As I heard the news about falling share prices and failure to pass a $70 Billion bail out plan in the US, I was reminded of this clip in Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff. It involves the US Government ‘shining the shoes’ of the Corporation. The Corporation is the fat guy in the top hat here …

Watch this clip and you’ll see how Annie’s message is right on the money. If the American public watched this right now they being singing Annie’s songbook.

So … what’s the solution? Is the financial meltdown ‘fixable’, or is this so complex that no one knows the right way forward? We have never been here before. This particular set of market conditions … with an overlay of climate change, dwindling water resources, collapsing fisheries and a growing worldwide population … makes for interesting times.

In a meeting yesterday, we started talking about ‘adaptation’ and ‘resilience’. Our ability and capacity to deal with the unexpected and find a way forward through crisis. It’s all about communities working together and relationships between people.

Two provocative questions to consider …

If we re shaped our economy where the focus is on ‘progress’ rather than ‘growth’ … what would it look like?

If the US and Europe moved quickly and invested $1 Trillion dollars on making a transition to a low carbon economy, what would happen long term?

As for me … Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.

Cheers

Geoff