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“What would happen if we built the economy on ethics? Different employment models, other production methods… We are too used to doing things in isolation, distrusting politicians and business actors. But no sector can create the alternatives that society needs”. With these words Claudio Madaune of the festival this Thursday Reflected in one of the twelve dialogues Act for the living, held from April 26 to May 6 at the Museum of Modern Art in Medellin. Chilean permaculture expert and project coordinator at a Norwegian NGO Change the world He questioned that progress meant growth at all costs, individual role of every citizen and regeneration.
Regenerative economy is one of the key concepts of this talk. This relatively recently coined term is based on the principles of restoration, returning a system or product to its original or improved state. In the words of María Alejandra González, Professor of Management and Social Responsibility at Eafit University: “These are healing processes. With this term we recognize the injury we are already causing to ecosystems; something is damaged and we must heal it. Arturo Escobar, one of the best anthropologists and thinkers in the country, this Friday During his presentation, he added the reflection of a Bolivian thinker: “We must not stop being Indians and think about modernity.”
For the Kali people, the quest for economic growth has created inequality and destroyed the environment. “In post-development or the good life, everything that lives and the beliefs of indigenous communities become a great key actor.” And he added: “Humanity is obsessed with colonialism, modernity, American imperialism and identity. Now the question is about praxis. What do we intellectuals do?
The meeting, sponsored by Comfama, the publishing company Actes Sud and the alliance between Comuna, has more than 40 national and international guests: scientists, social entrepreneurs and activists, companies concerned about their impact and small-scale entrepreneurs “small big revolution.” This is how Isabel Godavid, managing ecologist of Acromandala, describes a circular farm located in Fredonia, Antioquia, that grows, harvests and sells fresh food free of pesticides to 80 families. “Companies are based on the decisions we make as consumers. It’s true that we can’t all be farmers, but we all eat,” he explained to an audience of fifty.
According to Camfama director David Escobar Arango, it is very important that these types of events take place outside the offices of big leaders. “We propose a synergistic look between different industries and sectors. We seek to live in a dialogue, create reflection and make people leave with questions. It is a platform for civil society to organize and implement projects”. Another of the main points, precisely, talks about regeneration. “For a long time, still There was talk of preserving the undamaged, after stability. But for me it’s like going out to build. Regeneration is going to win.”
For her part, ISA’s Director of Sustainability Maria Adelaida Correa added: “Our mission is to create awareness, inspire, transform and leave legacies that pass on to generations. We firmly believe that biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation are the best tracks. Today, as companies and people, regeneration To work for development, we are called to mobilize our administration towards the use of resources that guarantee the well-being of communities and create environmental resilience, while at the same time creating support for the needs of future development.”.
New democracies, regeneration and economies for organization and planetary health are the three pillars on which a festival of French origin is based for the second time in Latin America. Isabel Delanoy, expert in sustainable development; Hugo Jamioy, poet from the Kamsá tribe; Martín von Hildebrand, anthropologist and founder of the Gaia Amazonas Foundation; Juliet Rousseau, editor of Le Commun (a French publication for women’s poetry)… Some experts, in a didactic and participatory way, think out loud and look for ways to live in a harmonious way on the planet.
Think of solutions
Today few dare to deny climate change and its impacts. Sea level rise, deforestation, extinction of species, droughts and disasters… But at this festival, the question is different: What can we do? The focus of the talks is purposeful and optimistic. David Escobar likes the word “possibility”: “We don’t want to fall into irrational optimism or pessimism. There are some challenges, we put them on the table and face them. If we do everything we can in time, maybe we will create a better world.”
The festival, according to the director, seeks to weave collaborative networks among regional, national and international audiences, creating specific transformative actions around cross-cutting issues. As Delannoy reflected in the conversation From Extractive to Regenerative Economies for an Era of New Abundance: “We have to find a way to look each other in the eye and understand”.
