How do you implement circular economy projects? How do you design your company in a timely and sustainable manner? Climate protection, climate adaptation and the circular economy are not fiction for you, but reality, but you are looking for helpful practical tips and tricks to implement your business idea, or a sound background with which you can get your employees in the mood for your project? Then you’ve come to the right place, because that’s why we built the Thinking Circular® Academy.

It enables you and your employees or stakeholders to learn independently, flexibly, self-directed and interactively at your own pace. At the end of the course, you will receive a certificate describing the content covered, the scope of the course and the achievement of the course objective. If you wish to define specific course content or objectives with us, we will adapt and build your individual learning program for your target group.

Curious? Click here to go directly to the courses in German.

Click here to hear our Podcast about the Academy in German.

Der Beitrag Thinking Circular® Academy erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

Röhrnbach/Terneuzen (NL), June 2023. After the German EPS Converters (GEC) Group rescued the Dutch PolyStyreneLoop plant from insolvency last year, it has now been able to go into regular operation. The plant, which has since gone by the name PSLoop, is the first industrial facility for recycling EPS insulation materials from demolition and renovation work. “It was a tough job to get the plant ready for regular operation,” says Holger Lübke, managing director of Karl Bachl Kunststoffverarbeitung GmbH &. Co. KG and one of the shareholders of GEC Group. “For the future, however, this is an important step in order to fulfill our responsibility as an insulation manufacturer also in recycling.”

In 2022, GEC Group had rescued the Dutch PolyStyreneLoop plant from insolvency, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of GEC Group. More than 17 million euros were invested in the construction of the plant. In addition, the project was supported by partners from business and politics as well as subsidies from the European Union, “because the public interest in an industry solution was and is great,” explains Guido Brohlburg, Managing Director of BROHLBURG Dämmstoff- u. Recyclingwerke and also a shareholder in the GEC Group. The third shareholder is Reinhard Pfaller, Managing Director of RYGOL Dämmstoffe.

A year before being rescued from insolvency, the lighthouse project had succeeded in recycling EPS insulation material containing HBCD for the first time in history. HBCD has been used as a flame retardant in foam insulation boards since the 1960s and was long considered the best solution for implementing national fire safety regulations. However, alternative flame retardants are now being used, as HBCD was banned in 2016. However, this ban also meant that tens of thousands of tons of polystyrene (PS) foam waste containing HBCD could no longer be recycled as usual. Thanks to PSLoop’s innovative recycling concept, it is now possible to recycle HBCD-containing PS foam on an industrial scale. The result is a fully recycled PS raw material that is used for the production of new EPS insulation products. In addition, the process recovers bromine as an important resource.

The mechanical recycling process currently allows Terneuzen to recycle 3,000 tons of HBCD-containing material per year. The maximum expansion stage is 8,000 tons per year. In this way, CO2 emissions are reduced by up to 50 percent and the environment and climate are protected. “In a circular economy, we want to use resources for as long as possible and process them after their service life so that they can be reused as raw materials for new materials,” explains Richard Geevers, Managing Director of PSLoop. “The success of this project and the extensive use of the innovative technology will result in the implementation in Europe of the best technology currently available for recycling the growing waste volumes of PS foams.”

Source: GEC Group GmbH & Co. KG

Der Beitrag Regular operation for closed-loop recycling of EPS insulation materials erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

Eveline in conversation with Prof. Dr. Ing. Peter Kehle, TU Dresden and Dr. Harald Lehmann, Remondis

In the context of meeting climate targets, speed is of the essence anyway.The German standardization institutions are also aware of this and have already been working for around a year with more than 550 experts from industry, associations and science on a roadmap for how this task can be accomplished. And now the orientation framework is available: The German Circular Economy Standardization Roadmap. Together with DIN (German Institute for Standardization), DKE (German Commission for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies) and VDI (Association of German Engineers), the challenges facing the industries in the transformation and the standards needed to master them were recorded.

