The failure of societies to build narratives of trust among and within people is at the center of social and economic exclusions. At the Global Solutions Summit 2019 in Berlin, much time was given to addressing the topic of narratives, and moreover, the urgent need for new ones.
Turning waste into value is a challenge many industries and corporations face in their attempts to be more sustainable. A circular economy goes one step further and aims to increase efficiency of primary resource consumption by maximizing the life cycle of (raw) materials, redefining growth and thereby decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources.
It is a grim time for women’s reproductive rights. Still today in the 21st century, legal, political and cultural institutions shape a woman’s ability to exercise her sexual and reproductive rights. In the United States, the question of whether the last abortion clinics in the state of Louisiana could remain open went all the way to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, in Buenos Aires, the Senate very narrowly rejected a landmark bill that would legalize abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
In the US, the richest one percent benefited the most from the economic growth in the last decades, wrote Nicholas Buffie on the Center for Economic and Policy Research Blog. The remaining 99 percent experienced an erosion of worker rights, weakened public services, unequal pay and other inequalities.
Women contribute to the economy and to society; however, their contributions are not fully recognized. One reason is due to a lack of accurate measuring. Without appropriate data, women’s contributions become invisible, making it difficult for policy to address gender gaps and promote women’s rights. This was the topic of the T20 Task Force panel, “Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment: Strengthening Measurement to Deepen Impact.”
The broad generalization often made about trade is that it can make everybody better off. This economic principle is popularly proclaimed in the introduction to an economics textbook by Mankiw and Taylor, and therefore taught to many, if not all, students attending introductory courses in economics.
Closed cycles can be found in all aspects of life, except in our economy. In nature, the fallen leaves produced from trees nourish the soil with vital minerals which, in turn, serve plants to grow and fruits to form. Natural ecosystems do not produce waste and use all resources as efficiently as possible.
Sustainable development involves a paradigm change in individuals’ behavior, enterprises’ purposes, and governments systems. This requires the alignment of societal interests and business models to incentivize environmentally-friendly practices and collective action.
The annual Global Solutions Summit brings together researchers, academics, policymakers and thought-leaders from inter-sectoral backgrounds to challenge today’s paradigms and discuss future collective action.
It started on the second day of the Global Solutions Summer School, when Kavindya Thennakoon took the first step of what some later called a “small revolution.” It led to an amazing chain reaction which challenged the makeup of panels at the Summer School and the Global Solutions Summit.
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