With her “Doughnut Economy”, British economist Kate Raworth brings a breath of fresh air into the discussions about sustainable economy. Of all things, she stylizes a greasy, sweet pastry roll of lard as a symbol of doing economy in a sustainable waymanagement. According to Raworth, the doughnut model points “to a future where the needs of every human being are met while protecting the living world on which we all depend“.
The doughnut’s outer ring symbolises the “ecological ceiling”, the natural limits beyond which natural resources are destroyed. The inner ring stands for the “social foundation”, which contains all the vital necessities of life, what every human being should be entitled to and which at the global sustainability goals aim at. When shortages occur here, poverty, need and misery prevail.
A “safe and just space for humanity” exists only in the doughnut itself, between ecological limits and minimum social standards. In this development model, the economy no longer has any justification of its own, but is supposed to serve the people. With this fundamental change of perspective, Kate Raworth invites us to embark on “the exciting adventure of rethinking the economy”.
On 29 September 2020, the website of the “Doughnut Economics Action Lab” (DEAL) went online. One day later, 30 people met in Berlin to learn from the experiences of the “Doughnut Coalition” from Amsterdam in a workshop by Jennifer Johanna Drouin. The initiative wants to make Berlin sustainable and transform it into a regenerative city by 2030. The DEAL network has set itself clear rules. It dissociates itself from greenwashing and prohibits the use of the doughnut economy to promote “a new kind of capitalism”. It strives for a good life for all people in Berlin and all over the world.
By Elisabeth Voß, NETZ für Selbstverwaltung und Selbstorganisation e.V. https://doughnuteconomics.org/ and https://amsterdamdonutcoalitie.nl/
