Our Mission in context: perpetual growth is not a natural law
Waste is everywhere, even in places where nobody ever goes or could ever go. In the deepest parts of the oceans, on remote uninhabited islands and on mountains that only the best climbers can get to, waste is found. And that is just the waste that we can see with the naked eye. As our products degrade into tiny nanoparticles, they end up in our blood and -as it was recently found - even in the blood of unborn babies.
The consequences are often contested by those responsible for creating the waste. Discussions about correlation and causality are examples of well known instruments used by industries and governments to postpone the moment they have to change, for as long as possible. Scientists feel like they are ‘chasing tails’ when they have to prove the damage that is done or the dangers that a product poses. It takes years of research to deliver the proof and during that time the producer often tweaks the product just enough to continue bringing it to the market, forcing the scientists to start all over again. Legal experts encounter similar challenges when seeking to hold polluters accountable. While the law does have options and legal procedures have been successful, there are many obstacles to overcome and perpetrators know very well how to avoid legal action, evade responsibility and prolong legal cases as much as they can.
The system driving these problems is based on the idea that we need perpetual growth and that it has always been that way. But not so long ago products were produced only because they were needed. Now most of our products are produced because someone is making a profit.
The current definition of economic growth stems from the late 1920’s. At the time it added the value of what we produce and deducted activity that was damaging. It was used by the Americans during the Second World War to measure the German war industry. But for that purpose, it didn’t need to include the aspect that accounted for damage, so they left that part out. That’s how it stayed ever since. The focus on output as growth really surged from the seventies onwards. In parallel with its evolution, our waste issues got totally out of hand.
Waste Economic Forum combines investigative journalism, science and legal research, leading to the publication of films, podcasts, books, and other narrative forms, to spread awareness globally about the consequences of our relentless pursuit of economic growth and about the solutions that benefit the world we live in and therefore, us.
STRATEGY
Waste Economic Forum combines legal and scientific research methods with investigative journalistic methods, a unique combination leveraging both the power of storytelling and the power of science and the law. The foundation chooses narrative forms with the widest possible international reach, publishing on influential distribution channels, including global streaming services.
Collaboration with legal funds and scientific partners strengthens journalistic, scientific and legal research, significantly broadening insights on both sides. The collaboration aims to maximize impact, generate content and public outcry, trigger system change, and create a global network of scientists, lawyers, policymakers, journalists, and activists.
Our partners include:
Ingredients for change:
WEF will contribute to a new system of economic growth by adding 5 ingredients to the process:
Globally sourced scientific knowledge, fact based information
Hard hitting investigative journalism, generating public outcry and debate
International, collaborative ecosystem of partners, built on content engagement and community creation
Legal push back combined with publicity, leading to inevitabel change
Perspective for alternatives at different levels: individual, corporate and governmental
We can provide and source knowledge through our scientific partners, our own investigative journalists and also our legal experts.
Based on this knowledge WEF can produce investigative journalism stories in different formats and strategically distribute them to a target audience, creating awareness, public outcry and generating an expanding community support base.
Based on the knowledge gathered by our scientific partners and our investigative journalists, our legal partners can develop viable legal cases against perpetrators of malpractices. This push-back gradually creates a situation where it becomes inevitable for governments and producers to change their ways.
Last but not least, the research done by all the members of the WEF ecosystem will generate alternatives, offering people, corporations and governing bodies new perspectives for change.
Once the new narrative of what healthy growth for all looks like and how it can be achieved, is established in people's minds, their behavior will shift in the new direction.