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Change the Story, Change the Future: A Living Economy for a Living Earth
We humans live by stories, says David Korten, and the stories that now govern our society set us on a path to certain self-destruction. In this profound new book, Korten shares the results of his search for a story that reflects the fullness of human knowledge and understanding and provides a guide to action adequate to the needs of our time.
Korten calls our current story Sacred Money and Markets. Money, it tells us, is the measure of all worth and the source of all happiness. Earth is simply a source of raw materials. Inequality and environmental destruction are unfortunate but unavoidable. Although many recognize that this story promotes bad ethics, bad science, and bad economics, it will remain our guiding story until replaced by one that aligns with our deepest understanding of the universe and our relationship to it.
To guide our path to a viable human future, Korten offers a Sacred Life and Living Earth story grounded in a cosmology that affirms we are living beings born of a living Earth itself born of a living universe. Our health and well-being depend on an economy that works in partnership with the processes by which Earth’s community of life maintains the conditions of its own existence—and ours. Offering a hopeful vision, Korten lays out the transformative impact adopting this story will have on every aspect of human life and society.
Korten calls our current story Sacred Money and Markets. Money, it tells us, is the measure of all worth and the source of all happiness. Earth is simply a source of raw materials. Inequality and environmental destruction are unfortunate but unavoidable. Although many recognize that this story promotes bad ethics, bad science, and bad economics, it will remain our guiding story until replaced by one that aligns with our deepest understanding of the universe and our relationship to it.
To guide our path to a viable human future, Korten offers a Sacred Life and Living Earth story grounded in a cosmology that affirms we are living beings born of a living Earth itself born of a living universe. Our health and well-being depend on an economy that works in partnership with the processes by which Earth’s community of life maintains the conditions of its own existence—and ours. Offering a hopeful vision, Korten lays out the transformative impact adopting this story will have on every aspect of human life and society.
200 pages, Paperback
First published February 2, 2015
21 people are currently reading
350 people want to read
About the author
David C. Korten
50books69followersDr. David C. Korten worked for more than thirty-five years in preeminent business, academic, and international development institutions before he turned away from the establishment to work exclusively with public interest citizen-action groups. He is the cofounder and board chair of YES! Magazine, the founder and president of The People-Centered Development Forum, a board member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, an associate of the International Forum on Globalization, and a member of the Club of Rome. He is co-chair of the New Economy Working Group formed in 2008 to formulate and advance a new economy agenda.
Korten earned his MBA and PhD degrees at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Trained in organization theory, business strategy, and economics, he devoted his early career to setting up business schools in low-income countries—starting with Ethiopia—in the hope that creating a new class of professional business entrepreneurs who would be the key to ending global poverty. He completed his military service during the Vietnam War as a captain in the U.S. Air Force, with duty at the Special Air Warfare School, Air Force headquarters command, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Korten then served for five and a half years as a faculty member of the Harvard University Graduate School of Business, where he taught in Harvard’s middle management, MBA, and doctoral programs and served as Harvard’s adviser to the Central American Management Institute in Nicaragua. He subsequently joined the staff of the Harvard Institute for International Development, where he headed a Ford Foundation–funded project to strengthen the organization and management of national family planning programs.
In the late 1970s, Korten left U.S. academia and moved to Southeast Asia, where he lived for nearly fifteen years, serving first as a Ford Foundation project specialist and later as Asia regional adviser on development management to the U.S. Agency for International Development. His work there won him international recognition for his contributions to the development of strategies for transforming public bureaucracies into responsive support systems dedicated to strengthening the community control and management of land, water, and forestry resources.
Increasingly concerned that the economic models embraced by official aid agencies were increasing poverty and environmental destruction and that these agencies were impervious to change from within, Korten broke with the official aid system. His last five years in Asia were devoted to working with leaders of Asian nongovernmental organizations on identifying the root causes of development failure in the region and building the capacity of civil society organizations to function as strategic catalysts of positive national- and global-level change.
Korten came to realize that the crisis of deepening poverty, inequality, environmental devastation, and social disintegration he observed in Asia was playing out in nearly every country in the world—including the United States and other “developed” countries. Furthermore, he concluded that the United States was actively promoting—both at home and abroad—the very policies that were deepening the crisis. If there were to be a positive human future, the United States must change. He returned to the United States in 1992 to share with his fellow Americans the lessons he had learned abroad.
Korten’s publications are required reading in university courses around the world. He has written numerous books, including Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth, the international best seller When Corporations Rule the World, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, and The Post-Corporate World: Life After Capitalism. He contributes regularly to edited books and professional journals, and to a wide variety of periodical publicatio
Korten earned his MBA and PhD degrees at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Trained in organization theory, business strategy, and economics, he devoted his early career to setting up business schools in low-income countries—starting with Ethiopia—in the hope that creating a new class of professional business entrepreneurs who would be the key to ending global poverty. He completed his military service during the Vietnam War as a captain in the U.S. Air Force, with duty at the Special Air Warfare School, Air Force headquarters command, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Korten then served for five and a half years as a faculty member of the Harvard University Graduate School of Business, where he taught in Harvard’s middle management, MBA, and doctoral programs and served as Harvard’s adviser to the Central American Management Institute in Nicaragua. He subsequently joined the staff of the Harvard Institute for International Development, where he headed a Ford Foundation–funded project to strengthen the organization and management of national family planning programs.
