Our world is careening at an accelerating pace toward a precipice of climate breakdown, ecological devastation, and gaping inequality. These are the results of a civilization based on exploitation, extraction, and separation. What would it take to replace it with a world system that set the conditions for all beings to thrive on a regenerated Earth—an ecological civilization?
Achieving an ecocivilization would require a transformation of our current economy, politics, and dominant culture, leading to a fundamentally changed world based of different values, goals, and collective behavior.
This is the transformation that Jeremy Lent will explore during the 46th Annual E.F. Schumacher Lecture, “Making a World that Works for All.” Sharing ideas from his recently published book, Ecocivilization: Making a World that Works for All, Jeremy will explore the vision of an ecocivilization: why we need it, its underlying principles, and what it might look like in practice.
Far from being a utopian vision, Jeremy will show how, in every domain of civilization, ideas and practices are already being developed which, woven together into a cohesive whole, could create the framework for a better future for all. These “islands of coherence” provide trailheads toward the worldwide transformation we need.
In the September/October 2026 issue of Resurgence & Ecologist, Jeremy Lent discusses his new book with “Doughnut” economist Kate Raworth:
Jeremy:
People look at my work and say, “God, I wish I was as optimistic as you.” And I have to respond, “No you don’t. I’m not optimistic at all.” I’ve got one voice on one shoulder looking at despair every day…But what gives me that sense of possibility is that all of these systems are non-linear, self-organized, complex systems. By their very nature, they are not predictable in the way that sense of despair thinks they might be. And what we know about these self-organized systems is that the way they change is not necessarily through one single external shift, but through the whole system itself going through chaos and then reorganizing in a different way.
The conversation continues invoking Buckminster Fuller.
Jeremy:
There are those words attributed to Buckminster Fuller: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” That’s what you’re doing, Kate. That is what Ecocivilization is pointing to—not building the model, but pointing to all the different people who are already building that model, making this old system obsolete.
Kate:
That is one of my favorite quotes, which I put very early on in my book Doughnut Economics. It really inspired me to write that book and build a new model. I think the moment and times of critique are past. Sometimes the most powerful form of protest is to propose something new. So be propositional. That’s why I also think that 21st- century economics will be practiced first and theorized later—I’m hanging out with the practitioners. And you’re foregrounding the practice in your book, showing us so many examples from around the world, that patchwork of the possible future already visible to us, if we bring it together in one place. Here’s to the power of protest when it’s proposing something new.
The 46th Annual E.F. Schumacher Lecture
with Jeremy Lent
Saturday, October 24 · 3:00 PM (doors 2:30)
Saint James Place, 352 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA
Sliding-scale tickets ($10-100)
Please note: registration is for in-person attendance only. The lecture will be recorded and shared on our website and newsletter shortly following the event.
We hope to see you in Great Barrington on October 24th.
Warm Wishes,
Staff of the Schumacher Center