The role of human agency is an essential element of the authors of this new books analyses, evaluations, and prescriptions. If humanity is to live in harmony with itself, with other creatures, and in balance with the planet’s ecological systems, then we must be clear about what we can and cannot do, and what we ought and ought not to do. We still hope to successfully deal with climate change, produce a far more socially and economically equal world, and meet other challenges such as COVID. We can only do this by recognising that most of our problems are due to the way human economic, technological, social, and political systems have operated in the last two hundred or so years. Humanity must acknowledge how it has changed planetary ecosystems and how it ought to affect future changes safely, regeneratively, and wisely. Humanity must work with rather than against nature. This necessarily will involve deciphering how ecological and social systems interact, how change occurs and how both voluntary and involuntary human actions contribute to such change. A systems approach applies trans-disciplinary perspectives that encompass the methodologies, insights and practices of Earth systems science, philosophical speculation, ethics, radical economics, human social development, technology and (democratic) politics. This is the kind of ‘big picture’ thinking that the Schumacher Institute promotes and supports. We cannot stop the world and get off, but we can, hopefully, fashion a better world on which all living creatures can flourish peacefully and equitably. For this to occur, radical systemic change is essential.
The good news is that movements all over the world are developing, experimenting, and innovating all kinds of elements for the New Economy New Systems – we already have so many of the ideas and resources that we need to explore further in this book. Our capacity and motivation to share and learn from each other in this field has got a powerful boost from our common global experience of the pandemic – although this affects countries differently. We now must turn this human disaster into a success for humanity and the best way for this is through collaboration and mutual learning. Recent research by Rutger Bregman (2020)amongst many, demonstrates that we are wired to cooperate and therefore must revise our view of human nature and rethink how we organise our politics, social services, democracies, and businesses based on compassion.
Edited by John Blewitt, published by the Schumacher Institute, and with contributions from Inez Aponte, Hugh Atkinson, John Blewitt, Jenneth Parker, Kristin Vala Ragnarsdottir and Ian Roderick, New Economy, New Systems: Radical Responses to Our Sustainability Crises calls for “a radical re-set of the sustainability agenda to recognise the full extent of the changes needed and their urgency.”
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