Participate in the implementation of standardization

The roadmap is the basis, now it’s time for implementation. Companies facing a transformation process can now decide whether they also want to or can participate in standardization. Developing and defining standards means effort, bureaucracy, costs, time and personnel. So good thought needs to be given to how collaboration makes sense here. In the Thinking Circular Podcast 125 „Wie wichtig ist Normung für Dein Circular Economy Projekt?“ we give examples of when it is good to get involved in the standardization process and when a different path can be taken.Based on the priorities set, each company can quickly identify how important the standardization process can be for its own transformation.

Participation must also be classified against the background of innovation events and evaluation. For many things, there are neither patents nor standards, although these are considered indicators of innovation. By definition, innovations must overcome old norms; only when a technology begins to be considered a standard can a scale effect (growth effect) be generated with standardization. But it has long been scientifically proven that entrepreneurial action is possible without standards. Innovative startups, in particular, know this, because speed to market is often what matters here.

Patents as an indicator of innovation

Innovation is measured by a variety of aspects, and for some years now, sustainability has also been included. The Global Innovation Index provides an annual ranking of countries according to their innovative capacity and innovation success. The number of patent applications has long been regarded as an indicator of innovation, but it has been known for more than 20 years that even patent applications are not a guarantee of competitive security. A revision of patent law is necessary anyway. Good scientific arguments can be found in William Kingston: Innovation needs patents reform, 2001.

But organizations dedicated to standardization (such as DIN e. V.) generally help society to move forward in the transformation process, as Adriana Nilsson has well researched: Making norms to tackle global challenges: The role of Intergovernmental Organisations, 2017. Against this background, the initiated standardization process is an important activity for all of us, even if it does not relate to the bioeconomy at all. Why? We explain in the podcast.

Der Beitrag How important is standardization for your Circular Economy project? erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

Circular economy and resource conservation are central fields of action in climate protection policy and, against the background of geopolitical tensions and interrupted raw material supply chains, increasingly also in security policy. A paradigm shift is urgently needed with regard to closing material cycles. Circular production, transport, consumption and investment also consume energy and are not free of environmental pollution. That is why the reduction of total raw material input and resource consumption must be included in strategic considerations.

Motivating companies for more circular economy

On February 24, the environmental technology network Ecoliance Rheinland-Pfalz e.V. and ZukunftsRegion Westpfalz e.V. will jointly present exemplary strategies that can contribute to the necessary paradigm shift. Both networks want to motivate more companies to focus more on the topic of circular economy and to participate in the results of the BMBF project Waste2Value.

The event will focus on biotechnological innovations that have been developed in the Western Palatinate region at various research institutions in recent years and are to be developed into marketable products together with companies as part of the Waste2Value project.

Developing traditional competencies

One of the goals of Waste2Value https://w2v-rlp.de/strategie/ is to combine traditional competences in the field of adhesives and plastics, originating from the shoe and textile industry, with industrial biotechnology. As part of the Waste2Value project, processes are to be developed and tested together with companies that can be used to obtain competitive platform chemicals for the plastics industry and valuable extractables for the food and cosmetics industries from organic residues. In line with the German biomass strategy, the processes to be developed should not be in direct competition with food production, be economically competitive, and be sustainable and climate-friendly.

Projects already funded are investigating, for example, new organisms and processes to produce valuable materials from regionally generated residues, the production of PLA from baking and pizza waste, the use of algae and cyanobacteria to produce bioadhesives, dyes and bioplastics under microbial residue utilization, and the utilization of other residues such as wood, shoe materials or CO2 from flue gases.

Der Beitrag Climate protection through circular economy and sustainable production erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

Herrmann repeats some of the core theses, which she also described back in 2016 in her book “Kein Kapitalismus ist auch keine Lösung”, but which are worth repeating. She begins by identifying the essential element that keeps capitalism and thus our current economic system running. According to her, the driver of growth is the new creation of credit money. Debt accelerates the economy. The basis was already provided by the Assyrians in Babylonia, when they invented credit contracts and their trade. Herrmann uses this to justify why it makes sense to lift the debt brake and use one special fund after another, for example to cope with the energy price crisis or to support the German armed forces as strong systems.

