What if we know what needs to be done … but need help making it happen? Should we focus on urgency and fear or joy and connecting? What about the suffering that is happening right now? How does self-forgiveness and observation fit in? And what about those kitchen gardens?

In this episode Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep talks with Lift Economy co-founder, Kevin Bayuk about all these questions and more. They discuss characteristics of the emerging “next economy” and how “cultural invisibility” makes it harder to recognize new approaches that are already in the world. As a nice follow-on to Erik’s interview with Rob Hopkins about imagination, Kevin explains that what is needed is “not invention but recognition”.

Kevin describes Lift Economy’s “Next Economy MBA”, their technique of using locally self-reliant bioregional economies as a framework for design, and lessons he’s learned from his Permaculture background.

They touch on the B Corp movement and how, though it isn’t the answer, it nonetheless helps make visible bridges to “hospicing” the current economy and making space for a reincarnated, next economy. Kevin emphasizes the need to design how things are implemented so they can be adopted. He suggests that, like kitchen gardens, distributed, small scale, personal & community level changes can be aggregated to achieve small scale.

Kevin closes by invoking Caroline Casey’s offer that “cooperators are standing by” and encouraging listeners to reach out to Lift Economy for ideas and allies.

Topics touched on during the conversation include:

• Force for good fund
• Lift Economy’s Next Economy Now podcast
• the Next Economy MBA
• B Corp movement
• Bill Mollison
• Penny Livingston-Stark

Enjoy the listen!

Designers of Paradise is made possible, in part, by Mind & Media. Over the last quarter century, the writers, producers, storytellers and media specialists at Mind & Media have spearheaded a multitude of engaging and complex communication campaigns.

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