Jennifer Wilkins
on Degrowth and Living in the Heliocene
How would it feel to live in the Heliocene?
The place where Earth doesn’t revolve around humans. The place in which we are part of a planetary biosphere that relies on on the Sun, Helios: “Our ways of living and thinking need not – and should not – be anthropocentric. We could live in the Heliocene.”
This place imagined by Jennifer Wilkins is the one in which we are striving for something better, through new business models, new policies and new ways of thinking, to transform how we meet people’s needs, limit our use of resources and energy and distribute wealth. Because, as Jennifer says, projections aren’t predictions: “the future unfolds day by day, sometimes as anticipated, sometimes with surprises. It’s all there to play for. Be in the game, stay in the game, take good breaks, love life.”
Jennifer Wilkins is a researcher and business consultant focused on shaping emerging ideas in degrowth policy and business concepts around Aotearoa issues and perspectives. Her work is gathered on Heliocene.org.
Degrowth in business seems a paradoxical concept, yet it may be crucial to a sustainable future. The goal? Universal wellbeing delivered through global and local provisioning systems that are distributive and regenerative. The challenge? A reprioritization of social values and behaviours toward sufficiency and sharing.
Jennifer believes that it could lead to “the development of innovative post-growth business models that focus on meeting needs and respect local biosphere boundaries, both scientific and cultural. It is agitating for reform of governance institutions and an increase in community agency through participative democracy.”
Definitely not an easy or non-disruptive or linear process. Definitely better than conventional sustainability – which is, in her opinion, “not about decoupling profitability from environmental impact; actually, it’s about decoupling wellbeing from environmental impact.”
Her tribe is made up of all those who are curious about finding ways to shift from a growth economy to a socioecological economy.
Would you like to be part of it?
Enter the Heliocene and discover Jennifer Wilkins’s answers for #inspirators!
Thank you, Jennifer, for being a De-Growther!
#INSPIRATORS QUESTIONNAIRE
Name: Jennifer Wilkins
Company / Institution: Heliocene
Title: Founder
Website: Heliocene.org
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferwilkinsnz/
Country of origin: Northern Ireland
Country you currently live in: New Zealand
Your personal definition of Regeneration: Self-replenishing socio-ecological systems.
Main business challenge you face: Converting radical knowledge into an everyday income.
Main driver that keeps you going: Believing that the future can be better than the past, even if non-linearly different.
The trait you are most proud of in yourself: Focus.
The trait you most value in others: Honesty.
Passions & little things that bring you joy: Artisanal chocolate, spicy negroni, random frequent messages from my kids who all work/study overseas.
The #inspirators who determined you to take the regenerative path: English nature writers Robert Macfarlane and Roger Deakin, whose achingly beautiful and interrogative descriptions of human-nature relationships are a reminder of the things we must not allow to become lost.
A hint or starting point for companies or professionals that are taking the first steps in the regeneration journey: Use tools that clever people have already designed rather than trying to reinvent the wheel (e.g. the Doughnut Design for Business tool).
Most used and abused clichés about sustainability that bother you: It’s widely assumed that sustainability is about decoupling profitability from environmental impact; actually, it’s about decoupling wellbeing from environmental impact.
An honest piece of advice for young people who lose hope: Projections aren’t predictions. The future unfolds day by day, sometimes as anticipated, sometimes with surprises. It’s all there to play for. Be in the game, stay in the game, take good breaks, love life.
Books that had a major impact on you:
South by Ernest Shackleton is a tremendous true story of tenacity and hope that I can hardly take in;
Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey made me reassess what it means to be a Guardian reader;
The Sartorialist by Scott Schuman revealed to me that style is not fashion, which means that the latest things in the shops are irrelevant;
Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton showed me that everyone is both exceptional and normal;
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson helped me imagine how humanity could experience and battle climate change in the coming decades.
Must-reads for any Regenerative professional: I don’t read books for professionals.
Movies / Documentaries you would watch all over again: Dark Waters; Erin Brockovich
Blogs / Websites / Podcasts etc. you visit frequently: For global views specific to degrowth I listen to the podcast Economics for Rebels. For mainstream/socialist economics specific to Auckland, I listen to the podcast When the Facts Change.
Music that makes you (and your heart) sing: Anything you would hear in a Berlin nightclub.
Places you travelled to that left a mark on you: Alexandra Township in Johannesburg, where dignity survives in the face of severe structural disadvantage; the West coast of Ireland, because breathing Atlantic air feels as if you are being washed clean by the universe.
Global Regenerative Voices you recommend us to follow:
Daniel Christian Wahl
Trends in Regeneration we should keep an eye on: Research on breaking down forever chemicals.
Best places for business networking (online or offline): LinkedIn.
Events we should attend: Beyond Growth Conference; Degrowth Conference.
Associations, business clubs, tribes you belong to – and why: My tribe is those who are curious about finding ways to shift from a growth economy to a socioecological economy – we are still relatively scattered.
Sustainable Development or Regeneration courses, trainings, or certifications that really teach us how to have an impact: Schumacher College is iconic, but not available to everyone.
I really value the ideas I learned completing the ETH Zurich course Worldviews – Moving from Sustainability to Regeneration, which is quite a commitment, but is available for free on edX.
I’m currently completing a Master’s in Degrowth: ecology, economics and policy at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, which is a new programme introducing the emerging array of research in the field of degrowth and an opportunity to personally delve deeper by producing either an academic thesis or a professional project.
Reasons to feel optimistic about our future in 2030: The climate, biodiversity and inequality crises are finally being recognized as interconnected; so, hopefully a set of holistic goals will replace the siloed SDG agenda.
Reasons to feel pessimistic about our future in 2030: Geopolitics and the shifting world order will disrupt many global systems, impacting lives everywhere.
Regenerative Leadership qualities much needed today: An ability to reframe complex systems from multiple angles, rather than trying to reduce them down to simplistic models.
Quote that inspires you:
“Be yourself; everyone else is taken.”
(Oscar Wilde)
Your own quote that will inspire us:
