by Cristin Middlebrooks, AWC Antwerp, and the Environment Team
The Environment Team selected the book Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth for our April 2025 discussion by a landslide vote. Does this interest in economics express a deeper yearning in resonance with the zeitgeist, a desire to understand underlying issues to explain our current economic morass? It is indeed an intensely thought-provoking book; however, there were many “takeaways,” many levels, many aspects that we didn’t have time to discuss during our Book Discussion evening. That led us to think that this book somehow struck a chord, making it worthwhile to continue the dialogue. Ergo, our collective decision to feature the book as the subject of an Environment Team article.
Because many of us no longer have to worry about exams, papers or quizzes, you are invited to enjoy, ponder, challenge or otherwise think about economics from a perspective which most of us never encountered in our econ classes. Does this framework work for you? Could it be implemented in your town, county or country? Are you willing to try? Happy Reading!
A sampling of our team’s takeaways:
Sheila Doucet, AAWE
“In some cultures, the idea of thriving in balance goes back further…. In Maori culture, the concept of well-being combines spiritual, ecological, kinship and economic well-being interwoven as interdependent dimensions.”
From what I have gleaned from indigenous cultures, most if not all profess a fundamental appreciation that all life forms on earth are interconnected and worthy of respect. From that cosmological point of view, humans do not need to deceive themselves into thinking they are at the apex of civilization’s pyramid. By proposing a shift away from a limiting, mechanistic viewpoint based on GDP “growth”– for whom? of what? at what cost? etc. – the author translates indigenous ways of knowing into terminology more familiar to Westerners. We are all thereby invited to join the conversation, to reconsider what life could be – and to contemplate the benefits of that redirect.
Valerie Garforth, FAUSA
Midway through the book I became despondent that we are not moving forward in the direction proposed but seem instead to be sliding backwards. For instance, here is the author, Kate Raworth, speaking about income inequality.
"Societies can be deeply undermined by income inequality. It is national inequality, not national wealth, that most influences nations’ social welfare. More unequal countries tend to have more teenage pregnancy, mental illness, drug use, obesity, prisoners, school dropouts and community breakdown, along with lower life expectancy, lower status for women and lower levels of trust. The effects of inequality are not confined to the poor; inequality damages the social fabric of the whole society. More equal societies, be they rich or poor, turn out to be healthier and happier."
The world is rich in resources and there is enough for all, but for that to happen we need to share more equally and live more frugally. The author states also that “high levels of social inequality also go hand in hand with increased ecological degradation,” which is due to “status competition and conspicuous consumption” and, I would argue, a sense of entitlement.
Cristin Middlebrooks, AWC Antwerp
As someone who switched majors from business to English literature after taking a course in economics, I was a bit skeptical about getting through Doughnut Economics. I couldn’t imagine how economics and the environment could be tied together and prepared myself to struggle through the text. Then I started reading. And reading. And reading. Turns out a monumental shift in how we tackle economic issues could have a significant impact on our environment and make life better for everyone.
“Be generous by creating an enterprise that is regenerative by design, giving back to the living system of which we are a part. More than an action on a to-do checklist,it is a way of being in the world that embraces biosphere stewardship and recognises that we have a responsibility to leave the living world in a better state that we found it.”
The author is telling us here that it’s not enough for companies to have a recycling bin near the copier or to provide employees with reusable mugs. Being less bad is not the same as being good. Companies must go above and beyond, challenging themselves to create new ways to replenish the environment. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Imagine a world where greed is replaced by stewardship. Sadly, I don’t see that happening anytime soon, but it is a lovely thought.
Mary Manning, Heidelberg IWC
“Today we have economies that need to grow, whether or not they make us thrive; what we need are economies that make us thrive, whether or not they grow.”
I took several economics classes at university, and found the way the author debunked many of the fundamental “truths” of economics very interesting. In particular, the idea of a constantly growing GDP, which pervades so much of how we think about the economy and politics. We are very focused on seeing that number tick up and despairing when it goes down, but Kate Raworth makes a good argument that it shouldn’t matter.
After reading her book, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we could capture whether or not we are in the Doughnut, and more importantly, how we can go about changing the mindset of leaders to focus more on other indicators that indicate overall health of society. Unfortunately, the book doesn’t really provide those next steps that need to be taken. I’m guessing that is probably a deliberate choice, because I think the next step is saying that we need to move away from traditional capitalism, and that makes people/companies/politicians VERY upset. But I think without those next steps, the book just ends up being theoretical and not practical.
