Our Mission in context: perpetual GDP 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 system driving these problems is based on the idea that we need perpetual GDP 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 was on output as growth really surged from the seventies onwards. In parallel with its evolution, our waste issues got totally out of hand. As a result we are now facing an existential threat that needs to be addressed urgently.
Changes within our GDP-driven system will not help us avoid societal and ecological collapse. What is needed now is a fundamental reboot of our thinking. We have to let go of the idea that constant GDP growth is a necessity. There is overwhelming proof that it isn’t. When we liberate ourselves from the GDP ideology, we will be able to see and implement alternatives that will deliver more equality, higher levels of wellbeing and ecologic stability.
Getting to that point means creating a new story of an economy that puts wellbeing and planetary health first. That’s where Waste Economic Forum comes in. We are storytellers, journalists and investigators, dedicating all of our time to the creation of a new narrative for a healthy economy on a healthy planet.
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 narrative for a healthy economy by adding 5 ingredients to the process:
Globally sourced scientific knowledge, fact based information
Hard hitting investigative journalism
An international, collaborative ecosystem of partners, built on content engagement and community creation
Legal push back combined with publicity, leading to inevitabel change
Perspectives 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 a healthy economy that meets the needs for all within the planetary boundaries looks like and how it can be achieved, is established in people's minds, we will see the much needed shift in the new direction.