In the late 1970s, Korten left U.S. academia and moved to Southeast Asia, where he lived for nearly fifteen years, serving first as a Ford Foundation project specialist and later as Asia regional adviser on development management to the U.S. Agency for International Development. His work there won him international recognition for his contributions to the development of strategies for transforming public bureaucracies into responsive support systems dedicated to strengthening the community control and management of land, water, and forestry resources.
Increasingly concerned that the economic models embraced by official aid agencies were increasing poverty and environmental destruction and that these agencies were impervious to change from within, Korten broke with the official aid system. His last five years in Asia were devoted to working with leaders of Asian nongovernmental organizations on identifying the root causes of development failure in the region and building the capacity of civil society organizations to function as strategic catalysts of positive national- and global-level change.
Korten came to realize that the crisis of deepening poverty, inequality, environmental devastation, and social disintegration he observed in Asia was playing out in nearly every country in the world—including the United States and other “developed” countries. Furthermore, he concluded that the United States was actively promoting—both at home and abroad—the very policies that were deepening the crisis. If there were to be a positive human future, the United States must change. He returned to the United States in 1992 to share with his fellow Americans the lessons he had learned abroad.
Korten’s publications are required reading in university courses around the world. He has written numerous books, including Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth, the international best seller When Corporations Rule the World, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, and The Post-Corporate World: Life After Capitalism. He contributes regularly to edited books and professional journals, and to a wide variety of periodical publicatio
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
March 2, 2015
I heard NN Taleb once say that authors rarely branch out onto new topics, that instead, they just iterate, refine, evolve a grand idea that is their life's mission, overarching question or riddle. And that is apt for David Korten, who continues in the same vein as in *When Corporations Rule the World*, *The Great Turning*, *An Agenda for a New Economy*, and other works. This is a slim paperback and its focus is entirely centered on *story*, how victory for humanity won't be won until we replace the poisonous "sacred money & markets" story with a "sacred life and living earth* story. (Which is an *evolving* from the *The Great Turning* where it was framed as *Empire* v. *Earth Community*. Unlike *The Great Turning* (which all should read!), this slim paperback is just a refining of Korten imploring that we need the "change the story" -- that life and time should be held sacred, as opposed to treating human beings as valued only for the use as monetary units or monetary impact.
March 23, 2015
This is a very important book. I hope that it reaches a wide audience. David Korten makes a very clear argument about the importance of changing the meta narrative "sacred money and markets" to one under which humanity can actually continue to exist on planet earth.
July 9, 2015
David Korten is probably best known for writing "The Great Turning". This book, "Change the Story, Change the Future" is his latest (2015). He argues that we need to reframe our worldview to get out of our current mess, particularly the global climate crisis.
In the Occupy movement and other progressive movements, you will see the slogan "People over Profit". In this book, Korten elaborates how in our current worldview, corporate profit is held above people and all else. In a nutshell, this book is about "People and Planet over Profit".
He notes that we believe that "time is money". He argues that it should be "time is life". We need to go from the story of "sacred money and markets" to the story of "sacred life and living earth". We must reframe value based on life and the health of the planet, not on our inventions of money and market. He argues that money and market can be "useful servants" but that they make dangerous masters.
Corporate capitalism is destroying the planet by basing "success" on a need for endless growth and consumption. Our current story of "sacred money and markets" puts the importance of money first, but in reality, the health of the planet is primary. The story of "sacred life and living earth" would help us to correct our course. Without a healthy planet, you don't have people, and without people there is no money.
He notes that this might seem like dreaming, to make this shift. But as he writes, "I have witnessed in my lifetime a number of politically infeasible transformations. These include the collapse of British rule in India, the transformation of race relations and gender roles, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the end of Apartheid in South Africa, and the ouster of the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines. Each seemed impossible -- until it happened. Then suddenly it seemed inevitable." We can add to Korten's list marriage equality, now too!
In the Occupy movement and other progressive movements, you will see the slogan "People over Profit". In this book, Korten elaborates how in our current worldview, corporate profit is held above people and all else. In a nutshell, this book is about "People and Planet over Profit".
He notes that we believe that "time is money". He argues that it should be "time is life". We need to go from the story of "sacred money and markets" to the story of "sacred life and living earth". We must reframe value based on life and the health of the planet, not on our inventions of money and market. He argues that money and market can be "useful servants" but that they make dangerous masters.
Corporate capitalism is destroying the planet by basing "success" on a need for endless growth and consumption. Our current story of "sacred money and markets" puts the importance of money first, but in reality, the health of the planet is primary. The story of "sacred life and living earth" would help us to correct our course. Without a healthy planet, you don't have people, and without people there is no money.
He notes that this might seem like dreaming, to make this shift. But as he writes, "I have witnessed in my lifetime a number of politically infeasible transformations. These include the collapse of British rule in India, the transformation of race relations and gender roles, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the end of Apartheid in South Africa, and the ouster of the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines. Each seemed impossible -- until it happened. Then suddenly it seemed inevitable." We can add to Korten's list marriage equality, now too!
