By Christopher McGuire As public interest in ethical, environmentally sound consumption and production has grown, the marketplace for sustainability has become increasingly complex. With a plethora of “green” and “sustainable” products available to us, what criteria should we use to make our decisions? Where should we look to acquire the goods, materials and services we need? As always, the first step lies in clearly defining our terms and goals. Let’s …Read More
Upcoming Business Design Workshop! Friday, September 28
As an emerging leader in the Next Economy, you are invited to join LIFT Business Coaching and fellow individuals and businesses in an engaging introductory training to LIFT’s 6-point business design methodology (think of it as an actionable, dynamic business plan). This four hour workshop will guide you through this framework with personalized assistance to help you: Craft your company’s vision with specific, measurable goals Design and foster a culture …Read More
San Francisco Landscapes
Through my LIFT internship, I connected to San Francisco Landscapes because I want to learn how to grow my own food – and SF Landscapes has an internship program. While preparing a bed at Tocoloma Micro Farm, Casey Allen and I chatted a bit about his company. Casey co-founded SF Landscapes with Brett Stephens to be able to offer their permaculture-infused landscaping work to San Franciscans while being able to …Read More
Freedom – Part II
How can we move more fully toward freedom? Are there business structures that support all forms of freedom? In another post, we outlined that philosophers have identified three ways of defining liberty: Freedom from interference, freedom to fully realize ourselves, and freedom from dependence and domination. Using the last way, we showed that the current profit-driven economic system can be viewed as preventing most people’s freedom because employees, consumers, and …Read More
Freedom – Part I
What does it mean to feel free to live the life we want to? What are the implications for broadening our definition of liberty to include the freedom from domination? Such an expansion could provide a theoretical foundation for next economy ideas. Philosophers identified (at least) three different kinds of freedoms: The freedom to act without interference, which Isaiah Berlin called negative liberty The freedom to fully realize oneself or …Read More