Hints towards a non-extractive economy

There’s a movement called the circular economy which is about designing services that don’t include throwing things away. There is no “away.”

A non-extractive economy is going to look very different to today’s economy. These points feel opposed somehow but they are part of the same movement:

  • With CupClub, it’s all about infrastructure.
  • With the battery-free Game Boy, it’s untethered from infrastructure: once manufactured, no nationwide electricity grid is required to play.

We’ll need better tools to track and measure. There will be new patterns for new types of services. New technologies to build new products. New language. So it’s fascinating seeing the pieces gradually come together.

  1. ​Introduction to Permaculture​