Capitalism is not imperialism

But Herrmann clearly demarcates. Capitalism is not imperialism. And she reasons how both have done more harm than good. The current example for imperialism is the Russian attack on Ukraine. The current example for failure of capitalism is climate change.

Against the backdrop of the vision of a Circular Economy, it is important to understand that growth contributes to prosperity, and so she goes on for ages to justify the positive effects under capitalism. However, she assumes that the goal of the economy is full employment in order to provide enough for everyone. And here she sets the first visible distinction that carries as an argument in the Circular Economy. The goal of capitalism was never full consumption, which, however, preaches a linear economy and thus contributes to the littering of oceans with plastic or the atmosphere with C02. Rather, it was the rebound effects, i.e. the negative side effects of an industrial society, which contributed to the climate and environmental problems. Here I cannot disagree.

There is no such thing as green growth

And Herrmann makes it clear: There is no such thing as green growth. The term was the invention of Ralf Fücks, who did not want to use the term “ecological emergency regime” as a hopeful concept of a Green Economy. However, a Circular Economy, as described by economist Mathias Binswanger, can work and provide for us humans in harmony with nature – even without rebound. At a level of general welfare. Only – how do we get there?

Capitalism cannot transform itself into a knowledge society that flourishes in the virtual worlds of the Internet, she notes, quoting Niko Paech, who cannot see an economic model in which external costs would be fully priced into the currency: “There can be no such thing as a C02-neutral euro, dollar or yen, if only because it embodies the claim to material values.”

Nor would all renewable energy from wind, water and solar be enough. Nor would storage facilities be sufficient to meet our energy appetite, leaving “decoupling from resource consumption” a fiction.

Herrmann finds the descriptions of the degrowth movement sympathetic. However, they present the Circular Economy as a path to the common good economy. This is wrong, she says, because the Circular Economy can only be described as a vision of a functioning economy that is in harmony with the planet. To this end, she quotes economist Tim Jackson: “To date, there is no fully worked-out macroeconomics for a post-growth society,” thus highlighting a gap in science. What is interesting here is that no economist has ever described a working macroeconomy. Neither Marx nor Milton Friedman succeeded in doing so. However, economic descriptions have always revealed deficiencies of the real.

Herrmann’s conclusion is that what is needed is a “survival economy” that masters crisis management, debt creation and social equalization. However, this is certainly not sufficient as a description of economic instruments and macroeconomic solutions.

My conclusion of Ulrike Herrmann’s theses is: The whole book needs a translation of what can be considered legitimate in the survival economy. It is clear to me that the economic policy instruments must comply with the principles of the Circular Economy, otherwise there is a threat of rebound, such as climate change. There is definitely still a lot of work for all of us in this description!

Der Beitrag The end of capitalism needs a survival economy – is it the beginning of the Circular Economy? erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

The first industrial plant for recycling EPS insulation materials from demolition and renovation work is restarting exactly one year after its initial commissioning. A group of German EPS producers – members of the Industrieverband Hartschaum e.V. – has rescued the Dutch PolyStyreneLoop plant from insolvency. The purchase agreement was notarized last week. The Dutch PS-Loop B. V. at the Terneuzen site is now a 100% subsidiary of the German GEC Group GmbH &Co. KG. GEC stands for “German EPS Converters Group”. This includes associated companies of the Bachl, Rygol Dämmstoffe and Brohlburg Dämmstoff- und Recyclingwerke groups. The project is also supported by European EPS raw material companies (BASF, Bewi, Sunpor, Synthos and Unipol) and the Austrian EPS manufacturer Hirsch via the European umbrella organization EUMEPS. Flame retardant manufacturer ICL is also involved.
The industry solution fulfills an important mandate of the European Commission in implementing the recycling targets for plastics under the EU’s Circular Economy Strategy.