December 7, 2022
To listen to the discussion, you would infer that that purpose of people and nature was to serve money.....
The Sacred Money and Markets story....fabricated to serve the ruling class at the expense of all the rest. P23
Every assertion of the Sacred Money and Markets story is false or grossly misleading. P25
Reading the above quotes, if you were not familiar with the author you might infer that he is some rabid environmentalist with a mystical streak or that these statements were taken from the paranoid rantings of a conspiracy theorist, or even the archives of the prophets of the 60's.
For much of his life, David C. Korten was very much at ease in this story. After all, it's the one we were spoon fed. A former professor at Harvard Business school, his gradual disenchantment became tinged with alarm.
As we reawaken to our true nature, we see more easily that the money economy is a numbers game driven by self -directing corporate robots for which life is nothing more than a tradable commodity.
We have created a a global suicide economy with no concern for the consequences for life. P28
DCK doesn't stop with analysis.
Most efforts to avoid further collapse focus on treating the symptoms of a systems failure with marginal adjustments...appropriate if we were dealing with a broken system. When dealing with a self-destructive system supported by a false story, the only solution is a different system grounded in a different story. P28
With the fervant optimism of a convert, DCK explores some options and sketches out some alternatives.
Imagine a world in which we organize ourselves as living communities of place.p84
Rather than complain about or ignore the situation, if you have not already been convinced, read this short book for some good ideas regarding what must be done to keep the present fable from its logical conclusion.
The Sacred Money and Markets story....fabricated to serve the ruling class at the expense of all the rest. P23
Every assertion of the Sacred Money and Markets story is false or grossly misleading. P25
Reading the above quotes, if you were not familiar with the author you might infer that he is some rabid environmentalist with a mystical streak or that these statements were taken from the paranoid rantings of a conspiracy theorist, or even the archives of the prophets of the 60's.
For much of his life, David C. Korten was very much at ease in this story. After all, it's the one we were spoon fed. A former professor at Harvard Business school, his gradual disenchantment became tinged with alarm.
As we reawaken to our true nature, we see more easily that the money economy is a numbers game driven by self -directing corporate robots for which life is nothing more than a tradable commodity.
We have created a a global suicide economy with no concern for the consequences for life. P28
DCK doesn't stop with analysis.
Most efforts to avoid further collapse focus on treating the symptoms of a systems failure with marginal adjustments...appropriate if we were dealing with a broken system. When dealing with a self-destructive system supported by a false story, the only solution is a different system grounded in a different story. P28
With the fervant optimism of a convert, DCK explores some options and sketches out some alternatives.
Imagine a world in which we organize ourselves as living communities of place.p84
Rather than complain about or ignore the situation, if you have not already been convinced, read this short book for some good ideas regarding what must be done to keep the present fable from its logical conclusion.
August 28, 2016
The message in this book is a strident one - our current capitalist global system is destroying the very life support of humanity, planet Earth, and has to be replaced. Korten argues that the mainstream narrative of neoliberal economics and the worship of money enriches the few at the expense of the majority and the long-term health of the environment, nothing new here. The challenge is finding a solution, and the one proposed sounds an awful lot like what proponents of 'deep ecology' would identify with. The book is more philosophical than practical, expounding on a set of values that sees every living thing as interconnected with a larger whole, akin to Lovelock's Gaian view of Earth. When it comes to specifics though, I found it wanting. Yes, local is better than global, dense and vehicle free cities better than suburban sprawl, nothing revolutionary here too. Yet I could not help but see it as yet another utopian pipe dream of sorts, where everyone lives in happy communities surrounded by farms and forests. The problem as I see it is that we have long surpassed any notion of sustainability with a population over 7 billion and expanding economies and consumption. Perhaps when we were at 1 billion it was still possible for everyone to live on organic and local food production, but the hard reality is that the agro-industrial complex, terrible as it is for animals and the Earth is necessary to sustain this plague of humans, this overgrown cancerous tumor that is our human civilization. The success and predominance of the money system was because it enabled resources to be harnessed and technology to bloom that brought us to the situation of overshoot we have today. Replacing it with a different and opposite set of values would likely take a catastrophic, life threatening crisis for mankind. I would think such a situation would only arise post-collapse, not prior, unfortunately.
August 28, 2016
For many years, the world has been operating under a Story (or Narrative) that governs many aspects of daily life. It's all about money and markets, and it goes something like this: "Money equals happiness. Those who have a lot of money are to be admired and revered. Those who don't have a lot of money are just lazy or stupid. Slightly altering the 1980's bumper sticker: He Who Dies With the Most Money Wins. Nothing must be allowed to get in the way of economic growth, whether it's an increased level of air pollution, or an endangered animal whose forest habitat is about to be clearcut." Among the effects of such a Story are the near destruction of the American economy, and an income inequality gap the size of the Grand Canyon. Maybe the time has come for a new Story.
