If capitalism doesn’t work for people and the environment, what does work? Capital itself may not be the problem, but only in the way it is regulated. In this process pop-up a different approach to capital, following Herman Daly, John Cobb, and several related thinkers, is played out in the practical workings of an imaginary community. Is such a community feasible, and who would want to become a member? Kent Myers will explore these questions and present a new economic vision for ecological civilization.

“Environmental degradation must be shown to result from the scale of the economy in general rather than only from allocative mistakes that can be corrected while throughput continues to grow exponentially.”

-For the Common Good, 375

DESCRIPTION

Capitalism has a lot of downsides, but it is not entirely obvious how to proceed differently in an ecological civilization. A fictional character, Henry, has been reading Whitehead, Daly, Cobb, and several other economic thinkers. This motivates him to hang up his conventional lifestyle and found an intentional community called Adventure Park that will subject his readings to a practical test. Henry acquires land and recruits members who agree to pursue adventures with him. The members have been struggling in the conventional economy but find that they are able to flourish, each in their own way, in this new micro-economy. Their communitarian lifestyle is hard but it is also, as they say, “like a picnic.” Perhaps ironically, the key element that makes it all run is capital, a kind of capital that is aligned to human needs and to the cosmic process of creativity. 

Are the radical features of Adventure Park feasible? Kent Myers thinks they are. For his final project as part of the certificate program in process thought & practice, he wrote a fictional narrative (summarized above) to explore the possibility of radically re-imagining the role of capital. Successful implementation of such a vision may require commitments that many of us are unwilling to make. We invite you to join us for this special event in which he will share the full story and imagine some novel possibilities with participants.

“A sustained willingness to change depends on a love of the earth that human beings once felt strongly, but that has been thinned and demeaned as the land was commodified.”

-For the Common Good, 380

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR

Kent Myers is a graduate of the Cobb Institute’s Certificate in Process & Practice program. He holds a PhD in Social Systems Sciences from Wharton/Penn. Nearly retired, he has spent his career in management consulting for the federal government.