The Netherlands-based PolyStyreneLoop B. V. had to file for bankruptcy on March 10 of this year, as construction delays due to the Corona pandemic, as well as rising energy costs, had put the profitability of the project in jeopardy. Yet the plant had been commissioned less than a year earlier, officially on June 16, 2021. After all, during this time the unique technical proof was provided to recycle EPS insulation material treated with the former flame retardant HBCD. The result is a fully recycled polystyrene raw material for the production of new EPS insulation products as well as the recovery of bromine as an important resource.

In the immediate vicinity of the PS-Loop B. V. plant in Terneuzen, the Netherlands, is the only bromine recovery plant in Europe of the flame retardant manufacturer ICL. The recycling technology is based on a process developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Process and Packaging Engineering. Terneuzen is expected to recycle 3,000 tons of HBCD-containing material annually. In Europe, however, 200,000 tons are expected to be deconstructed annually. This shows the potential for the process, whose economic conditions must now be proven in continuous operation.

Der Beitrag Restart of PolyStyrene Loop – closed-loop recycling of EPS insulation materials erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

Intendente Martin Llaryola and Eveline Lemke during the singing of the Argentine National Anthem

Because the departure into the Circular Economy should get a chance to establish itself here sustainably, Peter Heck and I were invited by the city of Cordoba. I have been regularly in Argentina for years and therefore the city of Cordoba gives me hope, because the question of whether the awakening will bear and have political assertiveness comes up immediately. Carlos Villar from HINS Energia is also waiting for us. He is one of the main drivers in the solar business locally. And he is an old acquaintance, knows the environmental campus and Rhineland-Palatinate. He is the persistent fighter on site who wants to anchor the topic of Circular Economy permanently and knows which political forces are at work on site. Carlos Villar is one of those who create the space for shaping the future.

And so, we embark on a journey that raises these difficult questions right at the beginning: Is it legitimate to offer aid to countries in the Global South? Or is aid quickly misunderstood because industrial exploitation, as the economic model of the Global North since colonization, is causing the very climate damage we are trying to repair today? For us, it is neither the role of the helper nor the old idea of industry that brings us here. But the challenge to live THE BEST OF TWO WORLDS, that’s what we want to do here.

And then there is the question of whether the Circular Economy is the better economy? We are convinced that it is, but the Circular Economy also has its pitfalls and requires a good understanding in order not to repeat old rebound mistakes. And the Circular Economy is by no means just about waste disposal and closing open landfills. Because that’s how it’s often presented here; after all, the landfills here also catch the eye. Hundreds of open landfills litter the landscape and pose environmental hazards.

Eveline Lemke on stage with Minister Fabián Lopez and Prof. Dr. Peter Heck

The concept of the Circular Economy, which is based on the natural design of the planet and is not essentially about making money by recycling, is not always fully understood or even translated. And it has so many facets that a mediation in a South American country with only 2 days seems unthinkable.

Calamuchita Argentina

Already the flight over the country of Buenos Aires, the 17 million metropolis and main city, where almost one third of the Argentine population lives, shows how the understanding of circularity is. From the air we can clearly see the parcels of arable land. They are divided into large areas that are intensively used for industrial purposes. Cows and cattle stand here already in the stable and do not run freely, as one imagines gladly transfigured. There are hardly any trees between the huge fields, no hedges, no marginal strips. Nothing looks like biodiversity here. What cooperation is there for the development of organic farming? Perhaps the drought of recent years will move the issue. Land planning or strategies for water retention do not exist either, even though all the roofs here are equipped with water tanks that use thermal energy to heat water. Land planning is not a political instrument here, nor is organic farming anchored or biomass use for local energy consumption a concept.

