Category: Current Issues

Beyond Covid-19: The transition to Gaian leadership

In late February 2020, with my colleague, futurist and epidemiologist Peter Black, we, wrote a piece on COVID-19 scenarios and implications. We started as our departure point asking the question, was this a black swan or predictable event? Our conclusion was that the emergence of this zoonotic disease with planetary political, financial, and health implications was not just utterly predictable but an event that those…

June 15, 2021·

SCIENCE WITH INCLUSIVE STORIES:

A NARRATIVE ANALYSIS OF SUCCESSES AND FAILURES IN MANAGING THE PANDEMIC Ivana Milojevic and Sohail Inayatullah THE NARRATIVE CONTEXT During the global financial crisis over a decade ago, the Financial Times (Yergin: 2009) reported that at its heart this was a narrative crisis. How one creates national policy and strategy depends on the story one uses. Depending on the narrative used – i.e., a mortgage crisis, a…

June 9, 2021·

On Patent Waivers

U.S. President Joe Biden has signalled his support for the suspension of patent rights for COVID-19 vaccines, predictably angering pharmaceutical companies, which have seen rising profits during the crisis. Reuters reports that the industry’s biggest lobby group warned that Biden’s step would undermine the companies’ response to the pandemic and compromise safety. However, a report issued by the People’s Vaccine Alliance (a group that includes…

May 31, 2021·

Towards a cashless society

“You cannot get a new economy without a new society.” – Alvin Toffler Barter Trade: After several thousands of years of hunter-gatherer living, humanity settled down on the banks of rivers, tending to agriculture and domestication of animals, around ten thousand years ago. They resorted to ‘barter’ in their economic transactions as of necessity. Early coins, primarily Roman and Greek, date back to the eighth…

May 14, 2021·

The Lessons of Trumpism

by Govinda Donald Trump is without question the most divisive US President in modern times. Trump deliberately play into the racist sentiments of white supremacy groups for political gain, and yet he attracts black voters. He pursues policies that hurt the working-class while protecting the super-rich, and yet the same blue-collar workers vote for him in the millions. His personal conduct and use of language are…

November 24, 2020·

Thriving People, Thriving Planet