15.-16. November 2023 Nicole was invited as a speaker to the „Gyeonggi Maeul Meets Tomorrow’s Life“ conference! Here’s her short report: At the conference I felt like a rockstar – not in the sense of stardom but because of the level of attention that was paid to my wellbeing. Every detail was amazingly thought through in terms of human needs and caution for ecological impacts. On the first day I told the story of how to build and maintain an impactful Doughnut Economics initiative and widely distribute this new paradigm of building resilient and just societies. Our Donut Berlin approach was complemented by the input from Kavita Purohit about CIVIC SQUARE in Birmingham and comments of Byoung Kwon Kim from the Institute for Green Transformation. The audience were community builders, organizers, activists and social entrepreneurs from across the Gyeonggi province. It was beautiful to see their curiosity and openness to the topic and their comments and questions showed that our messages had landed.
One question particularly moved me: If I really believe the Doughnut model works as a blueprint for action while we are facing the manifold challenges of the polycrisis and where does my optimism grow from? It went right to the heart, but I found the words: Given the beauty of our planet and nature, knowing what we know of the destructive pathways by humans, we cannot afford giving in to doomism and despair. The best antidote is to gather around a message of hope, to connect and build networks near and far and rise up together. The reward of investing your time and energy to shape the future you desire within your scope comes from the connections you build and the impact that grows when all the small pockets of action – and thus hope – join and build a safety net for your commitment to save what can be saved.
Unexpectedly it felt powerful to show myself so vulnerable in front of a hall full of strangers.
On the second day we had a deep dive into the principles and methods of Doughnut Economics with a smaller group. We were guarded with curiosity and goodwill by the Buddha. Here a couple of threads were knotted between European and Korean insights and wisdom and I think the right word is wholesome to describe this experience of open, honest, humane encounter.
I want to thank myself for allowing me this opportunity of receiving and giving hope via the whole of physical, emotional, spiritual presence. For the feeling of doing the right thing and having inspired some people to broaden perspectives in their own work and establish the Doughnut of social and ecological boundaries as their compass. And for the opportunity of emerging friendships I will tend to. My deepest gratitude goes to Sunkyung Han, Saem Yun and and Garam Lee from C.Dot Asia and the wonderful team of the Gyeonggi Maeul Community Support Centre.