MLS Professional Services
The Earth and Other Worlds
During the first 10 days of 2025, the world’s wealthiest people used up their fair share of the globe’s annual carbon budget.
2025 also marks the beginning of a new year where we have surpassed 1.5C of global warming. In addition, there is evidence that we have now entered a new epoch - the Anthropocene, brought on by the actions of our own species.
Despite decades of warnings about climate and biodiversity dysregulation, human consumption has become more extreme; a huge factor causing the planet’s natural systems to tip out of balance as well as contributing to global inequality on many levels and in many contexts.
We have reached the stage where there are enough garments on this planet to clothe the next 8 generations. There will soon be more plastic in the ocean than fish (by weight). And if we all aspired for the same living standards as the average US citizen, we would need 5 Earths.
So, where do we go from here?
These issues require a ‘Systems’ approach. We need our governments, institutions, businesses and citizens to face them collectively if we want to ensure humanity has a future on this planet. And yet, it seems easier to imagine only the most extreme ‘solutions’ than to imagine change - from mining passing asteroids containing minerals supposedly worth billions of pounds, to setting up a base on the moon and creating a colony on Mars, the investment in maintaining the current collapsing system seems more appealing than investing in changing our habits and respecting the Earth’s limits.
Regardless of the absence of functioning technologies to realise any of these otherworldly ambitions, there are state-corporate partnerships with no shortage of financial investment and natural resources geared towards the exploration of inter-planetary existence (I imagine for the few, not for the many) in the name of Technological Innovation.
Surely, it would make sense to invest and redistribute finance and resources here, to tackle the issues we currently face?
The fate of our collective future hasn’t been decided. There are numerous movements including the Doughnut, Circular and Wellbeing approaches, as well as Indigenous wisdoms and Ancestoral knowledge that all contribute to life-affirming Social Innovation. We could reimagine this world, if we wanted to. All the life support needed to sustain people and planet is available right here. We would just have to make that choice.
For an introduction to collaborative systems-thinking, check out this free activity called Life on Mars! (available on the Doughnut Economics Action Lab website): doughnuteconomics.org/tools/life-on-mars
Or, you can book onto our Systems Change workshop via the main menu.
2025 also marks the beginning of a new year where we have surpassed 1.5C of global warming. In addition, there is evidence that we have now entered a new epoch - the Anthropocene, brought on by the actions of our own species.
Despite decades of warnings about climate and biodiversity dysregulation, human consumption has become more extreme; a huge factor causing the planet’s natural systems to tip out of balance as well as contributing to global inequality on many levels and in many contexts.
We have reached the stage where there are enough garments on this planet to clothe the next 8 generations. There will soon be more plastic in the ocean than fish (by weight). And if we all aspired for the same living standards as the average US citizen, we would need 5 Earths.
So, where do we go from here?
These issues require a ‘Systems’ approach. We need our governments, institutions, businesses and citizens to face them collectively if we want to ensure humanity has a future on this planet. And yet, it seems easier to imagine only the most extreme ‘solutions’ than to imagine change - from mining passing asteroids containing minerals supposedly worth billions of pounds, to setting up a base on the moon and creating a colony on Mars, the investment in maintaining the current collapsing system seems more appealing than investing in changing our habits and respecting the Earth’s limits.
Regardless of the absence of functioning technologies to realise any of these otherworldly ambitions, there are state-corporate partnerships with no shortage of financial investment and natural resources geared towards the exploration of inter-planetary existence (I imagine for the few, not for the many) in the name of Technological Innovation.
Surely, it would make sense to invest and redistribute finance and resources here, to tackle the issues we currently face?
The fate of our collective future hasn’t been decided. There are numerous movements including the Doughnut, Circular and Wellbeing approaches, as well as Indigenous wisdoms and Ancestoral knowledge that all contribute to life-affirming Social Innovation. We could reimagine this world, if we wanted to. All the life support needed to sustain people and planet is available right here. We would just have to make that choice.
For an introduction to collaborative systems-thinking, check out this free activity called Life on Mars! (available on the Doughnut Economics Action Lab website): doughnuteconomics.org/tools/life-on-mars
Or, you can book onto our Systems Change workshop via the main menu.