Mainstream economics operates on a lazy, outdated logic where cutting down a rainforest is considered a success as long as the timber yields a profit. And instead of revinventing the system to become both profitable and sustainable, powerful political and tech elites are waging a disinformation campaign – “epistemic warfare” – to protect the status quo, transformation scholar Maja Göpel argues in her passionate DLD26 talk.
“We can monitor ecosystems. We can see where tipping points arise”, she says. “And we can tie back financial value to real value much better when we have the information of what can provide most benefits with the least ecological footprint and cost.”
This gave sustainability experts hope that change was possible. But the mood has shifted, she laments. “We’re seeing an old hegemony of growthism breaking through and completely dismantling that opportunity and pushing it back to that forwarding of extractivism at the benefit of a few.”
Watch the video to explore this talk in detail.
