Module 10: Building a Sustainable Economy
Welcome to Module 10
You've reached the final module of this course. Over the past nine modules, you've learned:
- How traditional economics works and where it falls short (Modules 1-2)
- Economic tools for environmental problems (Modules 3-4)
- How circular thinking can eliminate waste (Module 5)
- Better ways to measure progress (Module 6)
- How businesses are innovating for sustainability (Module 7)
- Policy tools to accelerate change (Module 8)
- Why justice must be central (Module 9)
Now we synthesize. What does a truly sustainable economy look like? How do we get there? What are the competing visions and pathways? This module explores comprehensive frameworks, addresses fundamental questions about economic organization, and helps you envision—and work toward—economies that enable human flourishing within planetary boundaries.
The Vision: What Is a Sustainable Economy?
Core Characteristics
A sustainable economy would:
1. Operate Within Planetary Boundaries
- Respect ecological limits
- Stay within safe operating space
- Regenerate natural systems
- Maintain biodiversity
- Stabilize climate
2. Meet Human Needs
- Universal access to basics (food, water, shelter, health, education)
- Decent work and livelihoods
- Social protection
- Political voice
- Cultural flourishing
3. Distribute Fairly
- Reasonable equality (no extreme poverty or wealth)
- Fair sharing of benefits and burdens
- Justice across generations
- Justice between countries
- Environmental justice
4. Be Resilient
- Adapt to changing conditions
- Diversified (not brittle)
- Local and global connections balanced
- Redundancy in critical systems
- Learning and evolution
5. Enhance Wellbeing
- Quality of life over quantity of stuff
- Strong social connections
- Health and longevity
- Meaningful work
- Time for leisure and care
6. Operate Democratically
- Participatory decision-making
- Power distributed
- Transparency
- Accountability
- Diverse voices included
The Safe and Just Space
Recall Kate Raworth's Doughnut Economics (mentioned in Module 6). Let's explore it fully as an integrative framework.
The Doughnut:
Outer Boundary - Ecological Ceiling (9 dimensions from planetary boundaries):
- Climate change
- Ocean acidification
- Chemical pollution
- Nitrogen and phosphorus loading
- Freshwater withdrawals
- Land conversion
- Biodiversity loss
- Air pollution
- Ozone layer depletion
Inner Boundary - Social Foundation (12 dimensions):
- Food
- Health
- Education
- Income and work
- Peace and justice
- Political voice
- Social equity
- Gender equality
- Housing
- Networks
- Energy
- Water
The Goal: Bring humanity into the doughnut—meeting everyone's needs (inner boundary) while respecting planetary limits (outer boundary).
Current Reality:
- Billions below social foundation (shortfalls)
- Transgressed multiple ecological boundaries (overshoot)
- Simultaneously not enough and too much
The Challenge: Move toward the safe and just space. This requires:
- Redistribution: From overconsumers to underconsumers
- Regeneration: Heal ecological systems
- Transformation: Change economic structures and values
Application:
- Amsterdam adopted as city framework
- Multiple cities experimenting globally
- Provides clear vision of sustainability
Competing Visions and Paradigms
Green Growth
The Claim: Economic growth can continue while environmental impact decreases through technology, efficiency, and decoupling.
The Logic:
- Technology can decouple GDP from resource use and emissions
- Innovation drives efficiency
- Renewable energy enables clean growth
- Growth generates resources for environmental protection
- Don't choose between prosperity and environment
Evidence For:
- Some countries showing relative decoupling (GDP up, emissions down)
- Renewable energy costs plummeting
- Efficiency improvements ongoing
- Environmental Kuznets Curve for some pollutants
- Political palatability (growth popular)
Evidence Against:
- Absolute decoupling at needed scale unproven globally
- Material use still rising despite efficiency
- Rebound effects erode gains (Jevons paradox)
- Only 9% of materials circular
- Fast enough? Scale sufficient?
Proponents:
- Most governments
- Business community
- International organizations (UN, OECD, World Bank)
- Many environmental NGOs
Criticism:
- Technological optimism may be unfounded
- Ignores consumption growth
- Provides comfort that avoids hard questions
- Evidence for decoupling weak at global scale
Degrowth
The Claim: Rich countries must deliberately reduce material and energy throughput while improving wellbeing.
