ecology crusades. The current persuasion or obsession of every man, woman, and child over the age of nine is readily identifiable by his dress, hair, ornamentation, and insignia, which undergo complete stylistic metamorphoses at least wice a decade. But nothing every really changes. We do not give one hour or one dollar in a thousand to the solving of world problems, and only one of every thousand that we do give is dissipated in haphazard, uncoordinated, miscellaneous philanthropy.

All the movements taken to task in this chapter have something to contribute to the search for a new world. I lament only their lack of broader visions and more versatile strategies. We must pull ourselves together, in spite of everything. Developing a master strategy for world revolution means a drastic simplification of purpose, and at the same time a drastic complexification of effort.

Our goal must be, quite simply, a new organic world civilization, a new sociocultural, economic, and political environment for the species Homo sapiens, with a new organic relationship to the larger environment of earth and cosmos. Such a goal simplifies our world view, but it does not make our task any easier or smaller. Just the opposite. The search for social justice, personal freedom, truth and meaning, peace, well-being, and the good life are not superseded by the search for a new civilization, but are assimilated directly into it. Civilization building requires disciplined attention to all the needs of progressive mankind. In coming chapters, therefore, we shall have to discuss politics, law, religion, philosophy, culture, human rights, economics, education, ecology, the universe itself--all in relationship to our vision of the desirable future of mankind.

Nothing can be left out, because everything is collapsing. Proposals to repair the old civilizations, or replace them piece by piece, are madness in reason's mask. H. G. Wells relates an appropriate parable in one of his last books on world order. The survivors of a vessel lost at sea have found refuge on a desert island, where the most likely source of food is a wild pig. The pig, of course, objects. Despite their great hunger, the survivors put forward reasonable suggestions for satisfying their needs without causing too much discomfort to the pig. One man will be content with a loin chop, another with the left ham, a third will settle for chitterlings. The cabin boy, however, points out that the animal is unlikely to agree to any diminution of himself whatsoever. In such a situation, the only policy that makes sense is to kill the whole hog and be done with it.

~~ From http://www.worldrevolution.org/WRNewFiles/IntrotoWR.htm

(Photo by salama)

Here's an excellent definition and explanation of the concept "Sustainability":

"Sustainability is a systemic concept, relating to the continuity of economic, social, institutional and environmental aspects of human society. It is intended to be a means of configuring civilization and human activity so that society, its members and its economies are able to meet their needs and express their greatest potential in the present, while preserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems, and planning and acting for the ability to maintain these ideals indefinitely. Sustainability affects every level of organization, from the local neighborhood to the entire planet."

Accompanying this description is "a number of common principles [which] are embedded in most charters or action programmes to achieve sustainable development, sustainability or sustainable prosperity", synthesized by Hargroves, K. and M. Smith (2005) in their book "The Natural Advantage of Nations: Business Opportunities, Innovation and Governance in the 21st Century". These include:

• dealing cautiously with risk, uncertainty and irreversibility;
• ensuring appropriate valuation, appreciation and restoration of nature;
• integration of environmental, social and economic goals in policies and activities;
• equal opportunity and community participation;
• conservation of biodiversity and ecological integrity;
• ensuring inter-generational equity;
• recognizing the global dimension;
• a commitment to best practice;
• no net loss of human or natural capital;
• the principle of continuous improvement; and
• the need for good governance.

Read more at PermaWiki >>

(Photo by bb_matt)

"Today's organizations face complex challenges in fast and global environments. Knowledge and excellence based on past experiences have lost their valid promise for future success. What we learned about organizations, systems, management and processes and what worked for us up till now does not necessarily give answers to the diverse problems of today and less so of tomorrow. And although managers and leaders world wide try to face these challenges, usually with costly organizational changes on structure and process levels and with a high investment in training and human resource development measures, they still draw from the (known) past - for an unknown future."

"Letting go of the past and the patterns in which one is thinking and acting and creating the future from how it emerges is the maxim of Theory U. Leaders, argues organization research shooting star C. Otto Scharmer, are like artists in front of a pure canvas - they must sense the painting long before the brush touches the varnish. They must feel and see it emerge, long before it is put on the fabric. Only then it can turn from a mere drawing into a piece of art. Good leaders are creative artists, they know, see and sense by more sources than the traditional ways what is emerging. They can sense the presence (presencing) holistically and can draw from knowledge beyond the past and learn from the emerging future for their strategy and actions." (Barbara Schratz-Hadwich)

(Click title or "read on" below to read the full summary.)