Amanda Drollinger, AWC Central Scotland
I love this book. It gives me great hope and direction for the future. It lays out the clear path for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. As well as giving a clear tool for evaluating how we are doing in our journey to reaching a balanced and sustainable world for all. The Doughnut is a great tool and illustration of the problem, the solution, and the journey. I’m calling the “report card” doughnuts the journey because I think of them positively. The journey shows that we haven’t reached the goal yet but shows where we can do some work to get there. Change in the economy is happening all the time. We just need to be clear about how individually and collectively we want it to change.
Like eating a tasty doughnut, in the economic doughnut you don’t want to be in the middle (where there isn’t any doughnut to eat) and you don’t want the economic doughnut to get too big (eat too much of a giant doughnut and you suffer from high cholesterol, obesity, and probable heat failure). You and the Earth want just the right amount of doughnut, for everyone. And just like your physical health and problems like high cholesterol or obesity, there are things you can do to make them better. You just have to choose to do what is required before it is too late. (It is never too late until you are dead.) Maybe you can’t cure the problem, but you can improve it. The longer you wait to start the harder it gets, but now is always a great time to start (or keep going in a good direction).
There is a growing community on the Doughnut Economics website.
You can search the map and find people and organizations where you live or anywhere in the world and see what is happening and who is involved. Many places share what their doughnuts look like and what they are working on to change their doughnut, forecasting for a brighter future. I love the goal-setting of places like Mexico City. The Doughnut 2020 is red to the inside and outside (like most doughnuts right now) but their forecast and plans for the next 20 years show a significant improvement across all areas. A great tool for ideas and inspiration. How doughnuts can help development.
You can use this tool to visualize what the doughnut looks like for each country.
Joan Niemi Evers, AWC Amsterdam
I have wanted to read this book for some time. As an Economics undergrad, a Finance MBA and having had a career in finance, I was drawn by the technical aspects of the book and to see what I remembered from the classroom. At this stage of my life I am much more interested in sustainability and the environment, so Doughnut Economics also spoke to that part of my brain. As an undergrad I laughed at the concept of Rational Self-Interested Man. I visualized him looking somewhat like Superman but in 2D form. His suit was white rather than blue. It is ironic that I have this superhero caricature for an assumption that simplifies human behavior and in so doing makes self-interested actions acceptable and a norm.
The book does a great job of explaining how we need to move beyond being “solitary, calculating, competing and insatiable” and “into the safe and just space for humanity.” By making this transition, along with the other six ways to implement the Doughnut, we can avoid the Tragedy of the Commons, an economic problem that was not emphasized in the book but speaks to many of the challenges we have in the world today. Namely “a situation in which individuals with access to a public resource – also called a common – act in their own interest and, in doing so, ultimately deplete the resource.” (See resources below for a link to the article.)
Christine Riney, AWC Hamburg
“A sense of collective responsibility will lead to a fair and sustaina
ble world.” Expressed in a Haiku.
A key takeaway from the April book discussion, and the book itself, is that moving toward the Doughnut is the most sustainable way forward for our society. However, we agreed that the current American administration is moving in the opposite direction. So what do we do? Give up? No way. We can no longer rely on the government to solve the problem. Instead, we must implement Raworth’s Doughnut Principles of Practice in our own lives whenever possible, strengthening the networks within our communities, caring for those in our inner and outer circle, making sure everyone’s voice is heard and changing the focus from growth through competition to growth through shared nurturing. Difficult? Yes. Worth it? Definitely.
Resources:
- Raworth, K. (2018). Doughnut Economics. (Random House Business Books).
- Official site: Doughnut Economic Action Lab- DEAL (numerous Open Source resources) About Doughnut Economics | DEAL
- Link to Chapter 1 of book, by permission of the publisher, Penguin Random House: Chapter One of Doughnut Economics | DEAL
- MasterClass (2022, October 12). Understanding the Tragedy of the Commons: Definition and Examples - 2025 - MasterClass
Image credits:
Photo 1 by Sheila Doucet at COP29
Image 2 (the Doughnut) courtesy of Doughnut Economics Action Lab
