Faith and a Regenerative Economy:
Doing Business for the benefit of People and Planet
Never in human history have so many people enjoyed so much wealth and prosperity. However, our economic model isn’t sustainable. Our society operates on a wasteful “build-use-dispose” linear framework and it’s damaging our planet.
There is no waste in nature. The earth’s natural systems operate circularly and regenerate to sustain life. We must leave nature healthier, better off and more resilient than we found it. Adopting a regenerative model, integrating the needs of society with the integrity of nature, is the only way forward.
Join us on March 26, 2020 (2pm GMT), for a webinar exploring a Christian perspective for a regenerative economy titled, Faith and a Regenerative Economy: Doing Business for the benefit of People and Planet.
Host: Ryan Thomas, Plastic Bank
Rev. Dr. Dave Bookles, Director of Theology, A Rocha International
Dr. Jose Ambrozic, Trustee, Humane School of Business, Ecuador; San Pablo Catholic University, Peru; John Paul II University, Costa Rica
Joanne Green, Senior Policy Advisor, Tearfund
Dr. Peter Nitschke, Faith Program Specialist, Plastic Bank
https://plasticbank.com/faith-and-a-regenerative-economy/
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A Catholic inspired Human Ecology can be healthy for people and nature
Human Ecology helps to reframe work, business and markets to embrace the Golden Rule as a guiding principle so as to foster authentic human flourishing within a sustainable environment.
A frequent contradiction is argued between business and social responsibility. It poses a trade-off between business activity and economic growth on one side, and wellbeing of people and the environment on the other. Naturally, there are grounds to argue in this way. Milton Friedman famously proclaimed that the only purpose of business is to maximize the wealth of its shareholders, and that any action intended towards social responsibility is undue taxation of shareholders and usurps the role of government. Businesses therefore, have no limits other than the law, and not even that, given that sometimes, a cost/benefit analysis will support breaking the law. Certainly, any ethical consideration is considered to unjustly force on the business, personal moral beliefs, which should be kept private. Many religious traditions, as well as some secular positions argue otherwise, in the sense that business as part of society cannot ignore social and environmental responsibilities. Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis have consistently affirmed that all human action, including those in business and the market, are subject to moral discernment and moral responsibility. They’ve also proposed reintroducing the concepts of gift, reciprocity, the universal destination of goods, and the common good into economy and business. What is right or wrong? What is appropriate and healthy? We need to look at the nature of the Human Person.
Human Ecology seeks to propose the best environment for the flourishing of the human person. What is healthy? What responds to human needs? A study has gone on for more than 80 years at Harvard University, exploring what makes people happy. The very clear conclusion is that what makes people happy is: having significant relationships, people in your life that you love, care for and trust and who love you back as well. Not wealth, education, success, fame, or health. Another study by Paul Piff and other psychologists at Stanford shows that being or feeling wealthy, significantly increases your likelihood of being mean and prideful, lacking compassion and generosity, lying, cheating, and being disrespectful of the rights and needs of others, thus having attitudes that undermine authentic relationships, which are the real source of happiness. Being wealthy, then, doesn´t improve but rather lessens your probability of being happy, which is totally contrary to what our culture and social environment tells us. In another issue, Maslow tells us that people that have not satisfied their basic needs can never aspire to fulfill their higher expectations, thus condemning the bottom billions to abandon hope of a fulfilling spiritual life. The work of Viktor Frankl absolutely contradicts that, but Maslow’s mistaken approach is the one that prevails in public policy. Humans are made for love and purpose, but the view promoted by society is that of base self-interest and materialism, breeding loneliness, distrust and a spiritual void.
The real nature of the human person must guide human activity and work. It will have the purpose primarily of satisfying my own needs and the needs of those I care for, but also the purpose or meaning of creating value, be it: goods, art, experience, joy, or satisfaction. Creating value for myself and for the service of others; for doing good, for expressing love. Each person can contribute with her skills to the needs of others in society. Doctors will heal, carpenters will produce tables and chairs, musicians will raise our spirits, farmers will provide food, Apple will produce iPads and iPhones and Amazon will deliver them to our doors, each one taking pride in the goods and service they provide. Economic compensation will be received in exchange, but the primary purpose of work is serving the needs of others. Vision and Mission statements of businesses are never about making money but rather about the role of service they aim to play in society. Economies and markets will fulfill their role, which is to help allocate goods and resources, work and entrepreneurial activity, efficiently, for the needs of all the population.