So where can we start? Peter Heck can forge scientific collaborations here so that the foundation of knowledge can broaden and the collaborations between Argentina and Germany can also survive political changes. IFAS (Link?) initiatives have seen Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Brazilian and hopefully soon Argentine universities working together on the same issues, which are then solved differently on the ground. Its annual International Circular Economy Week is a format that has been in place for more than a decade, dedicated to the challenges of bringing projects to application. Why not invite Minister Fabian Lopez and a delegation? Done – done.

Discussion with Eveline Lemke, Minster Fabián López and Prof. Dr. Peter Heck

But there is progress in Cordoba, also here there are forward thinkers and networkers who have penetrated the topic and would like to communicate it in a way that it meets the demands of a real green development. They want to network and get started. The mood of optimism, especially after the Corona lockdowns, is unmistakable.

We are already asking ourselves on the journey how we can convey that old policy instruments, which are used here with pleasure and do not bring about change, can be replaced? For example, Argentina still owns its own oil and gas reserves and still subsidizes them abundantly. Divestment as a strategy and a way of dealing with the potential losers of the transformation? Is that on the agenda? As we learn at our first stop of the trip in Buenos Aires from the Deputy Minister of Environment, Sergio Federovsky, this is not a topic of discussion. Circular economy is essentially associated by the national government with the closing of wild landfills and landfill aftercare. Recycling is sporadic, and the circularity factor for Argentina or its regions is unknown. Moreover, projects are too often developed with taxpayers’ money and they always die when there is a change of government and they were not economically thought out. And then there is also a lack of strategy or roadmap. Will we be able to talk about how the Circular Economy should actually go without government support and what the transformation might look like for policy instruments? In any case, it won’t succeed with the Deputy Minister of Environment, because in 1.5 years there will be elections and there the topic of Circular Economy won’t be in the center of attention.

This is completely different in Cordoba and gives hope that much is possible at the local level. The event in Cordoba was medialized with the national greats of TV anchoring, national media representatives were present and they also facilitated a huge coverage. And this is also important, because the projects of transformation are still almost invisible in Argentina.

If you fly over the country, you will see neither wind turbines nor shimmering solar roofs, yet the country has everything it needs for a flourishing bioeconomy: Water from the Andes, which flows out of the pipes in Cordoba for very little money, biomass in rich fields – the question arises as to how the full potential of the Circular Economy can unfold here.

This is urgently needed, because poverty and inflation have been massive challenges for Argentina for years, and now they are joined by the tasks of climate protection and adaptation to climate change.

On the occasion of the 2nd International CUMBRE MUDIAL on the Circular Economy in Cordoba, I was able to experience the impulse power with which the topic is being tackled here. Of course, another state election campaign is coming up soon. So, we are seeing how the parties are positioning themselves over a dispute that reflects the great divide in society: The Papelleros, a group of cooperatives that collect waste paper and are subsidized for it by the national government, want to be let in. There is no place for them at the fair. From a European point of view, this is difficult to understand. And why, of all people, do the stakeholders who actually take waste into their hands have to stay outside? What’s more, the circular economy is also supposed to solve social conflicts, and it can, for example by involving local players in the new value chains.

But here the clocks tick differently, and all that remains is for us to grasp these things, to see how political disputes about social minorities play out. Political and invisible rules do not reveal themselves easily or immediately.

Minister Fabián López and Carlos Villar, Hins

Therefore, we simply want to remain concrete during the short visit. To do this, we can talk to the Minister Fabian Lopez and his Secretary of State Sergio Mansur, who are responsible for government services. The ministry also commissions infrastructure, for example for wastewater disposal, which is a good example of the Circular Economy. The conversation is fruitful, we can discuss concrete projects and gain a common understanding of the Circular Economy. It is obvious to immediately plan the next visit for a delegation of people from Cordoba to participate in the International Circular Economy Week in Birkenfeld and to strengthen the scientific links.