(Photo by somewhereinak)

Humanity is living one of its most crucial moments. The time of the great empires is in decay. There is no specific culture or country arising as a new empire, but instead there is a Global Emerging Culture. It seems that the planet is growing a new social body where all humans are connected giving birth to a global brain.

We are living in the peak of an evolutionary leap. The past century we started riding horses and ended riding to the moon. We have reached a high level of development in technology, but we haven't evolved in the same proportion in the development of our consciousness. That is indeed a dangerous formula for our planet.

Taking that in consideration the guidelines I suggest for the Emerging Global Civilizations are the following:

1. Personal Mastery
2. Social Technologies
3. Global Collective Intelligence
4. Citizens of the World

(Click "Read on" below to read the full message. Photo by big-e-mr-g)

"What might a governance system look like if it were established to protect the rights of all members of a particular biological community, instead of only humans?"

"Cicero pointed out that each of our rights and freedoms must be limited in order that others may be free. It is far past time that we should consider limiting the rights of humans so they cannot unjustifiably prevent nonhuman members of a community from playing their part. Any legal system designed to give effect to modern scientific understandings (or, indeed, to many cultures' ancient understandings) of how the universe functions would have to prohibit humans from driving other species to extinction or deliberately destroying the functioning of major ecosystems. In the absence of such regulatory mechanisms, an oppressive and self-destructive regime will inevitably emerge. As indeed it has."

"In particular, we should examine the fact that, in the eyes of the law, corporations are considered people and entitled to civil rights. We often forget that corporations are only a few centuries old and have been continually evolving since their inception. Imagine what could be done if we changed the fiduciary responsibilities of directors to include obligations not only to profitability but also to the whole natural world, and if we imposed collective personal liability on corporate managers and stockholders to restore any damage that they cause to natural communities. Imagine if landowners who abused and degraded land lost the right to use it."

Read full article at Orion magazine >>

(Photo by brynmeilion)

"We think of the relentless pressure to deliver rising earnings and unending growth as somehow intrinsic to the very notion of the corporation, not realizing that it is in large measure the outcome of a particular corporate design. Other designs are possible. They are not the implausible dreams of idealists. They are, in fact, already functioning at substantial and successful companies."

"New corporate architecture can help investors escape the bone-rattling roller coaster of stock market volatility. Ratcheting down the speed of speculation can help investors lower their risk and enjoy more reliable long-term returns. Reducing capital pressure goes hand in hand with enhancing environmental and social performance, directing corporate decision-making in ways that avoid growth at any cost and abuse of ecological and human resources. A new corporate architecture can bring working people relief from the pressure cooker of the modern workplace, where there's little time for leisure and family life. Corporate design can be a key pivot point moving society toward sustainability and broader human well-being."

Summary

This important report begins with a sharp insight on the true nature of the corporate world:

Business leaders operate today inside a corporate design largely inherited from the 19th century, with ownership and governing structures put in place during the horse and buggy era. In that time, when nature offered seemingly unlimited resources, we had not yet confronted the ecological limits we face today. In that era, when labor meant interchangeable strong backs wielding hammers and picks, employee knowledge and capacity to innovate did not yet represent the foundation of competitive advantage as it does today. In that time of hands-on ownership by company founders and direct investors, it was impossible to imagine today's environment of dispersed and passive share-holding, where trading may occur in nanoseconds.

Yet, while these essential elements inside and outside the corporation have changed dramatically, surprisingly little has changed in the design of corporate forms. The dominant ethos retains a focus on short-term benefit to "owners," regardless of how remote, passive, or transient they may be. Within this narrow purpose, we struggle to fit contemporary concerns.

Executives are forced to focus on costcutting, quarterly returns, and short-term quick fixes to boost revenues. Companies are drawn into mergers that benefit few, while short-term gains in share price give way to long-term losses for shareholders and layoffs for employees. Firms are unable to invest in environmental sustainability options that will pay off far down the line, instead feeling pressure to devote assets to buying back stock. There is an urgent need for corporate designs that free executives to focus on the long term, to recognize and reward the contributions of multiple stakeholders to corporate wealth creation, to protect companies from unwanted takeovers, to treat employee knowledge as an asset in financial statements, and to encourage rather than penalize critical research and development investments.