The author calls it a Sacred Life and Living Earth Story. It is designed to work in harmony with the Earth, and not treat this world like it's a dead rock for sale. The author calls for shifting employment away from activities that harm society to activities that help society. Unproductive financial speculation should be made unprofitable. In college, the focus should shift from pre-employment degree programs to facilitation of lifelong learning. Replace the business school curriculum of phantom-wealth economics with one of living-wealth economics. Get rid of the walls that isolate academic departments from each other and the walls that isolate formal learning from the living world. It is reasonable to say that these proposals have no chance of being adopted, given the current conditions in Washington. Don't all great social movements go through stages, from Impossible to Maybe to Inevitable?
The author does a great job diagnosing the present state of the world. His proposals for how to fix it are not exactly new, but they are still very thought-provoking. Perhaps it is time for a radical rethinking of our current impasse. This book is an excellent place to start.
The author calls it a Sacred Life and Living Earth Story. It is designed to work in harmony with the Earth, and not treat this world like it's a dead rock for sale. The author calls for shifting employment away from activities that harm society to activities that help society. Unproductive financial speculation should be made unprofitable. In college, the focus should shift from pre-employment degree programs to facilitation of lifelong learning. Replace the business school curriculum of phantom-wealth economics with one of living-wealth economics. Get rid of the walls that isolate academic departments from each other and the walls that isolate formal learning from the living world. It is reasonable to say that these proposals have no chance of being adopted, given the current conditions in Washington. Don't all great social movements go through stages, from Impossible to Maybe to Inevitable?
The author does a great job diagnosing the present state of the world. His proposals for how to fix it are not exactly new, but they are still very thought-provoking. Perhaps it is time for a radical rethinking of our current impasse. This book is an excellent place to start.
January 6, 2019
To sum this book up, David writes in an Yes! Magazine column:
This is a book that concerns about the WE - all of humanity. But look at the most popular books these days. They are all concerned about the self - the me. Do we need more evidence than that to conclude that the current story of society is so fucked up?
Last week, I took my interns to a new restaurant for dinner. At the door, a lady in a wheel chair asked: "Can you buy Combo A1 for me? My social insurance doesn't pay for this." The immediate reaction in my head was: "Who the heck are you and why should I give you my money." Of course none of that was shown on my face, I gave her a smile and brought her dinner and wished her a Happy New Year. (Later we did find out that she was a fraud - she was at a another restaurant trying to plead for more free meals.)
This is how insidious the story of the Sacred Market and Money story is. It affects us in fundamental ways. It is build into ALL our assumptions (how much would that cost? what's the best value? How do I get more value out of this deal/situation/person/organization?
Take a moment to think about this: What's on everyone's minds? It's MONEY. At least, Money comes FIRST. Everything else follows.
Say if this was 2 thousand years ago and I lived in a village as a hunter and someone who is disabled asked me to fetch them some food - I probably wouldn't even think twice. It's what we do.
Change won't happen overnight. Nor it probably will happen in 10 years. However, that doesn't mean we stop trying. I strongly believe there is good in all of us but it is so repressed by the demands of corporate life and asset prices that we completely shut it out. We imprison the good in all of us because we need money to live.
Now, I'm not asking you to be a hermit and throw away all your money. I'm simply saying: there's so much more important things than money in this world. Have you really, truly and honestly done those things? Have you put meaning before money?
If you haven't, it's never too late to start.
It is deeply deflating to realize just how much of what we call Western civilization is built on deceptions: The myth of the lone individual; the myth of freedom without responsibility for our neighbor; the myth that societies built on the exploitation of people and nature are advanced civilizations morally superior to the peoples they devastate; the myth that rule by the richest among us is a form of democracy.
This is a book that concerns about the WE - all of humanity. But look at the most popular books these days. They are all concerned about the self - the me. Do we need more evidence than that to conclude that the current story of society is so fucked up?
Last week, I took my interns to a new restaurant for dinner. At the door, a lady in a wheel chair asked: "Can you buy Combo A1 for me? My social insurance doesn't pay for this." The immediate reaction in my head was: "Who the heck are you and why should I give you my money." Of course none of that was shown on my face, I gave her a smile and brought her dinner and wished her a Happy New Year. (Later we did find out that she was a fraud - she was at a another restaurant trying to plead for more free meals.)
This is how insidious the story of the Sacred Market and Money story is. It affects us in fundamental ways. It is build into ALL our assumptions (how much would that cost? what's the best value? How do I get more value out of this deal/situation/person/organization?
Take a moment to think about this: What's on everyone's minds? It's MONEY. At least, Money comes FIRST. Everything else follows.
Say if this was 2 thousand years ago and I lived in a village as a hunter and someone who is disabled asked me to fetch them some food - I probably wouldn't even think twice. It's what we do.
Change won't happen overnight. Nor it probably will happen in 10 years. However, that doesn't mean we stop trying. I strongly believe there is good in all of us but it is so repressed by the demands of corporate life and asset prices that we completely shut it out. We imprison the good in all of us because we need money to live.
Now, I'm not asking you to be a hermit and throw away all your money. I'm simply saying: there's so much more important things than money in this world. Have you really, truly and honestly done those things? Have you put meaning before money?
If you haven't, it's never too late to start.