The Logic:
- Green growth is myth; real decoupling impossible at needed scale
- Growth imperative drives environmental destruction
- Rich countries already exceeded sustainable consumption
- Must shrink material economy while maintaining/improving social outcomes
- Sufficiency, not efficiency
What Degrowth Means:
- Not: Recession, austerity, poverty
- Is: Planned reduction of resource throughput
- Less work, more leisure
- Redistribution of wealth
- Public services over private consumption
- Localization
- Care, community, creativity over production
Policies:
- Work-time reduction
- Universal basic services
- Job guarantee
- Progressive taxation
- Ecological limits (caps on resource use)
- End advertising
- Planned obsolescence banned
Evidence For:
- Physics: Can't have infinite growth on finite planet
- Empirical: Decoupling insufficient so far
- Wellbeing: Beyond material sufficiency, more stuff doesn't increase happiness
- Necessity: Rich country consumption levels not generalizable globally
Evidence Against:
- Politically unpopular (growth deeply embedded)
- Risks: Jobs, stability, debt repayment
- May harm poor (they need growth)
- Transition pathway unclear
Proponents:
- Some ecological economists
- Academic left
- Climate justice activists
- Some environmental movements
Criticism:
- Politically implausible
- May be unnecessary (green growth might work)
- Risks economic chaos
- Developing countries oppose (need growth)
Steady-State Economics
The Claim: Economy can reach stable size compatible with ecological limits.
The Concept:
- Physical throughput stabilizes
- Qualitative improvement continues
- Population stabilizes
- Per-capita consumption moderate and stable
- Innovation in quality, not quantity
Herman Daly's Vision:
- Constant stock of physical wealth
- Constant population
- Natural capital maintained
- Enough for good life, not more
- Market economy but with ecological constraints
Policies:
- Resource caps
- Pollution caps
- Depletion quotas
- Distributional limits (max/min income ratios)
- Population stabilization
Difference from Degrowth:
- Goal is stability, not shrinkage
- Once sustainable level reached, maintain it
- Less radical politically than degrowth
Criticism:
- How to transition from growth-dependent system?
- What about developing countries?
- Stability may be impossible (growth or recession, no steady state)
- Investment and debt require growth?
Wellbeing Economy
The Claim: Reorient economy explicitly toward wellbeing rather than GDP growth.
The Logic:
- Wellbeing is goal, not GDP
- Measure and manage what matters (wellbeing indicators)
- Growth may happen but isn't goal
- Focus on health, equality, social connections, environment, purpose
- Quality over quantity
Policies:
- Wellbeing budgets (New Zealand)
- Universal basic services
- Invest in care economy
- Reduce working time
- Strengthen social connections
- Environmental protection
Proponents:
- New Zealand government
- Scotland
- Iceland
- Wellbeing Economy Alliance
- Growing movement
Appeal:
- Positive framing (not "anti-growth")
- Focus on what people actually want
- Politically more palatable than degrowth
- Flexible (can accommodate growth or not)
Criticism:
- May be green growth rebranded
- Without ecological constraints, may not ensure sustainability
- Wellbeing subjective and culturally variable
Doughnut Economics (Synthesis)
The Framework: Combines elements above into integrated vision:
- Social foundation (like wellbeing economy)
- Ecological ceiling (like steady-state, degrowth)
- Explicit about redistribution (justice)
- Flexible on growth (not goal, but okay if within doughnut)
- Regenerative and distributive by design
7 Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist (Raworth):
- Change the Goal: From GDP growth to thriving in the doughnut
- See the Big Picture: Economy embedded in society and nature
- Nurture Human Nature: Humans are social and reciprocal, not just selfish
- Get Savvy with Systems: Understand feedback loops, tipping points
- Design to Distribute: Inequality is design failure, not inevitability
- Create to Regenerate: Economy should regenerate, not degrade
- Be Agnostic About Growth: Growth not goal; stay in doughnut is goal
Application: Practical framework for cities, regions, nations. Integrates economic, environmental, and social dimensions.
