BUSINESS

The existing economic paradigm, prioritising growth and monetary profitability above all else, has been the major contributor to the climate and ecological crisis we are now facing. It has also become one of the major barriers to change in the direction communities need to go to stop the harm caused to the Earth and all its inhabitants.

Opportunities exist for the local economy to empower community change and also to provide capacity and resilience, but also to provide with capacity and resilience, especially in the areas of land management and food production. A transition of farming in areas adjacent to urban environments to provide organically grown food for towns and cities can lead to increased local security and also to carbon sinks of unploughed soils, reduced toxicity from chemical fertilisers and reduced carbon from transportation.

Small and medium sized local businesses can help to accelerate the circular economy and community employment in regenerative projects. Large enterprises can affect supply chains in an ecologically beneficial way, and influence the change of the economic paradigm beyond bioregional boundaries. Private enterprise is more flexible and able to adapt more quickly to changing demands than politically controlled public service providers.

These changes however necessitate a new way of thinking, an awareness of the challenges of a changing playing field driven by a new moral imperative. It requires an evolution of private enterprise leadership willing to co-operate with communities and absorb short term costs based on the willingness to facilitate change both within organisations and along customer base and supply chains.

Business, organisations or NGOs can endorse the Stop Ecocide campaign by registering here: https://www.stopecocide.earth/manifesto-summary