May 10, 2020
It's not lost on me that capitalism sucks. It just sucks less than the alternatives, right?
In capitalism, it's all about money. Those who succeed in making the most are the "winners" and those who don't ... well, what's the opposite of a winner? It's easy to say that capitalism is great when you're one of the winners.
There's one fundamental flaw with capitalism, though. Most of this money comes from "exploiting resources," whether those resources are natural resources or "human resources." And yes, I find that latter term insulting. They should go back to calling it Personnel. That title keeps clear the fact that you're dealing with persons, not something to be exploited and thrown away when used up.
Natural resources are finite. Some of them can recover, given time, and some of them cannot. Once you pull that coal or oil out the ground and use it, it's gone. If you're planting and harvesting crops, you can grow more next season, but that tends pull nutrients out of the soil; unless you're adding large quantities of fertilizer and minerals to compensate, the soil will get "played out" and unable to support such crops. Witness the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The only way to avoid that is to rotate crops, let the land lie fallow a certain percentage of the time, etc.
Modern capitalism, though, is about velocity and acceleration. The "velocity" of growing crops is too low if you do something sustainable. The answer must be to throw more money at it, in the form of chemicals. And if you can't get more crops this decade than you did in the last decade ... where's the acceleration? There must be GROWTH, dammit! Growth means acceleration. More, more, faster, faster.
Capitalism depends on never, ever running out of resources to exploit. Insomuch as some resources are finite and irreplaceable ... at some point, capitalism will fail. And insomuch as modern capitalism looks to push the acceleration as high as possible, that will arrive sooner than later.
I know, I know, we can always colonize Mars when we run out of space / resources here on Earth. We can mine the Moon. There are all those asteroids out there. When we use up the Earth, we can move on ... To Infinity and Beyond! I mean, haven't you been watching Star Trek?
Star Trek moved beyond money. Humanity doesn't do it's best work, make its greatest steps until AFTER money. Yes, watch Star Trek but don't forget the "The Neutral Zone," (Season 1 Episode 25), where Piccard chides the wealthy, cryostasis-preserved financier about the fact that money is no longer a factor. And "Time's Arrow," specifically the second one part (Season 6, Episode 1), where Piccard explains that to Mark Twain.
Have you actually looked at what it will take to mine the Moon? Or asteroids? We're having a hard-enough time just maintaining an outpost in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Even if SpaceX succeeds in getting the Starship running, it will still take a ton of money to get something (or someone) off the Earth and into orbit. Once there, you will need to provide everything that the Earth provides (air, water, food, protection). Do you honestly think anyone other than the 1% (or some fraction of that group) will get to leave this dying world behind? And yes, by the time they've stripped it bare of resources and MUST leave to save their own hides, it will, most definitely, be dying or dead already.
The problem with capitalism is that the Earth has no say in this. If the Earth had some measure of representation in this mess, we might be able to change the metrics to something more sustainable. But that would entail acknowledging that the Earth has rights. And that's too far into "woke nonsense" territory for most folks.
The 99% (who aren't "winners") also seem to have no say in this. Yet we're the ones being exploited, used up and thrown away.
Our actions are governed by a story which lays out: what's good, what's not and what's we should aspire to.
The Sacred Money and Markets story, which seems to be the main one governing the world at this point, needs to go. The foundational weaknesses in it need to be recognized. People need to realize that those weaknesses can't just be papered over with some meaningless platitudes about how "unfortunate" it is that such-and-such happened. Yeah, there's a lot of "unfortunate" stuff happening. Unfortunate if you didn't happen to profit from it. "Unfortunate" (not that you're going to do anything about it) if you did. Unfortunately, the living systems we all depend on are being killed off.
That story implies that the ideal situation is one where we are disconnected from nature. The weather and the climate can do as it will, we will have the resources to rise above it. If crops fail locally, no problem; we'll just import from someplace where they didn't fail. If there's no potable water left around here, no problem; we'll just build some aqueducts / pipelines and ship it in from elsewhere (those of you in California, Nevada and Arizona are familiar with this already). We've got money, we can build infrastructure, we can bend nature to our will.
Until we poison enough of nature that there's nothing to import from elsewhere. Until transportation gets so expensive that you can't afford to import from elsewhere. Or until "elsewhere" isn't willing to sell to you anymore.
No amount of money can replace clean air, clean water and healthy food. There are plenty of "losers" out there who have none of the above, as their air / water / soil / environment is poisoned and they can't afford to import food from somewhere that isn't. As long as that's "someone else," no one seems to care. But it's indicative of a system, a story, which is fundamentally broken.
That story needs to be replaced.
With what?
At 156 pages, this is a pretty good answer. And I've already paraphrased some of it for you.
In "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore lays out the basic choice. On the one hand, you have the Earth. On the other hand, you have gold bars (wealth). Who doesn't want those gold bars? Unfortunately, if you destroy the Earth, those gold bars aren't going to matter.
In capitalism, it's all about money. Those who succeed in making the most are the "winners" and those who don't ... well, what's the opposite of a winner? It's easy to say that capitalism is great when you're one of the winners.