Pathways of Transformation
How Do Economies Change?
Incremental vs. Transformative:
- Incremental: Gradual improvements within existing system (green growth approach)
- Transformative: Fundamental restructuring of systems (degrowth, steady-state)
Which Is Needed? Debate ongoing. Evidence suggests incremental insufficient, but transformative politically difficult.
Multiple Pathways: Not one path. Different contexts need different approaches:
- Rich countries: Must reduce footprint drastically
- Poor countries: Must develop sustainably
- Middle-income: Complex mix
Leverage Points for Change
Donella Meadows' Leverage Points (places to intervene in a system):
From least to most effective:
12. Constants, parameters, numbers (subsidies, taxes, standards) 11. Buffers (stabilizing stocks) 10. Stock-and-flow structures (physical infrastructure) 9. Delays (speed of response) 8. Balancing feedback loops (stabilizing mechanisms) 7. Reinforcing feedback loops (amplifying mechanisms) 6. Information flows (who knows what) 5. Rules (incentives, constraints, boundaries) 4. Self-organization (ability to evolve structure) 3. Goals (purpose of system) 2. Paradigm (mindset, worldview) 1. Power to transcend paradigms (not being attached to any paradigm)
Implication: Changing parameters (tax rates, subsidies) is common but weak. Changing goals, paradigms, and power to self-organize is rare but powerful.
For Sustainability:
- Parameters: Carbon taxes, subsidies (necessary but insufficient)
- Structure: Infrastructure, institutions (medium power)
- Goals: From growth to wellbeing (powerful)
- Paradigm: From domination to regeneration, from separation to interconnection (most powerful)
Theory of Change: How Movements Succeed
Social Tipping Points: Small changes can cascade into major transformation when positive feedbacks kick in.
Example - Renewable Energy:
- Initial: Expensive, niche
- Policy support → Deployment → Learning → Cost reduction → Competitiveness → More deployment → Positive feedback loop
- Now: Dominant new electricity source globally
Similar Patterns Needed:
- Electric vehicles (happening)
- Plant-based diets (beginning)
- Circular business models (early stage)
- Wellbeing metrics (very early)
Social Movement Theory: Successful movements typically need:
- Crisis or window of opportunity
- Alternative vision (not just critique)
- Coalition building (diverse groups united)
- Strategic action (targeted interventions)
- Persistence (decades, not years)
Climate Movement:
- Growing rapidly
- Youth engagement
- Justice framing
- Diverse tactics
- Long road ahead
Key Transformations Needed
1. Energy Transformation
Current:
- 80% fossil fuels
- Infrastructure locked in
- Huge vested interests
Needed:
- 100% clean energy by mid-century
- Electrify everything possible
- Renewable electricity generation
- Storage and smart grids
- Efficiency revolution
- Sustainable fuels for hard-to-electrify sectors
Progress:
- Solar and wind competitive
- Deployment accelerating
- Storage improving
- But: Not fast enough
Barriers:
- Infrastructure inertia
- Political opposition
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Intermittency challenges
Accelerators:
- Carbon pricing
- Subsidy reform
- Infrastructure investment
- Just transition support
2. Food System Transformation
Current:
- Industrial agriculture (emissions, pollution, biodiversity loss)
- Meat-heavy diets (land, emissions, water intensive)
- Food waste (30-40% of production)
- Nutrition problems (both under and overnutrition)
Needed:
- Regenerative agriculture
- Diversified local food systems
- Reduced meat consumption (especially beef)
- Food waste elimination
- Sustainable diets
Progress:
- Organic and regenerative growing
- Plant-based alternatives improving
- Food waste awareness
Barriers:
- Incumbent agriculture interests
- Cultural attachment to meat
- Price signals (meat too cheap)
- Infrastructure designed for industrial model
Accelerators:
- Sustainable agriculture support
- True cost accounting
- Alternative protein innovation
- Food waste policy
- Dietary shift campaigns
3. Material Economy Transformation (Circular Economy)
Current:
- Linear take-make-waste
- 9% circularity globally
- Planned obsolescence
- Throwaway culture
Needed:
- Circular material flows (Module 5)
- Design for durability, repair, recycling
- Product-as-service models
- Industrial symbiosis
- Material efficiency
Progress:
- EU circular economy policies
- Business model innovation
- Some product redesign
Barriers:
- Linear economy inertia
- Virgin materials artificially cheap
- Lack of infrastructure
- Consumer habits
