This episode opens with Bruce Springsteen in Manchester, England, speaking about the Trump Administration, and then we dive into an interview with Indy Rishi Singh, championing a “doughnut economics” model in San Jose, California, and throughout the state, with the California Doughnut Economics Coalition (CALDEC). Doughnut Economics is the brain child of Kate Raworth, an Oxford economist who believes that we can (and must) change our economic systems to sustain life on Earth, for humans and all species. Raworth and Doughnut Economics are featured in the book, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, by Robin Wall Kimmerer, who also authored Breading Sweetgrass, both books our team highly recommends to everyone at this crucial time on our planet.
Singh calls himself a champion of the working class. His title is “Chief Pollinator” in CALDEC. Singh says: “My responsibility is to get the word out there and for folks in California to experience doughnut economics through doughnut ecofestivals where we support local community nonprofits, grassroots organizations, policymakers, and community members of all walks of life. He is also the Executive Director of Cultivating Self, a nonprofit reframing healthcare to include cultural medicines, food as medicine, ecological medicine, and civic literacy for health advocates. Indy is a DoBe leader with Cosmic Labyrinth, a collective of skilled professionals reimaging work by solving and mitigating disasters with regenerative nature-based solutions. He also hosts the podcast, Political Hope, which interviews people from around the world who are building healthy governance and possibilities for the communities.
Covered in this episode:
- What is doughnut economics?
- How is this the same or different from Marxism or socialism?
- What kind of progress has been made in San Jose and the State toward this model?
- How about in the world?
- What has your reception been among California politicians and various political groups?
“For over 70 years economics has been fixated on GDP, or national output, as its primary measure of progress. That fixation has been used to justify extreme inequalities of income and wealth coupled with unprecedented destruction of the living world. For the twenty-first century a far bigger goal is needed: meeting the human rights of every person within the means of our life-giving planet.”
– Kate Raworth
Resources:
CALDEC Report on how well the State of California is doing in terms of staying with a sustainable doughnut framework for human and all life, as well as for social well being, social justice and healing. (This report is downloadable.)
Serviceberry essay by Kimmerer, from 2022. In Emergence Magazine.
Della Z Duncan is the co-founder of the California Doughnut Economics Coalition. She could not join us for this interview, due to giving birth! But we wanted to share her resources: The Upstream Podcast challenging mainstream economic thinking through documentaries and conversations. Della also supports people as a Right Livelihood Coach, helping transition businesses and organizations to post-capitalism, and teaching and facilitating courses and retreats on Buddhist Economics, the Work that Reconnects, Financial Permaculture, and Regenerative Economics.