The Italian economist, Luigino Bruni, recognizes the value of Markets in the price signals that help allocate resources efficiently, but also in what he calls the inmunitas they provide. Simply put, inmunitas shields us from preference or discrimination, ensuring that a fair exchange of value is achieved between actors in the market regardless of their wealth, social standing, race or any other personal trait. Even if markets achieve this practical purpose, it is not enough. Human interaction requires more than financial equity in transactions. The indifference of inmunitas hurts. Apart from transactions thru technological interphases that do not involve other people, the human person in every human encounter expects respect, goodwill and trust. Thus, the need of reintroducing gift and reciprocity into market transactions.
This human dimension is present in the current trend to look out for the interests not only or shareholders, but of all stakeholders in a firm. Consultants accurately state this will help the bottom line on the long term. But we might also find its roots in the common decency of the Golden Rule: Treat others as you wish to be treated by them. Or in the expression more common to Christian cultures: Love your neighbor as you love yourself. If we follow this approach – stakeholders reloaded – the neighbor I am supposed to love is my shareholder, my boss, my partner, my co-worker or employee, my supplier, my customer, or anyone affected by my work or business activity. I will respect them and seek their good. I will not deceive my boss or shareholder; I will not take advantage of my supplier; I will not sell faulty goods or at an excessive price to my customer; I will not deny my customers of the best product or service I can reasonably provide; I will not shield myself in laws or regulations to deny just redress to any of them. This expresses the love and respect to each, as I myself would like to be treated. It allows me to pursue honesty, integrity, satisfaction and pride in my work, and a conscience that is at peace. It also engenders trust and goodwill which in the long run has been proved once and again to be the hallmark of outstandingly successful businesses. An interesting example is some versions of design thinking which focus on understanding the customer´s needs so that products can be designed to satisfy those real needs at prices they can afford. This is very distant from marketing as a tool to get people to buy the product I have in stock, regardless of whether they need it or not.
This ethical approach that puts the wellbeing of all above profit and self interest is the healthier path, generating goodwill and trust. It also helps in consuming only the resources required to provide for the real needs of people. It cannot be forced. It has to be inspired to others and embraced freely. However, we might have more pressing incentives in the near future. The consequences of our dysfunctional economies will be unavoidable and will force us to change our errant ways. The blind push for economic growth in which we are engaged in a global dimension, regardless of its nature and consequences, is unsustainable. More and more it shows to be against nature and ultimately suicidal.
We are living the ultimate Tragedy of the Commons. Following the logic of the market and rational self-interest, the competition for financial gains, growth and profit, is depleting resources and destroying society and nature. Economic growth consumes renewable and non-renewable resources, at a rate that cannot be sustained. It burns more fuel to produce energy for manufacturing, multiplying emissions. It forces people to buy goods and services they don´t need, running up unsustainable debt. It multiplies discarded goods and waste, poisoning nature and our food supply. The irrational way we address this issue shows our blind belief that material prosperity and abundance will deliver salvation. Repeatedly we conclude that the lifestyles of the wealthier nations are unsustainably consuming resources and producing emissions and waste, 40 to 60 times per capita that of poor populations, not to speak of the top 1%. This demographic which also holds the reins of financial and political power and the media, is not only unwilling to curb their harmful lifestyle, but they deceptively propose it as a model to poorer nations with the purpose of increasing its markets, not caring for the fact that the majority of people will never be able to achieve it and if they ever did, the planet would collapse. The World Bank, with convoluted reasoning, defends growth on the basis that it helps the poor and that it is good for the environment. Truth is, what trickles down to the poor is not only insufficient but even insulting, and the impact and damage to the environment is directly proportional to economic growth.
Worse of all, the logic of economic growth fuels consumerism. Consumerism deceives promising happiness through material prosperity and unlimited acquisition of goods, services and experiences. Our materialistic world, impoverished in humanity and authentic human relations, breeds loneliness, void and despair; the perfect scenario for promising happiness through consumerism, which breeds more loneliness and void reinforcing a vicious spiral that leads to destruction on a personal level and as a society.
The path is refocusing the quest for happiness of the human person on authentic human relationships and on loving and serving our neighbors. Putting material needs in their subordinate place in our lives, seeking simplicity and restraint.
Consequently, ordering human activity and business to the service of the real needs of others, and by making space to reciprocity and gift, bringing a more human, loving character to business and market relationships.
This works, for personal satisfaction, happiness and flourishing, for sustainable, long term prosperous businesses, for a sustainable environment and a life that is worth living.