Resetting Our Future: A Chicken Can't Lay a Duck Egg

'The Ancient Greeks had a word for this - a time of chaos, change and yet also opportunity. They called it Kairos. This book is Kairos incarnate, passionate about the realities, clear about the changes we need, funny when it needs to be, and pioneering in that it takes us from chaos to opportunity. ' Martin Palmer, Secretary General of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), CEO of FaithInvest

Rather than viewing the current economic slowdown as a problem, societies should see it as the greatest chance for a radical change in decades.


Instead of bailing-out polluting firms, governments should take the chance to close them. Rather than boosting economic growth, societies should downsize and build a new economic system, that can coexist with nature. Governments should introduce a basic income for all and retrain people to work in the sectors which will be needed: materials recovery, emissions capture, repairing, sharing, and recycling. To pay for this, they can print money, just as they did after the 2008 crash. The risk of bankruptcy will be much easier to handle than runaway climate change.


Covid-19 also gives nations a unique opportunity to work together, to create a more sustainable future for everyone. It is the only way they will eradicate the virus and respond to climate change effectively.


Whatever happens, the failures of the current economic system, the impact of climate change, and the planet's other environmental troubles will force radical change on societies soon, whether they want it or not.


Covid-19 offers humanity the chance to choose a better path.