It then put forwards important questions regarding the challenge at hand:

• How could a company design its governance structure to balance financial demands with a nonnegotiable social purpose?
• How can social issue management move from the periphery to the core of company operations?
• How to structure internal decision-making to give priority to long-term environmental sustainability instead of short-term cost-cutting?

In their following analysis of the deficiencies inherent in conventional corporate design, they put forward other piercing insights such as:

To date, mechanisms to hold corporations accountable to broader societal interests have had limited impact because they have addressed symptoms rather than root causes.

We can't solve the problem of corporate design using past approaches to corporate reform. We can't solve it by listing every possible harm a corporation might create or every positive contribution it might make and then writing laws to prohibit or mandate specific actions. Further, we can't solve it by having corporations devote 1 percent of their profits to philanthropy, or by incentivizing adoption of piecemeal corporate social responsibility initiatives. Indeed, the inadequacy of such incremental approaches is what makes necessary the deeper, transformational approach of corporate design. Without frontally addressing the purpose of the corporation, the coming decades will default to business as usual, leading to an unacceptable future for people, the planet, and corporations themselves.

They then put forth principles that can be used to guide our effort in redesigning corporation:

1. The purpose of the corporation is to harness private interests to serve the public interest.
2. Corporations shall accrue fair returns for shareholders, but not at the expense of the legitimate interests of other stakeholders.
3. Corporations shall operate sustainably, meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
4. Corporations shall distribute their wealth equitably among those who contribute to wealth creation.
5. Corporations shall be governed in a manner that is participatory, transparent, ethical, and accountable.
6. Corporations shall not infringe on the right of natural persons to govern themselves, nor infringe on other universal human rights.

And stated that,

The principles aim to redress the imbalance that has evolved over nearly two centuries of legal decisions and corporate practices, which together have expanded the rights of corporations without a commensurate expansion of their obligations.

The challenge is to rebalance rights and obligations, to release the capacity of the corporation to create wealth, and to contribute more broadly to human well-being.

To walk their talk, they present case studies of successful alternative designs of corporation, and map it out as "the fourth sector" after government, business and nonprofit as shown below.

Realizing that corporate redesign is a complex issue that requires a team effort, they lay out the path forward for different sectors of the society to play a role in:

1. Investors - Tackling short-termism.
2. Large Business - Changes to incorporate stakeholder management.
3. Small to medium business - Experimenting with new corporate designs.
4. Civil society - Working to expand disclosure and social responsibilities of directors.
5. Government - Requiring social reporting or pursuing charter reform.
6. Labor - Controlling labor's capital.
7. Media - Changing business reporting.

In conclusion, this insightful report shows us the possibilities, benefits, and challenges of redesigning corporation to shape it into a force more positive in society.

Download and read the full report in PDF here.

The Need

I learned that many of the illth in our society, ranging from human rights abuse to environmental degradation, stems from the inherent defect in the design of corporation, the heart of our so-called "modern" economy.

While governments can make regulations, civil society can expose corporate misconducts and crimes, and corporations themselves can offer their goodwill under the banner of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), these measures only deal with symptoms and effects, not root-causes. I offer the following quotations and links to show the necessity of redesigning corporation to eliminate those illth from source.

I believe this is one of the most urgent and strategic issue we must tackle in our effort to make the world a better place for all to live in.

The Arguments

"A bad system produces bad situations in which people act badly without even necessarily knowing why . . . if enough people absorbed this argument, we might find ourselves in a better polity . . . But, alas, we seem happier with scapegoats than explanations."

1. The purpose of the corporation is to harness private interests to serve the public interest.
2. Corporations shall accrue fair returns for shareholders, but not at the expense of the legitimate interests of other stakeholders.
3. Corporations shall operate sustainably, meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
4. Corporations shall distribute their wealth equitably among those who contribute to wealth creation.
5. Corporations shall be governed in a manner that is participatory, transparent, ethical, and accountable.
6. Corporations shall not infringe on the right of natural persons to govern themselves, nor infringe on other universal human rights."