There's one fundamental flaw with capitalism, though. Most of this money comes from "exploiting resources," whether those resources are natural resources or "human resources." And yes, I find that latter term insulting. They should go back to calling it Personnel. That title keeps clear the fact that you're dealing with persons, not something to be exploited and thrown away when used up.
Natural resources are finite. Some of them can recover, given time, and some of them cannot. Once you pull that coal or oil out the ground and use it, it's gone. If you're planting and harvesting crops, you can grow more next season, but that tends pull nutrients out of the soil; unless you're adding large quantities of fertilizer and minerals to compensate, the soil will get "played out" and unable to support such crops. Witness the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The only way to avoid that is to rotate crops, let the land lie fallow a certain percentage of the time, etc.
Modern capitalism, though, is about velocity and acceleration. The "velocity" of growing crops is too low if you do something sustainable. The answer must be to throw more money at it, in the form of chemicals. And if you can't get more crops this decade than you did in the last decade ... where's the acceleration? There must be GROWTH, dammit! Growth means acceleration. More, more, faster, faster.
Capitalism depends on never, ever running out of resources to exploit. Insomuch as some resources are finite and irreplaceable ... at some point, capitalism will fail. And insomuch as modern capitalism looks to push the acceleration as high as possible, that will arrive sooner than later.
I know, I know, we can always colonize Mars when we run out of space / resources here on Earth. We can mine the Moon. There are all those asteroids out there. When we use up the Earth, we can move on ... To Infinity and Beyond! I mean, haven't you been watching Star Trek?
Star Trek moved beyond money. Humanity doesn't do it's best work, make its greatest steps until AFTER money. Yes, watch Star Trek but don't forget the "The Neutral Zone," (Season 1 Episode 25), where Piccard chides the wealthy, cryostasis-preserved financier about the fact that money is no longer a factor. And "Time's Arrow," specifically the second one part (Season 6, Episode 1), where Piccard explains that to Mark Twain.
Have you actually looked at what it will take to mine the Moon? Or asteroids? We're having a hard-enough time just maintaining an outpost in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Even if SpaceX succeeds in getting the Starship running, it will still take a ton of money to get something (or someone) off the Earth and into orbit. Once there, you will need to provide everything that the Earth provides (air, water, food, protection). Do you honestly think anyone other than the 1% (or some fraction of that group) will get to leave this dying world behind? And yes, by the time they've stripped it bare of resources and MUST leave to save their own hides, it will, most definitely, be dying or dead already.
The problem with capitalism is that the Earth has no say in this. If the Earth had some measure of representation in this mess, we might be able to change the metrics to something more sustainable. But that would entail acknowledging that the Earth has rights. And that's too far into "woke nonsense" territory for most folks.
The 99% (who aren't "winners") also seem to have no say in this. Yet we're the ones being exploited, used up and thrown away.
Our actions are governed by a story which lays out: what's good, what's not and what's we should aspire to.
The Sacred Money and Markets story, which seems to be the main one governing the world at this point, needs to go. The foundational weaknesses in it need to be recognized. People need to realize that those weaknesses can't just be papered over with some meaningless platitudes about how "unfortunate" it is that such-and-such happened. Yeah, there's a lot of "unfortunate" stuff happening. Unfortunate if you didn't happen to profit from it. "Unfortunate" (not that you're going to do anything about it) if you did. Unfortunately, the living systems we all depend on are being killed off.
That story implies that the ideal situation is one where we are disconnected from nature. The weather and the climate can do as it will, we will have the resources to rise above it. If crops fail locally, no problem; we'll just import from someplace where they didn't fail. If there's no potable water left around here, no problem; we'll just build some aqueducts / pipelines and ship it in from elsewhere (those of you in California, Nevada and Arizona are familiar with this already). We've got money, we can build infrastructure, we can bend nature to our will.
Until we poison enough of nature that there's nothing to import from elsewhere. Until transportation gets so expensive that you can't afford to import from elsewhere. Or until "elsewhere" isn't willing to sell to you anymore.
No amount of money can replace clean air, clean water and healthy food. There are plenty of "losers" out there who have none of the above, as their air / water / soil / environment is poisoned and they can't afford to import food from somewhere that isn't. As long as that's "someone else," no one seems to care. But it's indicative of a system, a story, which is fundamentally broken.
That story needs to be replaced.
With what?
At 156 pages, this is a pretty good answer. And I've already paraphrased some of it for you.
In "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore lays out the basic choice. On the one hand, you have the Earth. On the other hand, you have gold bars (wealth). Who doesn't want those gold bars? Unfortunately, if you destroy the Earth, those gold bars aren't going to matter.
January 10, 2016
David C. Korten writes with wisdom from his heart. If you are not part of the 1% in the U.S., you will want to read his books to discover why you aren't. If you are part of the 1%, you should read Korten's books to find out how to become more human.
Change the Story, Change the Future, however, is not the place to start. Korten calls this book an essay ( I'd say an extended essay). The essay is intended as a report to a particular organization. It is brief and explanatory but lacks the depth needed if you are trying to figure out how the U.S. has come to be under the control of huge corporations.
If you have the time and the interest, read When Corporations Rule the World first then move on to Korten's other writings. If you are short on time but care deeply about environmental and social justice, start with YES! Magazine which contains articles by David C. Korten.