Accelerators:
- Extended producer responsibility
- Right to repair
- Circular procurement
- Material taxes
- Design standards
4. Financial System Transformation
Current:
- Short-term focus (quarterly results)
- Shareholder primacy
- Fossil fuel financing continues
- Speculation over long-term investment
Needed:
- Patient capital for sustainability
- Stakeholder governance
- Fossil fuel divestment complete
- Green and social bonds
- Reformed fiduciary duty (include ESG)
Progress:
- ESG investing mainstream
- Some divestment
- Growing impact investing
- Climate risk recognition
Barriers:
- Quarterly capitalism
- Fiduciary duty interpretations
- Scale of needed investment
- Incumbent interests
Accelerators:
- Disclosure requirements
- Central bank climate action
- Fiduciary duty reform
- Public investment banks
5. Work and Production Transformation
Current:
- Full employment dependent on growth
- Long working hours
- Precarity increasing
- Productivity gains → profits, not shared
Needed:
- Reduced working time
- Job sharing
- Living wages
- Job guarantees
- Care economy valued
Rationale:
- Wellbeing improves with more leisure
- Unemployment problem partly solved by work reduction
- Environmental benefits (less production/consumption)
- Gender equity (shared care work)
Examples:
- France 35-hour week
- Netherlands part-time norm
- Sweden 6-hour day experiments
Barriers:
- Growth dependence for jobs
- Employer resistance
- Income needs
- Cultural attachment to work
6. Governance Transformation
Current:
- Corporate power dominant
- Lobbying distorts policy
- Short electoral cycles
- Weak international cooperation
Needed:
- Democracy deepened
- Long-term institutions
- Corporate accountability
- International cooperation strengthened
- Participatory decision-making
Innovations:
- Citizens' assemblies
- Future generations representation
- Deliberative democracy
- Binding corporate due diligence
7. Cultural Transformation
Current:
- Consumerism dominant
- Status through possessions
- Nature as resource
- Individualism
Needed:
- Sufficiency valued
- Status through relationships, experiences, contribution
- Nature as sacred/worthy of respect
- Community and solidarity
How Culture Changes:
- Education
- Media and storytelling
- Role models
- Social norms
- Spiritual/ethical frameworks
Signs:
- Minimalism movement
- Experience over stuff (among some demographics)
- Environmental consciousness growing
- Youth climate activism
The Role of Different Actors
Governments
Essential Roles:
- Set rules (regulations, standards)
- Correct market failures (pricing externalities)
- Invest (infrastructure, R&D)
- Redistribute (progressive taxation, services)
- Coordinate (international cooperation)
- Vision (long-term planning)
Current Gaps:
- Capture by vested interests
- Short-term thinking
- Insufficient ambition
- Weak international cooperation
Needed:
- Political will
- Long-term institutions
- Fossil fuel subsidy elimination
- Massive green investment
- Just transition support
- International leadership
Businesses
Essential Roles:
- Innovation (technology, business models)
- Implementation (deploy solutions at scale)
- Employment (quality jobs)
- Investment (capital for transition)
Current State:
- Some leaders, many laggards
- Greenwashing common
- Still largely focused on short-term profit
Needed:
- Authentic sustainability integration
- Long-term thinking
- Stakeholder governance
- Transparency
- Political advocacy for climate action (not obstruction)
Civil Society
Essential Roles:
- Advocacy (pressure for change)
- Experimentation (pilot alternatives)
- Education (raise awareness)
- Solidarity (support affected communities)
- Watchdog (hold power accountable)
Power:
- Social movements shape discourse
- Build political will
- Demonstrate alternatives
- Create new norms
Examples:
- Climate strikes (Fridays for Future)
- Divestment campaigns
- Environmental justice organizing
- Transition town movement
- Sharing economy initiatives
Individuals
What You Can Do:
- Reduce personal footprint (diet, transport, consumption, energy)
- Divest and invest sustainably
- Vote and political engagement
- Support sustainable businesses
- Join movements and organizations
- Educate yourself and others
- Professional work (apply sustainability in your field)
- Community building
Limits of Individual Action:
- System change needed, not just individual choices
- Blaming individuals distracts from corporate/government responsibility
- But: Individual and collective action reinforce each other
The Balance: Do what you can personally while pushing for systemic change. Both matter.
