ABC & D

From 2010 to 2017 Craig was Higher Education Programme Manager at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation where he worked with university partners on the development of circular economy -oriented courses and professional development resources. Craig is an ecologist with a particular interest in food sovereignty issues and the development of regenerative agriculture and horticulture enterprise networks in urban and peri-urban settings. Craig is currently a consultant and lives in the Yorkshire Dales (UK). From 2010 to the end of 2018 Ken Webster was Head of Innovation for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and helped synthesise contemporary understanding around the 'circular economy'. Ken is currently based in Wales and makes regular contributions to conferences and seminars around the world. His current interests include open vs closed circular economy approaches, regenerative agriculture and integrating the monetary and materials stocks and flows. He is currently Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University, Director for the International Society for the Circular Economy, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and member of the Club of Rome's 21st Century Transformational Economics Commission. This volume is the latest in a series of cooperative projects developed with Craig Johnson over several decades beginning in 1986 and including co-authoring Sense and Sustainability (2008).

01 THE IMAGINARY INTRODUCED

through seven episodes the imaginary uncovers a worldview; economies are revealed; then economies are changed and our ideas about them too. the story of the new economy needs to be based within: a 'systems' framework; the digital data and its tools; the abundance and diversity of the earth's endowment; the world's distributed renewable energy sources; the re-invention of money; and an appreciation of and access to the historical and ongoing 'commons'.

02 THE FOOD SYSTEM OF OUR FUTURE - THE ENABLING CONDITIONS

the system conditions shape the outcome. the paradox of food, diet and health is that without access to tools, resources, infrastructure and effective income and currency (including credit) it is hard to see how food futures can improve for the majority of people.

03 REGENERATIVE FARMING - THE SEARCH FOR DREAM FARM NETWORK 1.0

how 'waste=food' and the other principles of the materials economy relate to food and farming systems. principles of the circular economy working at farm scale. regenerative food enterprise networks introduced - individual regenerative farm and food enterprises cannot succeed in isolation. 

04 REGENERATIVE FOOD ENTERPRISE NETWORKS - 3D APPLE ORCHARDS AND OCEAN FARMS

think network, not just farm. 'nested markets' and a tri-centric governance model for food system transformation. the 'partner state' as shaper and creator of markets and facilitator for local people to engage with their local 'food commons'. healthy growth is about successful scaling out (not just scaling up) of regenerative enterprises within distributed local and regional food networks. 

05 CITIES IN A CIRCULAR ECONOMY

what kind of circular economy in cities - a circular economy for transition or transformation? the question matters if we are headed for a new economic paradigm where the economy is more devolved, and one where the main questions are not about production so much as access and distribution. if urban economic development becomes more devolved, who controls the distribution and of what?

06 FOOD SYSTEMS IN CITIES

some city food utopias revealed. for regenerative food systems to thrive in and around cities, it's a lot about 'wise governance' setting enabling conditions for: effective stocks, flows and exchanges of biological nutrients; regeneration of soil; money flows and exchanges; 'food commons' infrastructure and organisations; 'enterprise stacking'; and development of business enterprises with 21st century purpose.

07 ...AND D IS FOR DEMOCRACY

an elementary duty of the democratic state is to create a minimum standard of life below which no human being can fall. central to discussion of food systems and food sovereignty is a reinvigorated dem...