Journey: ‘An economic system in which Quaker testimony can flourish

Session 1. The problem

Why we need a better system

The problem

Suzanne Ismail, Programme Manager – Economic Issues

Sunniva Taylor, Programme Manager – Sustainability & Peace

“the environmental crisis is enmeshed with global economic injustice”

Minute 36, Britain Yearly Meeting 2011

“We need to ask the question whether this system is so broken that we must urgently work... to put in its place a different system in which our testimonies can flourish.”

Minute 23, Britain Yearly Meeting 2011

We live in a fossil fuel economy

We’re finding more extreme ways to exploit the earth

Planetary boundaries

Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature (461 472-475) (24 September 2009) copyright (2009)

We’re running out of planet

Source: Institute for Fiscal Studies living standards, poverty and inequality 2014 p 38

The gap between rich and poor is growing

7

We put big business above public needs

Mainstream narrative rejects alternatives

For discussion

How does the current system challenge us in our Quaker spirituality?

What’s gone wrong?

• We’re running out of planet – no respect for limited natural resources – (sustainability)

• Inequality has increased both globally and in UK since about 1975 – (equality)

• We’re promoting economic growth, which doesn’t make people feel any happier – (simplicity)

• Our system encourages selfish values and anxiety about image and success – (truth)

• Encourages war over resources (diminishing because of climate change and depletion) – (peace)

The economy- a Quaker critique

For discussion

What sort of economy do you want to see?

How different is it from the one that exists today?

How radical a transformation should we aim for?

0%: The system’s fine - no reform needed. 50%: Minor reforms but mostly leave alone.

75%: Major reforms retain some elements of current system. 100%: Replace entire system with something completely different.