If we are to slow and ultimately reverse the social and environmental disintegration we see around us, we must change the rules to curb the pervasive abuse of corporate power that contributes so much to those harms.

Taming corporate power will slow the damage. It will not be sufficient, however, to heal our relationships with one another and the Earth and bring our troubled world into social and environmental balance. Corporations are but instruments of a deeper social pathology revealed in a familiar story our society tells about the nature of prosperity.

Empire Prosperity Story

The prevailing prosperity narrative has many variations, but these are among its essential elements:

• Economic growth fills our lives with material abundance, lifts the poor from their misery, and creates the wealth needed to protect the environment.
• Money is the measure of wealth and the proper arbiter of every choice and relationship.
• Prosperity depends on freeing wealthy investors from taxes and regulations that limit their incentive and capacity to invest in creating the new jobs that enrich us all.
• Unregulated markets allocate resources to their most productive and highest value use.
• The wealthy deserve their riches because we all get richer as the benefits of the investments of those on top trickle down to those on the bottom.
• Poverty is caused by welfare programs that strip the poor of motivation to become productive members of society willing to work hard at the jobs the market offers.

This money-serving prosperity story is repeated endlessly by corporate media and taught in economics, business, and public policy courses in our colleges and universities almost as sacred writ. I call it the Empire prosperity story.

Few notice the implications of its legitimation of the power and privilege of for-profit corporations and an economic system designed to maximize returns to money, that is, to make rich people richer. Furthermore, it praises extreme individualism that, in other circumstances would be condemned as sociopathic; values life only as a commodity; and diverts our attention from the basic reality that destroying life to make money is an act of collective insanity. In addition to destroying real wealth, it threatens our very survival as a species.

Earth Community Prosperity Story

Consider these elements of a contrasting life-serving prosperity story that looks to life, rather than money, as the true measure of wealth.

• Healthy children, families, communities, and ecological systems are the true measure of real wealth.
• Mutual caring and support are the primary currency of healthy families and communities, and community is the key to economic security.
• Real wealth is created by investing in the human capital of productive people, the social capital of caring relationships, and the natural capital of healthy ecosystems.
• The end of poverty and the healing of the environment will come from reallocating material resources from rich to poor and from life-destructive to life-nurturing uses.
• Markets have a vital role, but democratically accountable governments must secure community interests by assuring that everyone plays by basic rules that internalize costs, maintain equity, and favor human-scale local businesses that honor community values and serve community needs.
• Economies must serve and be accountable to people, not the reverse.

I call this the Earth Community prosperity story because it evokes a vision of the possibility of creating life-serving economies grounded in communities that respect the irreducible interdependence of people and nature. Although rarely heard, this story is based on familiar notions of generosity and fairness, and negates each of the claims of the imperial prosperity story that currently shapes economic policy and practice.

Read the full article @ YES! Magazine >>
(The High Cost of Making Maney, Putting Life First, Rules for Conserving and Sharing, Community-Based Economics, The Essential Choice)

Introduction of the book

The overall goal of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) is ?gto integrate the values inherent in sustainable development into all aspects of learning to encourage changes in behavior that allow for a more sustainable and just society for all?h. A key question that often emerges is: what are the values inherent in sustainable development that could help us, as human beings, to realize the vision of sustainability?

Increasingly, more groups and individuals around the world are recognizing the Earth Charter as an empowering and practical source of these values. The Earth Charter resulted from a decade-long, worldwide, cross-cultural civil society dialogue to identify the widely shared values and principles of sustainability, and is being used as a values-based educational tool to guide humanity towards a sustainable future.

As a matter of fact, UNESCO, during its 32nd General Conference in October 2003, adopted a resolution recognizing the Earth Charter "as an important ethical framework for sustainable development". The resolution affirms member states' intentions to ?gutilize the Earth Charter as an educational instrument, particularly in the framework of the United Nations Decade for Education for Sustainable Development?h. So, how is this being accomplished? This publication has been envisioned to offer stories -- case studies from around the world -- that highlight how groups and individuals are using the Earth Charter as a tool for education for sustainable development. These stories come from non-formal and formal educational settings and describe a variety of experiences, including the development of guidebooks for primary school teachers, the inclusion of sustainability values in universities?f departments of education, law, engineering and general studies; the reshaping of local, regional and national curricula; and, the creation of vital and engaging programs and workshops for children and youth.