Change the Story, Change the Future, however, is not the place to start. Korten calls this book an essay ( I'd say an extended essay). The essay is intended as a report to a particular organization. It is brief and explanatory but lacks the depth needed if you are trying to figure out how the U.S. has come to be under the control of huge corporations.
If you have the time and the interest, read When Corporations Rule the World first then move on to Korten's other writings. If you are short on time but care deeply about environmental and social justice, start with YES! Magazine which contains articles by David C. Korten.
September 9, 2020
Highly recommended! Excellent reading, albeit not a "page turner". Seriously life-changing viewpoint, eloquently expressed. 5-star content; 4-star presentation. 4½ stars overall.
October 27, 2015
I was asked to review this book for a Unity publication - here is the link
This is an extremely important book at a crucial juncture in our history. It illustrates how we arrived at where we are, as well as a path towards a world that works for all.
This is an extremely important book at a crucial juncture in our history. It illustrates how we arrived at where we are, as well as a path towards a world that works for all.
August 7, 2017
Salah satu pakar sosial politik dan ekonomi yang saya sukai adalah David C. Korten, di samping nama-nama lainnya seperti Jared Diamond, Joseph Stigliz, Noah Chomsky, Francis Fukuyama, Anthony Giddens, serta Kenichi Ohmae. Saya juga menyukai pemikiran Samuel Huntington terlepas dari semua pro dan kontranya.
Nah, kembali kepada David C. Korten. Buku pertama tulisannya yang saya baca adalah "When Corporations Rule the World" pada tahun 1996 yang sangat fenomenal membedah bagaimana kapitalisme perusahaan-perusahaan besar dunia memiliki kekuatan lebih besar daripada pemerintahan negara-negara.
Buku kedua yang saya baca adalah "Post Corporate World, Life after Capitalism" pada tahun 2001. Buku ketiga adalah "The Great Turning: from Empire to Earth Community" tahun 2008.
Buku "Change the Story, Change the Future" adalah buku keempat Korten yang saya baca.
Di samping keempat buku ini, Korten juga menulis banyak buku lainnya tentang ekonomi dan globalisasi.
Dunia memang membutuhkan suatu pemikiran mendasar untuk membangun kesejahteraan bersama. Kesenjangan antara si miskin dan si kaya tidak bisa dipecahkan dengan sistem yang ada saat ini yang menguasai dunia.
Kata Korten, we should do a great turning, change the story, change the future!
Nah, kembali kepada David C. Korten. Buku pertama tulisannya yang saya baca adalah "When Corporations Rule the World" pada tahun 1996 yang sangat fenomenal membedah bagaimana kapitalisme perusahaan-perusahaan besar dunia memiliki kekuatan lebih besar daripada pemerintahan negara-negara.
Buku kedua yang saya baca adalah "Post Corporate World, Life after Capitalism" pada tahun 2001. Buku ketiga adalah "The Great Turning: from Empire to Earth Community" tahun 2008.
Buku "Change the Story, Change the Future" adalah buku keempat Korten yang saya baca.
Di samping keempat buku ini, Korten juga menulis banyak buku lainnya tentang ekonomi dan globalisasi.
Dunia memang membutuhkan suatu pemikiran mendasar untuk membangun kesejahteraan bersama. Kesenjangan antara si miskin dan si kaya tidak bisa dipecahkan dengan sistem yang ada saat ini yang menguasai dunia.
Kata Korten, we should do a great turning, change the story, change the future!
December 31, 2022
I hope many more people will read this short book.
It's central premises is that our lives or societies are built around stories, sacred stories that determine how we think about ourselves and the world. We currently are not able to achieve the change necessary even though many people realize that we are at a dangerous intersection of crises: environmental destruction, rising inequity, pandemic that may well lead to societal collapse. Korten maintains it is because we are still so operating within the Sacred Money and Markets story. He is a former professor at Harvard Business School and thus was very invested in this story so he puts forth a great analysis of our current frame and its history. He lays out an alternative story he calls Sacred Life and Living Earth and Living Economy which at its core honors the truth that we belong to Earth and our health and well being is inseparable from hers. And he sketches out what it would look like if we instead organized ourselves around that story. "Imagine a world in which we organize ourselves as living communities of place."
It's central premises is that our lives or societies are built around stories, sacred stories that determine how we think about ourselves and the world. We currently are not able to achieve the change necessary even though many people realize that we are at a dangerous intersection of crises: environmental destruction, rising inequity, pandemic that may well lead to societal collapse. Korten maintains it is because we are still so operating within the Sacred Money and Markets story. He is a former professor at Harvard Business School and thus was very invested in this story so he puts forth a great analysis of our current frame and its history. He lays out an alternative story he calls Sacred Life and Living Earth and Living Economy which at its core honors the truth that we belong to Earth and our health and well being is inseparable from hers. And he sketches out what it would look like if we instead organized ourselves around that story. "Imagine a world in which we organize ourselves as living communities of place."
