Building a 21^st century economy is not an easy endeavour by any means. That said, we’re at an interesting point in history where the decisions we make today, will have long standing effects on the generations to come.

To date, we (in Canada) have lived in a world of abundance. Our economy has grown steadily, our ability to access the goods and services we need have been available to us, and we’ve enjoyed relative calm, compared to much of the world. Canada has largely stayed hidden from view, and we have been looked upon as both friendly and welcoming.

Check out other posts in this series: • Portia Sam • Mike McGinn • Victoria Wee • Sean McHugh • Lis Suarez Check out last month’s series

Canada has changed in recent years however, as has the world. Countries which were once considered “’Third World” now garner considerable attention on the world stage, traditional centres of power are changing, Canada’s position in the world has changed, and our values, goals, and aspirations have changed; some by choice, others through necessity or circumstance.

While the world has evolved and become increasingly interconnected in many ways, it has grown apart in many others. Income inequality has topped the charts, and new threats (such as climate change) threaten our very existence. We now stand on the edge of a divide, with traditional values, methods, theories and approaches on one side, and new, changing, and innovative ideas on the other. Will we move away from fossil fuels (because the burning of them is changing our atmosphere), or will we shift to solar, wind, geothermal, and other sources of clean energy and technology?

On a global level, we’ve got hard choices to make. Today, 1.1 billion people continue to live on less than one dollar a day, and the majority of the world’s inhabitants continue to struggle. Despite broad sweeping economic policy reform, free trade agreements, and the opening up of the world’s economies, wealth has become increasingly consolidated, rather than distributed, as notions of trickle-down theories falsely promised. Instead of seeing economic gain, workers, labourers, and farmers find themselves stuck, with little opportunity for advancement or change.

So what are we going to do about it? How are we going to turn the current situation on its head and build a better world, of which everyone is a part?

Governments at all levels absolutely have a role to play, as they have the ability to put in place protections and systems that can enable all of us. But in many cases government, international accords and agreements, corporate structure, and trade policies, have locked us into a world that is difficult to change.

We can circumvent these barriers however, by building alternative economies. Each of us chooses what type of world we want to live in, through what we buy and where we invest. Choosing one banana over another, or one bag of coffee over another, can in fact restructure the system from the ground up. Buying from a better business, who sources and sells fair trade, means shifting revenue from a system which is exploitative, to one that is empowering; if everyone made that choice, change would unfold rapidly. Similarly, if everyone looked at where their investments sit, and made the choice to pull them out of oil, and put them into solar or wind, we would see a drastic shift in priority, and wealth.

Public institutions such as municipalities and universities are at the forefront of this shift. Both are in touch with their constituents, and are accountable to them. They are being bold, challenging traditional norms, and setting the ground-work for new economies. When a university (such as UBC is close to doing) divests its 1.3 billion dollar endowment fund and shifts it to cleaner energy and other areas of focus; that shocks the system, the market, and the economy. When a city commits to becoming Fair Trade Designated, it commits to sourcing and selling fair trade coffee, tea, and sugar that have come from better sources that empower rather than exploit, redirecting considerable flows of money, which again, changes the system.

Our cities and communities in Canada are now at the forefront, investing in the future, rather than in the past. They are becoming more liveable, more enjoyable, and more community-oriented spaces. They are leading globally through activities such as ethical procurement, investment in clean energy and technology, alternative transportations from bikes to transit, recycling, and divestment.

We’re at both a scary time and an exciting time. There is doom and gloom, and there is also incredible promise. Our cities are leading the way, and will continue to do so, if each of us ensures that they do. The action of choosing fair trade items is simple, but important. The values and impacts run deep, and are part of something much larger.

Relevant Links:

• Canadian Fair Trade Network
• Fair Trade Town Program
• Fairtrade Canada
• Fairtrade International

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Sean McHugh is the founder and Executive Director of the Canadian Fair Trade Network (CFTN). Since 2009, he has worked with Fair Trade Vancouver, helping the municipality become Canada’s 11th Fair Trade City in May 2010. Sean also worked to support the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University in becoming Canada’s first and second Fair Trade Campuses. For the past two years, Sean has worked to strengthen the Fair Trade movement in Canada by founding and then leading the CFTN in its work to support advocates across Canada, helping to share resources and create connections between stakeholders. Sean is a graduate of Simon Fraser University and has worked and travelled in developing countries around the world.

 

This blog is part of the ‘Voices of New Economies‘ series within Cities for People – an experiment in advancing the movement toward urban resilience and livability through connecting innovation networks.

The Voices of New Economies series is collectively curated by One Earth and The Canadian CED Network.

This series is an exploration of what it takes to build the economies we need – ones that work for people, places, and the planet. We are connecting key actors, finding patterns, noting interesting differences, and highlighting key concepts and initiatives. Together, this series offers insights into the new economies movement as it develops.