The richness and diversity of these stories demonstrate that the Earth Charter?fs integrated approach can help to clarify the vision of a more just, sustainable and peaceful world at the same time as it broadens this vision. These stories also show that there is no single ?eright way?f of approaching this task -- the methods used for bringing the values of sustainability into educational practices depend on the context, creativity and the level of engagement of those involved.

In the process of preparing this publication, a set of criteria were developed to select these stories which best responded to the purpose of the "good practices" series, of which this publication is now a part. The following criteria were used for selecting the stories:

* Are values-driven experiences that use the Earth Charter as a framework or tool

* Promote transformative learning -- characterized mainly by:
- Promoting ?elearning?f more than ?eteaching?f
- Concentrating more on the construction of meaning than on communicating the message
- Promoting the mutual transformation of teachers and learners
- Focusing on local knowledge and community-based decisions and actions
- Orienting learning more towards process than product/result
- Use constructive and participatory methodologies
- Use multiple methods and integrative approaches
Experiences that use interdisciplinary approaches to assess and address issues, drawing upon a variety of
methods: writing, art, drama, debate, scientific analysis, etc.
- Are context specific and action oriented
Experiences where teachers and students (and/or community members) are learning about regional,
national and global issues while carrying out actions through field trips, projects, and community service opportunities.
- Are on-going experiences that can also offer ?elessons learned?f

This publication includes twenty-seven illustrative stories from countries around the world. Each one is written by a different author -- a schoolteacher, community activist, youth worker, university member, minister of education, law professor, teacher trainer, art instructor -- and each brings a different experience to light. To build some continuity in sharing these experiences an effort was made to organize the content of each story around three main sections:

1. A general description of the experience, including its objectives, duration, target group(s), and information about the leading organization(s) involved;
2. A detailed explanation of the methodological aspects and activities of the experience; and
3. A final section on the conclusions and lessons learned from the experience.

The stories in this collection share a common objective -- to contribute to building sustainable societies. We hope that you will enjoy the wide variety of contexts, objectives and methodologies presented in this publication. Furthermore, it is our hope that these experiences will stimulate and inspire new efforts to integrate the values of sustainability into education and into all educational settings across the globe.

UNESCO & Earth Charter International

Download the book here (169 pages PDF file)

"The self-help corporation is designed to employ the humans now being wasted by the existing system to make use of the wasted energy, materials and biological potential. Rather than then striving for throughput efficiency, it is designed to acquire roundput proficiency." (David R. Braden IV)

Three Dimensions to Network Weaving

The first dimension is what everyone does - seeking out those connections that are necessary to our wellbeing.

When we become involved with a group of people, we can look to network also in a second dimension - seeking out those connections that benefit the group and therefore benefit us indirectly.

If we step out of our role as a member of the group and look at how the group fits into the flow of value through the larger system, we can think in terms of sets of connections that feed back into themselves in the third dimension - seeking out those connections that benefit the "whole", and thereby indirectly benefiting our group, and indirectly benefiting us.

The understanding comes from changing our point of view from that in which objects compete for space to a point of view where we can see how each thing is connected to all other things.

Throughput vs. Roundput: Whole System Perspective

It appears to me that it would be possible for a person to understand in detail the internal function of every organism/organization that currently exists and still be thinking in two dimensions. The internal function of orgs, and all business plans that I have seen, are concerned with through put. That is, the org acquires resources, processes them and produces an output. For human orgs, if the org is successful, the output is exchanged at a profit that allows the org to acquire more resources and repeat the process. Understanding of this process is linear. Input -> Output or throughput. People then look at each org, analyze how the function of that org affects their interests and label it good or bad.

What people seem unable to comprehend is that each such org is participating in a larger system (in the broad sense) that encompasses whole cycles of production and consumption. At this level, we can analyze the processes in terms of roundput. That is, the process by which all things are produced and consumed. The concept of spherical integration is a construct I use to distinguish what I mean from the predominately linear view of process. At this level, each org is merely doing the best they can given the structure of the system. I cannot say that one org is good and another is bad as all orgs are just trying to find their niche in the throughput. Those orgs that are successful control more resources and actively work to perpetuate the structure.

