Break Human Limits AND Respect Planetary Limits in a Frugal Economy
In two weeks, in Paris, will begin the Summer Olympics 2024 where athletes are expected to BREAK the LIMITS
The competing athletes will be adulated by people worldwide for pushing the physical and mental boundaries of what is humanly achievable.
At the same time, scientists found that six of the nine planetary boundaries — which altogether constitute “a safe operating space for humanity” — have already been transgressed.
As a result, businesses and nations are asked today to RESPECT the LIMITS of Nature to provide for us and keep us safe.
Today, humans are torn by two contradictory “injunctions”:
- Our innate biological drive to “do more” and our evolutionary need to “be better” compel us to BREAK Human Limits
- As climate change worsens and natural resources dwindle, to survive as a human civilization, we must RESPECT Ecological Limits
I know first-hand how it feels when you face these two opposing directives.
As an innovation expert, I ask my corporate clients to break their mental limits, to “think outside the box”, and push the boundaries of their imagination to develop cutting-edge solutions.
At the same time, as someone who grew up in India grappling with water scarcity, I viscerally know the importance of respecting natural limits.
How do we resolve this quandary?
By becoming aware of two things:
- “Infinite economic growth on a finite planet” is no longer sustainable
- “Infinite human growth on a finite planet” is possible and worth pursuing as a noble goal
But gaining this expanded awareness alone isn’t enough.
We need to fundamentally change our economic system, so it delivers a *qualitatively* different kind of growth that benefits all humans and enhances social and ecological harmony.
We must build a frugal economy that does better with less.
In my upcoming book The Frugal Economy, I show how to raise and expand our consciousness so we can all stretch our mental and psychic limits and become better human beings while harming less our environment and respecting the planetary limits.
Learn about this inspiring book published by Wiley and Thinkers50.
