Wellbeing Economy Alliance – a radical rethink of how we measure our economy
What has a donut got to do with the economy and the wellbeing of our local community? Quite a lot, according to an internationally flourishing network that has a local advocate here in Christchurch.
Spreydon resident and economics professor Paul Dalziel is a trustee of Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa, a registered charity that is building momentum for major changes to the way the business sector and government measure our country’s economic ‘success’. However, Dalziel is not talking about a donut of the deep-fried variety, with icing and coloured sprinkles.
“Donut economics is this idea that we have to live within planetary boundaries,” says Paul by way of explanation.
“The work of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance is to ask the question ‘can we redesign our economic systems effectively so that human activity remains within these boundaries’?” he says.
The Alliance answers with a resounding ‘yes’ and is committed to raising awareness, forging links with supportive businesses and government stakeholders, and involving individuals and communities.
The donut concept is one of a raft of alternate economic models that is garnering support both nationally and internationally. It was developed by UK economist Kate Raworth as a way to illustrate how current manufacturing and consumption trends – and a focus by governments on continual economic growth – is creating havoc socially and environmentally. The outer edge of the ‘donut’ represents the finite limits of earth’s resources, which – in some instances – have been shown to be depleted beyond healthy or viable limits.
Paul believes that economies should serve communities and not the other way around.
“We need to create new narratives for the new times: stories that speak to us about the situation and the challenges we find ourselves in …but also tell stories about creative ways forward,” he says.
“The human race is continuously telling stories about itself,” he explains. “Arts and culture, the stories we tell, are the way we stimulate imagination among ourselves but also among our children.”
The story Paul is telling through his involvement in WEAll Aotearoa (often pronounced as ‘We All’) is that solutions can be found. This happens, he says, when we intentionally connect with our local community and with our natural surroundings. He believes these traditionally important features of Kiwi life have been eroded over recent decades, which has exacerbated people’s anxiety about climate change and the environment.
More than just a think tank, the Alliance helps amplify work currently undertaken across a range of business and community sectors in New Zealand, as well as by people across the political spectrum. Dalziel acknowledges the outcomes envisaged are not a quick fix and require a “deep shift” in our thinking and behaviour.
An economics professor at Lincoln University, Paul heads the Agribusiness & Economics Research Unit based there. He says it’s important local communities remind themselves that they have the capacity and imagination to tackle what might otherwise seem like insurmountable problems.
“When I speak to communities and they ask what needs to change, the first thing I say is that we have to rediscover our human connection to the environment,” he says.
As a relatively recent presence in New Zealand, WEAll Aotearoa is still in a “discovery and development” phase. It is considering instituting volunteer ambassador roles, inviting a cross-section of business and community leaders to be ambassadors for systemic economic changes.
WEAll Aotearoa is affiliated with 14 other hubs internationally, representing at present a range of predominantly Western countries. Its director is former Green MP Gareth Hughes. A second paid person, Sally Hett, started work in late April; she has a background in social policy research and economics.
(July 2024)
Photo captions:
[L] Professor Paul Dalziel
[Middle] Christchurch Envirohub’s screening of ‘Outgrow the System’ at Tūranga in May, in conjunction with WEAll, featured a Zoom session with the film’s co-director Anders Nilsson and a panel discussion featuring Dr Dalziel and other Christchurch business leaders about the future of the economy.
