1.4.6 Reflection

Consider one or more of the following questions to reflect on at the end of Subtopic 1.4 Regenerative economies.  Discuss with another student or in a small group, or record (written, audio, video) your response.

• What evidence do you see of Nature’s Unifying Patterns in your home, school, or local economy? What aspect(s) could be improved to function more like nature?

• Consider one product that you use regularly - how might it be improved to be more circular? Think about the three principles of circular economy as you develop ideas.

• There is a clear relationship between economic inequality and ecological overshoot. Many distributive strategies involve actions after the economic inequality is in place, aiming to undo it. For example, progressive taxation tackles inequality by taxing higher incomes (where inequality is already present) with higher tax rates. Another strategy would be to prevent the inequality from happening in the first place, called predistribution. 

How might a predistributive strategy work? Brainstorm a few ideas about how we could design our economies and societies to prevent extreme economic inequality in the first place.

• The section on caring economies focuses mainly on human care, but it is clear that care refers to both care for humans and ecological systems. How can care for humans have positive impacts on the way we engage with the rest of the living world and vice versa?