Things also get concrete at the end of our appointments. We visit a school for the Circular Economy, where pupils and students learn how waste separation works and that material can be reused. The training is intended to help local cooperatives to build up their own collection structures and to establish small collection and recycling structures. Traditionally, such structures have existed for a long time, but they have not contractually agreed on cooperations for the delivery of their material with buyers. This is an area where work can and must be done. In addition, an understanding of the cradle-to-cradle principle is needed in these places of learning. Otherwise, the pitfall of downcycling is pre-programmed here as well, creating frustration and reducing trust in credibility. Well thought out is not always well done. But as is well known, schools serve for learning, a RETHINK must also remain permitted here, the place where this is to happen has already been created precisely for this, which is a good prerequisite.

At the end of the trip, one thing is certain: if our Argentine friends want to use the best of the two worlds for their ZERO WASTE strategy, we are happy to be there for them and welcome them to Rhineland-Palatinate as well.

You find the video, including my speech, here.

Coverage in the national press (in Spanish):

Perfil: “The role of citizens is key to the future of the Cricular Economy”

Alfil: Second World Summit on the Circular Economy opens

Página 12: Martín Llaryora “The societies that first adapt to the changes of the new circular paradigm will create progress”.

LaVoz: The second edition of the Circular Economy Summit has started live

El Diario: IN CORDOBA – THE WORLD Circular Economy Summit

El Economista: The World Summit of the Circular Economy comes to Cordoba

La Nacion: Circular Economy – what it is and how to apply this model in everyday life.

Der Beitrag Argentina – Cordoba goes circular erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

For this, a fundamental understanding of the circular economy is an indispensable prerequisite. A digital solution to a circular problem can only be found if the gaps in the cycle are identified and understood. At the same time, it has been shown that circular solutions are often only made possible by digital developments. Digital innovations and innovations in the circular economy are positively related.

Digital transformation is a great opportunity for small and large companies. All areas such as strategy, value creation, value chain, operations, pricing, sales and customer relations can be systematically set up from the perspective of the Circular Economy. Particularly for start-ups and SMEs, this is a challenge and an opportunity to look for precisely tailored solutions.

A joint European Erasmus+ project

Funded by the European Union through Erasmus+, Thinking Circular® is developing a program with seven other European partners in the CASCADE project to acquire competencies for the development of digital solutions for the Circular Economy and to present them.

At the kick-off meeting for the CASCADE project in Graz, the various aspects, goals and measures to implement CASCADE were discussed with the partners. The project partners include Thinking Circular^®, the project coordinator bit management from Graz, ImpactHUB Lisbon as well as ImpactHUB Bucharest, AVO from Prague, EcoRes from Brussels, Lomartov from Valencia and ENIDE from Barcelona. The project partners are ensuring that a learning platform is launched. That will enable SMEs to develop their own circular software solution and apply for funding for it.

CASCADE is a 10-week self-learning program that provides the target group with a complete knowledge package. You do not only learn everything about the circular economy and how to implement it in your own projects, but there are also learning units for funding and project management. The result is a complete project proposal that can be submitted to the EU to receive funding for the digital solution developed or a pitch to attract investors.

Currently, the CASCADE project is still in the starting blocks. We will continue to report on it in the near future. However, if you already feel addressed and are interested in this program, please contact us! We are already looking for companies that want to test the learning program with us during the pilot phase.

Also, follow #cascadeerasmus and #circulareconomy to learn more!

You can find the current funding guideline of the BMUV here.

Der Beitrag CASCADE Erasmus+ Advancing digital solutions for the circular economy erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

For the more than 20 companies, this is an ambitious goal. However, Dr. Nico Wenz from the Darmstadt Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who is overseeing the initiative, is confident that the goal can be achieved together. The experience of the last 5 years with the predecessor network in Südhessen, which was able to implement 50 measures for energy efficiency and climate protection, confirms the expectations.