Mike McGinn knows exactly what real wealth means for him, and it’s simple: health, and friends. These have been fundamental to everything he has done, from being a community member volunteer, to a lawyer, a non-profit founder, and the Mayor of Seattle. Mike has found the motivation for his ongoing work in his children, and believes that we are the first generation to see the effects of global warming, and we are the last generation that can do anything about it – “I want to tell my children we did everything we could.”

Check out other posts in this series: • Portia Sam • Mike McGinn • Victoria Wee • Sean McHugh • Lis Suarez Check out last month’s series

What are some key elements of “new economies”?

There are three central challenges that I have seen as a part of new economies, certainly for America, and Seattle specifically, but I think it is true on a wider scale as well. These key challenges are:

1. Rising economic inequality;
2. The need to address institutional racism and bridge our diverse cultures, and;
3. Climate change.

When we consider new economies, we need to look for policies, investments, and strategies that, right from the front end of their development, are designed to work across all three of these challenges. What makes these difficult to address, is that we don’t have limitless resources. We have to heal the mistakes of the past, while looking forward. This makes it an era of choices in a way that is more stark than ever before.  

How does this relate to cities?

These are deeply related, as cities are the closest form of government to the people in a way that no other legislative body or government executive is. The streets, land use, libraries, schools, children, families, are all affected. We run social programs, and deal with just about every aspect of day to day life – electricity, sewage, garbage, water, and so on. The Mayor is expected to respond to all of it. The neighborhood level is where people make a difference by coming up with new ideas. The types of policies and changes that are going to impact people’s quality of life won’t be solved with some big new highway, or dam, or industry – the solutions we are talking about have to be at a fine-grain level that reach people where they live. For example, how we deal with sidewalks, bike lanes, transit, solar panels, and natural drainage, is all impacted by a sense of community, and an understanding that we can look out for each other and lift each other up.

This doesn’t come from national capital, it comes from people in their neighbourhoods, and they look to their local governments to facilitate it. The challenge of the future is how to build a multicultural city that can lift everyone up, and deal with the environmental and social issues at the same time.  

What does leadership need to look like for new economies?

My own personal evolution within these issues has been interesting. When I was volunteering with the Sierra Club, working on congressional races, state legislative races, and city level races, I kept going more and more local. Two things began to coincide for me – I began to understand that creating a place with lots of housing and housing types, so that people can live near grocers, doctors, and transit, also positively impacts the global warming sector. There is real alignment between reducing our environmental impact and creating places that are appealing for people, with things like libraries, sidewalks, bike lanes, and all of the things that make a place delightful for people.

Recognizing this motivated me, which is why I moved from being a volunteer and a lawyer, to starting a non-profit (Great City). Getting out of my own neighbourhood, and seeing other neighbourhoods and the levels of disparity and challenges faced by marginalized communities that are systematically deprived of the ability to create wealth, through discrimination and government policies, was a big transition moment for me. This was a learning experience that deepened while I was Mayor.

One thing I learned from this, is that we can’t solve these big issues like climate change and the threats that come at us from the horizon, if we can’t figure out how to work together on the issues right in front of people, like education, safety, and being able to put food on the table. If we can’t come together around the basic issues, we will fail on the bigger challenges.

When I think about resilience, the new buzzword we keep hearing, I think that a lot of the time, peoples’ minds go to physical infrastructure and resisting changing environments. But I think that resilience is really about the capacity of a community to identify and solve problems. Effective leadership in new economies stems from the community level; it means going to where people are, listening to them, and letting go of authority so that people can create the change themselves.

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Mike McGinn, Mayor of Seattle 2010-13, was the first Mayor in the country to begin the process of divesting from fossil fuel companies, building upon Seattle’s leadership on clean energy, green buildings, and sustainable urban practices. Before becoming Mayor, Mike founded and ran a non-profit, Great City, to urge elected leaders and the public, to adopt practical changes to enhance quality of life and prepare for the challenges of global warming.  Prior to that, Mike spent years volunteering in the Sierra Club helping lead high profile ballot measure and legislative campaigns to stop highways, build transit, and support walking and biking. His experience as a champion of positive change, a community organizer, and a chief executive of a major American city gives him a unique perspective on the fight to reduce fossil fuel emissions. As a community member, and parent, he brings a sense of urgency to the work.

This blog is part of the ‘Voices of New Economies‘ series within Cities for People – an experiment in advancing the movement toward urban resilience and livability through connecting innovation networks.

The Voices of New Economies series is collectively curated by One Earth and The Canadian CED Network.

This series is an exploration of what it takes to build the economies we need – ones that work for people, places, and the planet. We are connecting key actors, finding patterns, noting interesting differences, and highlighting key concepts and initiatives. Together, this series offers insights into the new economies movement as it develops.

