Circular Economy In Practice #6: Time Travel to 2050 – What Will the Future Look Like Exactly?

By Camille Duran, Eleen Murphy, Green Exchange

Last month, we took our time machine to the World Circular Economy Forum in Helsinki and asked 8 very brave volunteers to take a trip to 2050 and report back on what they found. In this episode we share the highlights from the trip and discuss in detail what we learned. Self cleaning clothes, soil health, vegetarianism, and yes - it looks like incineration will be out of the picture too. Strap in!

Doughnut Economics: a Step Forward, but Not Far Enough

By Ugo Bardi, Cassandra's legacy

Doughnut Economics, by Kate Raworth (Chelsea Green, 2017) is an interesting book that goes in the right direction in the sense that it promotes a circular economy, but it leaves you with the impression that it missed that extra step that would have lead it to define the goal in the right way. Bridging the gap between standard economics and biophysical economics is still far away.

The Circular Economy: Is it the Solution to Resource Depletion and Pollution?

By Mark H. Burton, Steady-State Manchester

As Christian Arnsperger suggests, to retrieve the idea of circularity requires a second concept, that of sufficiency, of “enough”. Without that, it is at best a way of postponing the inevitable crash, and at worst a way of giving false credibility to the growthist delusion. So the idea of resource cycling loops needs combining with the radical reduction of consumption, long product durability, re-use and repair.

The Renewable Energy and Waste Industries: 21st Century Confederates in Changing the Global Economy

By Jeremy Leggett, Jeremy Leggett blog

The emissions prizes of both a renewable economy and a circular economy are huge.

Capital Questions

By Erik Assadourian, Future Perfect

The University of the District of Columbia is leading the charge in transforming the food system in a city challenged with high levels of poverty, obesity, and population growth.

Making the Regenerative City

By Andrew Curry, thenextwave

The regenerative city applies ecological principles to urban redevelopment to make the city environmentally viable. It should make the city socially viable as well.

Emmanuel and Elizabeth at Pocheco: “Let’s change everything”

By Rob Hopkins, Transition Culture

When you ring Pocheco, a company that makes 2 billion envelopes a year in their factory close to Lille in France, the holding message describes Pocheco as "the first ecolonomic factory in the world".

In the Throes of Change: An Interview With Douglas Rushkoff

By Erin Lynch, P2P Foundation

You don’t have to look too long or too hard to realize that the tech sector is in the midst of a fast paced, ongoing evolution.

The Circular Economy’s Missing Ingredient: Local

By John Mulrow, Yardfarmers blog

There is need for a new level of nuance — a local circular economy — one, in which materials, ideas and feedback flow cyclically and locally.

How Placemaking with “Bottle Bricks” Changes Lives

By Brennan Blazer Bird, Shareable

This is the story of how a simple idea forever changed my life, as well as the lives of many others.

Sustainability for Whom?

By Bill Sheehan, Upstream

Is eco-business leading us to ecological sustainability?

Turning Waste into Wine: A Pilgrimage to the Composted Land

By Sven Eberlein, A World of Words

It seems pretty obvious that recycling, reusing, and repurposing materials we no longer need makes a lot more sense than burning or burying them, not just from an environmental, but an economic perspective.