After the easy to realize climate protection measures in Südhessen could already be implemented to a large extent, it is now the challenge to tackle the more difficult tasks that require more effort. The Darmstadt Chamber of Commerce and Industry supports companies with this network by enabling them to learn from good examples. With an impulse lecture on Circular Value Creation, it was a great concern of mine to bring the Circular Economy as the Neo-Economy for the Post-Anthropocene into the focus of entrepreneurs for this purpose.

A new feature is the platform-based website where good examples can be posted  Companies outside the network can also enter their projects in this “Quickfinder to your climate and energy efficiency solution” – and of course find solutions.

The nationwide Energy Efficiency and Climate Protection Network initiative is structured quite differently in the German states. In Rhineland-Palatinate, for example, the Efficiency Network Rhineland-Palatinate, a central, interdisciplinary and non-commercial information and consulting platform, is based at the State Office for the Environment. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the Effizienz-Agentur NRW (Efficiency Agency NRW), commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment, offers a comprehensive range of services for identifying potential savings in raw material and energy consumption, particularly for manufacturing companies.

So there are many places to go for support in climate protection, so that clear goals also lead to measurable results and we can perhaps put the brakes on climate change after all.

Der Beitrag ETA-Plus Südhessen: Clear CO2 reduction targets set erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

This makes it clear that the changed attitudes change the basic narratives of our existence. They define the relationships of human to human, human to nature, human to technology, of culture and identity. We therefore take a closer look at these paradigms:

Culture as a habit

Culture was long considered an expression of civilization and thus an antithesis to barbarism, to savagery, to the disordered life of people in other regions of the earth. Culture was thereby classified according to traditions of such as nutrition, work, the formation of family structures, education and other social components. The cultural scientist Prof. Terry Egleton makes clear what the previous definition of the “good of culture” was formulated as a guiding principle and fundamentally questions it for precisely this reason. If culture is only a habit, however, the paradigm of culture itself is called into question.

What we see as a new paradigm is that the debate about what culture is, is now being scientifically reopened as a habitual observation. Behavioral economics therefore plays an important role for the Circular Economy.

Identity as a narrative of the ego

In the previous era of pre-modernity, identity was a function of fixed roles and a traditional system of myths that provided orientation and religious sanction (Kellner, 1992). Moreover, identity was unproblematic and not subject to reflection or discussion. Individuals did not experience identity crises, nor did they radically change their identities. The term “identity” became familiar only when and to the extent that the formation of identity became a problem on a mass scale. This happened mainly against the background of a clash of religions. Zygmunt Bauman states in 1997: “Identity can only exist as a problem, it was a problem from birth, was born as a problem …”

Mancuso and Hevern’s narrative psychology assume that we frame all of our lives and our relationship to the world as narratives. We dream narratively, daydream narratively, remember, anticipate, hope, despair, believe, doubt, plan, revise, criticize, construct, gossip, hate, and love narratively.

In this respect, narration is not a life story that one writes and updates – not all that often – but a fundamental mode of the social construction of reality. Narratives are embedded in social action and are communicated via social media. Our identity emerges as a narrative of the self.

Nature as a partner

The understanding that the world can be controlled by technology has prevailed since the introduction of “divine mathematics” in the Middle Ages. Only God is above man, those who serve him best are above the sheep to be shepherded in the hierarchy. According to this, nature is a resource that may be used. But it has no role or representation of its own in existence. Today scientists also speak of nature forgetfulness. We humans do not perceive ourselves as an element of natural systems, because our imprint was shaped over millennia by the image of Homo Deus, who shapes the world and the future according to the example of God.

This understanding is currently being replaced by the realization of the limitations of our own ability to know (scientific criticism) and global systemic changes, such as climate change.

One example is the work “Life is a connected phenomenon-thinking alongside Lynn Margulis”, published in the Critical Zones of the ZKM, Karlsruhe or by presenting the symbiogenesis of man in nature according to Lynn Margulis.