Portia Sam is the Program Coordinator for Miscellany, a social enterprise that operates two thriving thrift stores and a variety of women and youth focused programs in Vancouver, BC. For Portia, the idea that a business can viably integrate revenue with community-based social programs just makes sense. In fact, she doesn’t think business is sustainable if done any other way.

Check out other posts in this series: • Portia Sam • Mike McGinn • Victoria Wee • Sean McHugh • Lis Suarez Check out last month’s series

In your view, what are some key elements of “new economies”?

There are many elements that make up how we run our economies in ways that work for communities. Two of the ways that Miscellany works, is through the idea of ‘conscious capitalism’, and through integrating community connections into our business practices and our daily routines.

• Conscious capitalism: This doesn’t mean that we don’t want to make money – we do. It means that we want to make, and use, money in a way that is conscious to the needs of our direct community. There are a lot of microscopic examples of how we do this, such as recycling in a responsible way, and taking time to help people find out where they can properly dispose of materials that we can’t take, like mattresses. If you take the time, you can work in a way that your community approves of. We let our interactions evolve naturally, and then we take a closer look at how we want things to continue evolving.
• Community connections: Conscious capitalism is impossible without recognizing that communities depend on each other, and that people matter. There are specific ways that we are touching our community; through networking with health, policing, and employment groups, for example. They know we are there and open to training people. A big part of what we do is train women for work experience when they get out of prison. As far as I know, there is no government program or stipend for this; it is simply not a priority to them. But we know different. We use our profits to pay for this program because we know that this is important, and we partner with women to give them a chance to break the cycle.

What are some ways that you listen to your community in order to genuinely connect?

We do this in several ways, and it largely depends on what is needed. We listen directly, one-on-one, but also have some business-wide practices in place.  These work together, so that we can respond to what people need. For example, we have gift certificates that we give to transition houses, where they give it to the women as needed. They usually give it to women as they are transitioning from the house into second stage housing, and they use it to buy things to set up their new home. When they come in, they are equal to anyone else in there. It is ultimately a thrift store, but it has been organized by our volunteers to feel like a boutique. So when a woman comes in with a gift certificate, she doesn’t feel like she is getting leftovers, she is getting quality items that are useful. Our donors recognize that just because a woman is marginalized, that doesn’t mean that she should have the dregs of whatever we can give her. And when we don’t have what she needs, we take the time to connect her with trusted organizations that do.

We also work with PLEA, a community courts service program for youth that have been in the system. We offer basic training for youth that have never had training or a job, that don’t know how to dress for a job, or how to talk to customers. These kids haven’t had anyone watching their backs and lifting them up, telling them that they can do it. They have been in the system, and we work with them to overcome their obstacles. They are usually very ready for this. They are willing to do whatever it takes to change their lives. It is really empowering to work with them and to see this. They show me how amazing humanity can be.

Can this type of connection scale up within cities?

Yes I think it definitely can. It scales up beyond one business by being part of standard policies and business practices. Integrating the expectation that through connecting with other groups around you, we are all stronger. For example, over time we have connected with the community-policing group, and they come to us when they know of someone that needs something that we can provide, like sleeping bags or blankets. They are always telling people that we are great to them – but we’re not; we are just enacting an important part of a social enterprise. Our mission is to take what we are given, and re-invest it in things that matter, in a responsible way. That is an idea that can easily go beyond our thrift store. 

To me, a social enterprise is simply a business with a social element. It could involve training, which is our main thing, but it is more than that. You take the profits, and you put it back into social programs that ultimately contribute to a stronger economy overall. I don’t see any reason that all traditional business can’t move toward acting like a social enterprise. You still make a living and feed your own family, but you give back to humanity at the same time. Instead of making money for the sake of it, we can make money to help others, which in turn helps us. Everyone is better off because of it. If even a third of our businesses became social enterprises, we would solve a significant portion of our problems.

What does real wealth mean to you?

Real wealth is truly having the opportunity to give back. Building a sustainable business that promotes social programs and having the ability to develop programs that are suited to what your communities’ needs are. 

Related links:

• Miscellany
• Social Enterprise Canada
• Conscious Capitalism

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Social justice entrepreneur Portia Sam is the program coordinator of Miscellany Finds thrift store for social change. With decades of experience in business management and a dedicated passion to conscious contribution for community sustainability, Portia combined her talents to create a thriving resource to meet the diverse needs of a vibrant community. Portia is proud of the foundational programs Miscellany offers.

 

This blog is part of the ‘Voices of New Economies‘ series within Cities for People – an experiment in advancing the movement toward urban resilience and livability through connecting innovation networks.

The Voices of New Economies series is collectively curated by One Earth and The Canadian CED Network.

This series is an exploration of what it takes to build the economies we need – ones that work for people, places, and the planet. We are connecting key actors, finding patterns, noting interesting differences, and highlighting key concepts and initiatives. Together, this series offers insights into the new economies movement as it develops.