There are several problems (dangers) with the existing structure at the spherical (roundput) level. First, like the dinosaurs the system is growing larger in the drive to a global economy and absorbing what used to be a diversity of semi-independent spherically integrated systems of local commerce. Like the dinosaurs, the bigger and more complex that the system gets, the more vulnerable it becomes to changes in the environment. Second, with each org charged only with maximizing its throughput, the system has left a huge percentage of the human population outside. Since these individuals have no skills to contribute to the throughput of any existing org, they are simply left out of the system. The longer those left out are unable to participate in the system, the more likely that they will turn to crime and violence, thereby changing the environment and posing a threat to the existing structure. Third, with each org charged only with maximizing its throughput, the system is wasting potential on several levels. It wastes the potential of humans who are not participating, it wastes the biological potential of the planet, and it wastes materials and energy.

However, I do not want to waste my time in a futile effort to change the existing structure. ( you (Larry Victor) have said something similar -- start a process that leads to metamorphosis) Efforts to change the existing structure would be like confronting the Tyranosaurus head on. I think you would get eaten.

What I can do is create new orgs that are designed to take advantage of the weaknesses in the existing system. I can design processes that internalize production and consumption cycles that allow these new orgs to approach ?gwhole?h system status -- or - approach spherical integration. Initially, each org must produce throughput to be able to acquire resources that can then be used for roundput. Fortunately, there is so much waste in the existing whole system that it is fairly simple to see niches for the required throughput.

That is what the Self-help Corporation is designed to do, employ the humans now being wasted by the existing system to make use of the wasted energy, materials and biological potential. Rather than then striving for throughput efficiency, it is designed to acquire roundput proficiency.

I find the predominance of two dimensional thinking limits the possibilities that people are able to grasp. In both the social justice and environmental discussions I have had, I have encountered people sincerely concerned with the affects of the existing system. When I suggest a particular course of action, they respond that my proposal is interesting and then go back to discussing how they might coax the dinosaur to behave differently. I believe that they can see only the two dimensional aspects of my proposal.

I believe that a planetary system of human organizations would be much more stable if it consisted of stable whole system components. At the same time, there are aspects of the existing system that are compatible with the proposed design. I see it as in the interest of humans to retain the capacity for the highly efficient automated production of goods, particularly tools that then can be used to produce roundput in the component systems.

The Self-Help Corporation

A self-help corporation is formed to produce, or otherwise provide, basic necessities for its employee owners. Basic necessities are food, shelter, clothing, education and health care. Shares in the corporation are issued for labor contributed. The corporation is managed by the employee owners through a system of representation based on the number of shares held by each shareholder and the number of shareholders employed in various activities. Shares in the corporation are redeemable for food, shelter, clothing, education and health care produced or otherwise provided by the corporation. All internal transactions trade at cost. The corporation will anticipate opportunities to provide goods and services to the larger community. To the extent that the cost of labor to the corporation is paid out of internal production, the difference between actual cost and retail value of goods and services traded in the outside economy is available to acquire the resources necessary to employ additional labor.

If there were one self-help corporation or a number of self-help corporations that employed all those who are currently living in poverty, the internal economy of the corporation(s) would become a base economy for the human species as a whole. By providing a mechanism whereby individuals can spend their time providing for themselves, at those times when their skills are not required by the regular economy, the corporation provides a safety net that is not an expense of the regular economy. By cultivating a relationship with ecosystems, environmental degradation can be alleviated. By providing a mechanism where individuals can develop marketable skills, if they choose, the corporation can provide an alternative to violent revolution, terrorism and crime.

Read more

• Three Dimensional Networking (3DN) (more)
• The Self Help Corporation (detail explanation)
• Three Dimensional Networking (3DN) - Whole System
• Three Dimensional Networking (3DN) - Economics of Integrated Production (example)
• Three Dimensional Networking to Complement the Market (Q&As about 3DN and the self-help corporation in relation to the market and the free enterprise system)

Keywords: poverty alleviation, community development, cooperation, mutuals, new form of corporation, three dimensional networking