Common Questions and Concerns
"Is It Too Late?"
For What?
- Avoid all climate change: Yes, already experiencing impacts
- Avoid worst outcomes: No, every fraction of degree matters
- Build sustainable economy: Never too late to start
The Reality:
- Some harm locked in
- But future not predetermined
- Choices today shape outcomes
- Defeatism is self-fulfilling prophecy
The Response:
- Urgency without despair
- Action despite difficulty
- Solidarity and persistence
"Can We Afford It?"
The Question Is Backwards: Can we afford NOT to act?
The Math:
- Mitigation costs: 1-4% of GDP
- Damage costs of inaction: 5-20%+ of GDP
- Co-benefits: Health, innovation, employment
- Unpriced benefits: Avoided suffering, preserved ecosystems
Plus:
- Spending is investment, not consumption
- Creates jobs and growth (if that matters)
- Improves quality of life
Affordability:
- Rich countries clearly can afford
- Global cooperation can enable poor country transitions
- "Can't afford" often means "don't want to pay"
"What About Economic Growth?"
The Debate:
- Is growth needed for jobs, stability, debt repayment?
- Is green growth possible?
- Can we have wellbeing without growth?
Emerging Consensus:
- Growth not primary goal
- Wellbeing and sustainability are goals
- If growth happens within boundaries, fine
- If not, also fine
- Rich countries must reduce material throughput (whether GDP falls or not)
The Shift: From "how do we grow?" to "how do we thrive?"
"What About Developing Countries?"
The Challenge:
- Right to develop
- Need to lift billions from poverty
- Can't tell poor countries to stay poor
The Path:
- Sustainable development (leapfrog dirty technologies)
- Renewable energy (now cheapest)
- Technology transfer
- Climate finance from rich countries
- Consumption growth where needed (poor countries)
- Consumption reduction where excessive (rich countries)
Not:
- Everyone lives like Americans (impossible)
- Everyone stays poor (unjust)
But:
- Everyone meets needs sustainably (possible and just)
"Won't Technology Save Us?"
Technology Is Essential:
- Renewable energy
- Efficiency improvements
- Sustainable materials
- Carbon removal
- Precision agriculture
But Technology Alone Insufficient:
- Rebound effects
- Deployment too slow
- Some problems lack technical solutions
- Behavior and systems must also change
- Technology embedded in social choices
Techno-Optimism vs. Techno-Realism:
- Optimism: Have faith technology will solve everything
- Realism: Technology crucial but must be complemented by social/political change
Your Role in the Transition
Finding Your Path
No Single Right Way:
- Different people contribute differently
- Match your skills, position, interests, and values
Possible Paths:
Professional:
- Sustainable business
- Policy and government
- Research and education
- Law and advocacy
- Finance and investment
- Technology and engineering
- Agriculture and food
- Energy and infrastructure
Civic:
- Community organizing
- Political engagement
- Environmental organizations
- Mutual aid and solidarity
- Education and awareness
Personal:
- Lifestyle changes
- Conscious consumption
- Divesting and investing
- Learning and sharing
- Building resilient communities
The Key: Do something. Find what you're good at and what needs doing. Connect with others. Persist.
