Building relationships and bringing people together for a common goal are among 3 keys to creating behavioral change in cities

Effective relationships, parallel strategies and communication with target audiences are all crucial for systemic behavioral change, according to a new report from Meeting of the Minds. Chris Teale@chris_teale, Smart Cities Dive, Feb. 20, 2020 PHOENIX — If city leaders are to create change in their communities, they need to build effective relationships, have parallel strategies and engage their target audiences, …

Create Life-Centered Corporations: A corporation exists only when a government has issued a charter. There is no legitimate reason for any democratically accountable government to issue a corporate charter other than to serve a public purpose.

By David Korten, December 2019. Forum: Corporations in the Crosshairs: From Reform to Redesign, Tellus Institute. Allen White’s paper has started much needed and long overdue discussion on the growing power of corporations and the essential need to deal with their abuse of that power. We live in a world in extreme crisis. By the estimates of the Global Footprint Network, the human species …

Solidarity: secret to success for nonviolent movements for change: solidarity. Instead of “going it alone”

By Rivera Sun, Wagingnonviolence.org December 7, 2019 | STRATEGIZE! Instead of “going it alone,” movements can amplify their message, leverage collective power, and build strength by seeking solidarity from aligned organizations and groups. There’s a secret to success for nonviolent movements for change: solidarity. Instead of “going it alone,” movements can amplify their message, leverage collective power, and build strength by seeking solidarity from …

Community-Controlled Economies Drive Systems Change

Community-Controlled Economies Drive Systems Change, BALLE, Harper S.E. Bishop, Aug 15 “Just Transition is my religion.” — Lorna C. Hill, Founder and Artistic Director of Ujima Theatre Company Time and again it has been the radical political imagination of grassroots leaders from marginalized communities armed with the truth of their lived experience who have confronted oppressive systems through building collective power that …

Can we tame capitalism by giving everyone a share of Wall Street

An Occupy Wall Street protest in 2011. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)By Jeff SteinAugust 20 The economist Giacomo Corneo is a self-proclaimed socialist. A professor at the Free University of Berlin, Corneo is steeped in the writings of Karl Marx and, in conversation, rattles off the beliefs of the founder of communism. The professor works with Germany’s Greens party. But on perhaps …

Billionaires are a sign of social, political, and economic failure

Inherited Wealth And Crony Capitalism Have Created An Aristocratic Class That Undermines Social Mobility And Democracy. A third of wealth is inherited. Another third comes from special access/crony capitalism. Didier Jacobs calculated a few years ago that another third of billionaire wealth comes from crony connections to government and monopoly.  This could be for example when billionaires secure concessions to provide services …

Greening your life is good and well, but this is going to take systemic change

China and India currently have much lower rates of car ownership than countries in the west, but as they grow richer their new middle classes will inevitably seek to emulate western consumers. The number of cars per thousand people are as follows: the US, 811; the UK, 471; China, 179; India, 22. There are 2.8 billion people in China and India. …

Investing in tuition-free college pays has high rates of return for society

By David Deming, Tuition-Free College Could Cost Less Than You Think, NYTimes, July 21, 2019 “The long-term payoff of these policies could be enormous. Considerable research shows that public and private benefits greatly exceed the costs when students are nudged toward obtaining a college degree. Yet at the moment, only 37 percent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 29 …