July 30, 2021
The book for mine was too insular in its view of Western capitalist greed being the main driver in all locations, regardless of state of development, form of government, internal security state or mindset towards collectivism vs. individualism. This was somewhat surprising considering the scope of Korten’s travels and work experience in the developing world. The insights he advances concerning how we can change the story in consumer economies like the US is pertinent, but I believe he applies to broad a brush.
I also believe a greater focus on extractive industries and their role in oppressing societies ranging from Mughal India with the British East India Company (touched on but only briefly) to the overthrow of the Arbenz government in Guatemala would add extra strength to his argument.
It’s good as a tactical tome but not great if you want to expand your knowledge of the nuts and bolts of the multiple crises we are confronting. Perhaps a further, more delving book is required?
I also believe a greater focus on extractive industries and their role in oppressing societies ranging from Mughal India with the British East India Company (touched on but only briefly) to the overthrow of the Arbenz government in Guatemala would add extra strength to his argument.
It’s good as a tactical tome but not great if you want to expand your knowledge of the nuts and bolts of the multiple crises we are confronting. Perhaps a further, more delving book is required?
January 30, 2021
Pretty darn good analysis of the current frame of our money based economy and the importance of moving towards a living earth economy. Some of the framing tools are really helpful - does this serve money or people?
Are we doing work to meet failings of sacred money frame, trying to regulate it or create something new?
Are we doing work to meet failings of sacred money frame, trying to regulate it or create something new?
September 23, 2021
Beyond reducing our plastic consumptions or our carbon footprint, a more profound way to move toward a sustainable world is done by changing our values and mindsets. The book suggests a new way of making sense of our existent and that guides us toward a new mindsets that enable us to have a better relationship among ourselves, other beings and the earth.
November 18, 2024
This is an easy to read yet powerful book. It addresses the key stories we in the west tell ourselves. David makes it clear the consequences of these stories. Whether it is the economic system, the religious system or the reductionist use of science; this book discusses them and their implications.
January 16, 2020
This is persuasive book as to why earth care and spirituality are economic. It is a push back in common sense vs bureocracy entanglements. I learned about the universals declaration of rights for mother earth.
September 21, 2018
read for book group, didn't seem realistic at all.
March 25, 2021
This book is ambitious but a bit simplistic in its treatment of problems and ways to change our world. There are some good ideas, but I guess I was hoping for something deeper.
March 13, 2022
This a great book for anyone who has a sense that there's a better way.
January 28, 2025
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.
January 25, 2025
An interesting combination of economics and religion. Korten critiques modern capitalism by examining corporate culture or the “sacred money and markets” story while proposing the implementation of a “sacred life and living earth” story in order to reclaim our power as humans and change our future. The author offers individual and systemic solutions to “change the story” and “change the future”. A little churchy for my taste, but a beautiful read nonetheless!
January 11, 2016
Yawn. Not that I disagree with the book - in fact, I fundamentally agree with Korten's main thesis. It's just that I found nothing new in the book. I didn't even find it particularly interesting. And it was, in my judgment, very repetitive - every chapter seemed like a rehash of what came before it.
Korten argues that our guiding myth is that of Sacred Money and Markets, and that it must be replaced by the myth of a Living Economy for a Living Earth. I agree. But I've read plenty of books with this basic thesis, and Korten's book, in my mind, adds nothing new - neither details, specificity, nor depth.
I have several friends who admire Korten's work, so I have tried to read several of his books. I find his critiques of current philosophies/conditions to be the strongest part of his books. However, I find his recommended fixes to be lacking in depth or concreteness. They sound good, but there's really little substance behind the veil. (I understand he is a very inspiring speaker.)
If this is your first exposure to the basic theme of the book, you may really like it. But otherwise, "been-there-done-that."
Korten argues that our guiding myth is that of Sacred Money and Markets, and that it must be replaced by the myth of a Living Economy for a Living Earth. I agree. But I've read plenty of books with this basic thesis, and Korten's book, in my mind, adds nothing new - neither details, specificity, nor depth.
I have several friends who admire Korten's work, so I have tried to read several of his books. I find his critiques of current philosophies/conditions to be the strongest part of his books. However, I find his recommended fixes to be lacking in depth or concreteness. They sound good, but there's really little substance behind the veil. (I understand he is a very inspiring speaker.)
If this is your first exposure to the basic theme of the book, you may really like it. But otherwise, "been-there-done-that."
April 2, 2015
A new age view of climate change. While I agree that that telling a new narrative about the world is an important step in getting people to think about sustainability issues (think about the new narrative for gay marriage now vs 20 years ago), this is just story and no substance. Maybe it will convince a few people but only people already on the far left or aging hippies.
April 4, 2015
an engrossing,disturbing and highly topical book.Depending on your viewpoint this book will either depress you deeply or inspire you to look around you and indeed inside yourself to embrace the need for change.
February 23, 2016
Anyone who is "awake" or needs "awakening" should read this. This is going deeper in to the garbage or even recycling bins we've created of our lives. There's so much more that can change, happen to make our individual and collective lives communal.
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May 1, 2015304.2 K853 2015
May 16, 2016
An important book for charting a course to saving our planet's environment--changing the overarching story/understanding that shapes our values, and thus our culture.
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