Avoiding Burnout and Despair
The Challenge:
- Sustainability work can be overwhelming
- Progress slow, setbacks frequent
- Easy to burn out or despair
Strategies:
Community:
- Don't work alone
- Find solidarity and support
- Share burdens and victories
Long View:
- Change takes decades
- Celebrate small wins
- Learn from history (successful movements)
Balance:
- Sustainability work with other life
- Joy, rest, relationships
- Self-care enables sustained action
Hope:
- Active hope, not passive optimism
- Hope as practice, not feeling
- Action creates hope
Acceptance:
- Can't control outcomes
- Can only do your part
- That's enough
Conclusion: The Economy We Need
What We've Learned
Over this course, you've discovered:
- Economics isn't destiny; it's a human creation that can be redesigned
- Current economic systems systematically degrade environment and concentrate power
- Tools exist to value nature, price pollution, measure what matters, and design sustainable systems
- Businesses can be profitable and sustainable
- Policy can accelerate transformation
- Justice must be central to sustainability
- Multiple visions of sustainable economy exist
- Transformation is possible but requires action at all levels
The Big Picture
Where We Are:
- Exceeding planetary boundaries
- Billions lacking basic needs
- Extreme inequality
- System driving unsustainability
Where We Need to Go:
- Within planetary boundaries
- Universal access to good life
- Fair distribution
- System designed for sustainability
The Gap:
- Enormous but not unbridgeable
- Requires transformation, not just improvement
- Time is short but not run out
- Outcome depends on choices we make
The Choice Before Us
Business as Usual:
- Path to 3-4°C warming
- Massive biodiversity loss
- Resource depletion
- Increased inequality
- Suffering and conflict
- Civilizational risk
Sustainable Transition:
- Climate stabilization
- Ecosystem regeneration
- Universal wellbeing
- Justice and equity
- Resilience and flourishing
The Stakes: As high as they get. The habitability of Earth. The possibility of good lives for billions. The inheritance we leave future generations.
The Opportunity: Build economy that serves people and planet. More meaningful work. Stronger communities. Better health. Greater equality. Thriving nature. Genuine progress.
Your Next Steps
Keep Learning:
- Sustainability is evolving field
- Stay curious and informed
- Question and think critically
Get Involved:
- Find your entry point
- Connect with organizations and movements
- Use your skills and position
Live Your Values:
- Align actions with knowledge
- Accept imperfection
- Do what you can
Build Power:
- Organize with others
- Engage politically
- Hold power accountable
- Create alternatives
Stay Committed:
- This is lifetime work
- Progress not linear
- Your contribution matters
Final Reflection Questions
-
Your Vision: What does a sustainable economy look like to you? What are its essential characteristics?
-
Your Assessment: Which vision of sustainable economy (green growth, degrowth, steady-state, wellbeing, doughnut) do you find most compelling? Why?
-
Key Barriers: What do you see as the biggest obstacles to building sustainable economy? How might they be overcome?
-
Your Role: What unique contribution can you make to sustainability transition given your skills, interests, and position?
-
Hope and Action: What gives you hope about the possibility of sustainable economy? What will you do next?
-
10 Years Hence: Imagine it's 2035. What progress toward sustainable economy would you like to see? What would that require starting now?