Systems theory posits humans as one element among many living elements on planet Earth and in the universe, and relates humans to all other systemic functions and elements. This understanding is now found in many theories:

For example, in the design principle of the Circular Economy Cradle to Cradle, in the theory of permaculture, in theories of symbiogenetic development, in regenerative design, the theory of the regenerative city or Transition Towns. They all pursue the goal of creating cycles from materials that are harmless to humans and the environment and of regenerating local ecosystems.

Man as a fellow being

The box office hit movie “Earthlings” has shown how humans treat other species in the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-rDurOJ0B4 It relentlessly shows how we industrially produce meat and has greatly influenced the movement of veganism and vegetarianism. The term speciesism is used analogously to sexism or racism. Jane Goodell’s scientific career on primate research and personal empathy has shown what a new relationship between humans and fellow inhabitants of planet Earth might look like.  Humans as fellow beings on this planet maps this narrative. In particular, her evidence that humans are not the only beings who use tools, can reflect, and have feelings. She demonstrated this in primates, and in doing so, she revolutionized the paradigm of humans being a “better Earthling.”

Innovation for purpose

Innovation has so far taken place in select circles of innovators, funders. Patronage turned exclusively to issues of care. Today the trend is towards self-help, self-efficacy and the strengthening of strengths, i.e. “empowerment”. The search for better systems in all strata of society has begun. GOOD LIFE is described and invoked and safeguarding livelihoods is above all. The methods of Design Thinking and Systemic Thinking are seen here as drivers of innovation, which solves global problems instead of creating further problems. The role of civil society is of particular importance in driving this process from within. The Circular Society Community is already adapting elements from the aforementioned paradigms and integrating them into its concept.

Society is communication – No cloud/cloud only

Digital natives regard their mobile phone as an emotional technical link to other members of society with whom they can communicate constantly without distance. Systems thinker Prof.  Luhmann describes communication as a link that creates society. This is based on the systems theory view that the individual elements of society (individuals, organizations, administration, etc.) must communicate with each other. In this context, rules, laws and norms are also part of communication, which established the connection. Communication is not only about language and understanding, but also about the context of the rule with which the communication is understood and answered, e.g. also through behavior and non-behavior. Luhman says: Not the single individuals with their characteristics, but exclusively the form of communication of society “Are” society. This new understanding of one’s own being as a communicator in systems (bubbles, clouds) is already changing behavior. Especially since the negative effects of communication gone wrong must also be dealt with (stalking, data abuse, loss of face, etc.). Because today not only “celebrities” are in the public communication, but everyone who moves on the Internet and on social media.

How does a tree speak? This is a scientific question and it is answered, for example, by findings from biochemistry. Language is expressed here in processes according to the rules of nature, which can be described by mathematics, physics, chemistry and so on. The rule by which an old tree, for example, supplies a young tree with glucose via the root system is thus called communication. How does the tree know that it must connect its roots with the young tree for this purpose? That is not yet clear. The language of trees and nature still needs many interpreters.

The changing paradigm that society is defined by sets of rules is thus replaced by an understanding of the system in which the elements of the system are capable of self-ordering because they communicate about it.

Rewriting the social contract – best collaborators will win

Darwin’s thesis that the strongest is the winner in survival is outdated. Biology, ecology, behavioral sciences and psychology have proven that the “strength” of a winner in systems arises from all system functions. The insight of systems thinkers shows that “best collaborators will win”. Especially in the field of development science and development economics this insight is gaining ground. The search for methods of best collaboration (networks, process orientation, etc.) has begun.

Performance Economy and Economy of Commons

The growth paradigm is outdated, macroeconomic equilibrium models have had their day, resource finiteness and the importance of public goods (climate, environment) and social balance to maintain peace and security have gained in importance. The new economy in balancing ecology has new names.

The project CRESTING summarizes all theories of the newly evolving Circular Economy. We covered it in another blog, you can find it here.

Der Beitrag Changing paradigms erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.