Key Takeaways
✓ A sustainable economy operates within planetary boundaries while meeting everyone's needs and distributing fairly
✓ Doughnut Economics provides integrative framework: social foundation + ecological ceiling = safe and just space for humanity
✓ Multiple visions exist: Green growth (technology enables continued growth), degrowth (rich countries reduce throughput), steady-state (stabilize at sustainable level), wellbeing economy (prioritize wellbeing over GDP)
✓ Transformation requires changes in energy, food, materials, finance, work, governance, and culture—not just incremental improvement
✓ All actors have roles: Governments set rules and invest, businesses innovate and implement, civil society advocates and experiments, individuals reduce footprints and build power
✓ Leverage points matter: Changing goals, paradigms, and system structure more powerful than adjusting parameters
✓ Technology is necessary but insufficient: Must be combined with social, political, and behavioral change
✓ Justice is central: Sustainable transitions must be fair to succeed politically and morally
✓ Time is short but not too late: Every action matters, every fraction of degree matters, outcomes depend on choices we make
✓ Multiple pathways forward: Different contexts require different approaches; rich and poor countries have different responsibilities
✓ Hope is active practice: Despair and complacency both dangerous; sustained action requires community, balance, and long view
✓ Economics can be redesigned: Current system is human creation; we can create economy that serves people and planet
Glossary
Doughnut Economics: Framework defining safe and just space for humanity between social foundation (inner boundary) and ecological ceiling (outer boundary)
Degrowth: Deliberate reduction of material and energy throughput in rich countries while maintaining/improving wellbeing
Green Growth: Vision that economic growth can continue while environmental impact decreases through technology and efficiency
Leverage Points: Places to intervene in system to change its behavior, ranked by effectiveness
Paradigm: Worldview or mindset underlying system; changing paradigm is most powerful leverage point
Safe and Just Space: The "doughnut" between social foundation and ecological ceiling where humanity can thrive
Social Tipping Point: Threshold where small changes cascade into major transformation through positive feedback
Steady-State Economy: Economy stabilized at sustainable scale with constant physical throughput and population
Wellbeing Economy: Economy explicitly oriented toward wellbeing rather than GDP growth
Continuing Your Journey
Books for Deeper Exploration
Comprehensive Visions:
- "Doughnut Economics" by Kate Raworth
- "Prosperity Without Growth" by Tim Jackson
- "Less Is More" by Jason Hickel
- "Ecological Economics" by Herman Daly and Joshua Farley
- "The Future We Choose" by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac
Specific Dimensions:
- "Drawdown" edited by Paul Hawken (climate solutions)
- "Sacred Economics" by Charles Eisenstein (money and gift)
- "The New Economics" by David Boyle and Andrew Simms
- "Small Is Beautiful" by E.F. Schumacher (classic)
- "The Economics of Arrival" by Katherine Trebeck and Jeremy Williams
Justice and Politics:
- "This Changes Everything" by Naomi Klein
- "The Divide" by Jason Hickel
- "Capitalism in the Anthropocene" by Kohei Saito
- "Mutual Aid" by Dean Spade
Organizations and Networks
Research and Think Tanks:
- Stockholm Resilience Centre
- Wellbeing Economy Alliance
- Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE)
- Post Growth Institute
- New Economics Foundation
Action Networks:
- 350.org (climate action)
- Sunrise Movement (youth climate)
- Extinction Rebellion
- Fridays for Future
- Climate Justice Alliance
- Transition Network
Academic Programs:
- Ecological economics programs at various universities
- Sustainability science programs
- Environmental studies programs
Staying Informed
Websites:
- Resilience.org
- Our World in Data (data and visualization)
- Climate Reanalyzer (climate data)
- Carbon Brief (climate science and policy)
- Degrowth.info
Podcasts:
- "Upstream" (economics and justice)
- "The Sustainability Agenda"
- "Outrage + Optimism" (climate action)
- "Post-Growth Institute"
Journals:
- Ecological Economics
- Environmental Research Letters
- Nature Sustainability
- Nature Climate Change
Closing Words
You've completed this journey through sustainable economics. You now understand:
- The problems with our current system
- The tools available to address them
- The business opportunities emerging
- The policies that work
- The justice imperatives
- The visions of what's possible
Knowledge is power, but only if acted upon.
The transition to sustainable economy is the defining challenge and opportunity of our time. It won't be easy. There will be setbacks and obstacles. Powerful interests resist change. Time is short.
But it's also possible. The knowledge exists. The technology exists. Growing numbers of people understand the urgency. Alternatives are being built. Momentum is growing.
Your generation will determine whether humanity rises to this challenge or fails. You now have the knowledge to be part of the solution.
The sustainable economy won't build itself. It requires millions of people—including you—working in their own ways toward shared vision of just, thriving world within planetary boundaries.
Welcome to the work.
The future is not predetermined. It's created through the choices and actions of people like you. Every person working for sustainability contributes to the larger transformation. Your actions matter. Your voice matters. Your work matters.
The best time to start was yesterday. The second-best time is now.
Thank you for engaging deeply with this material. Now go build the economy we need.
Congratulations on completing Sustainable Economics! You're now equipped with frameworks, tools, and understanding to contribute to building truly sustainable economies. The learning never stops, but you have a strong foundation. Use it well.