I’ve had some thoughts going around my head for a while and needed to work them through to some kind of conclusion. It appears I have ended up creating a video, and now it feels like I should do something with it. This has been my own private project so far - no official affiliations of any kind.
It seems to be a 3-minute explainer type video about the wellbeing economy. I am no authority on the subject, so perhaps this influenced my need to lay it out in basic terms. I couldn’t immediately find anything super-concise and ‘explain it to me like I’m 5’ on YouTube, so maybe my video could be developed into something useful?
It’s more of a sketch of an idea than something to share widely (there are mismatched graphics, reading errors, and general audio/video quality issues), but it’d be interesting to hear if anyone has any comments on it?
Does it contain factual errors?
Does it clash with anyone else’s (wellbeing economy) core message?
Are there small additions that could add a lot of value?
I know there are bits that feel too long (near the beginning), that it over-simplifies key concepts, and that some of the scenarios are not as neat as they could be with a bit more thought.
Anyway, I had fun.
Constructive comments warmly welcomed! If none are forthcoming, then it will just quietly disappear
Hi. I appreciate your trying to get your head around wellbeing economy… I am doing similar things, only not in video form. Will share soon. Meanwhile, here are some of my thoughts.
“healthy, comfortbale and happy” and “wellbeing” should apply to the whole Web of Life, not only humans.
Most economic models that I have seen consider human economic activities as though they happen in the vacuum - nothing goes into it other than ‘resources’ which magically exist somewhere, although it’s not clear where. And the economic results are expressed in dollars… ie money and nothing else.
However, this picture is simply not correct. All our activities can only take place within the biophysical reality of the Web of Life, which we are destroying through pollution, waste accumulation, habitat destruction, change of land use… Any lasting system of human economic activities has to take into account that either the whole Web of LIfe thrives, and humans as part of it, or the whole Web of Life collapses, and organised human societies with it. Any thoughts?
I have a thing about using as few words as possible, mainly stemming from my frustration when trying to learn about something new and being presented with multiple long-form documents (with much repetition between them) when all I want is an overview. What a car is can be outlined in 100 words (even fewer if you use pictures). Explaining how cars works and why they’re so popular will take a bit longer, but you really need to know what one is before getting into that.
Your ‘Web of Life’ comments are absolutely valid and perhaps deserve a video of their own! Maybe there’s scope for a series of 3-minute explainers? Wellbeing Economy, GDP, Web of Life… do any other concepts come to mind?
I can’t offer anything very helpful as I myself have been struggling for a long time to arrive at something that I want to say and it can be said in a one pager. The process of distillation was long and messy and frustrating…
But to comment on your video… what in it talks specifically about wellbeing? When you meet a person, and you tell them - wow, you look really well - you don’t really mean that they didn’t have a car crash. You mean something else - but what? And how to apply that to 8 billion people and all living beings? What do they all need to be well? That is what the wellbeing economy has to do if it means to truly be the wellbeing economy. To sum it up in 3 mins will take time necessary to distill it all and arrive at the essence. At least that is how I see it - other people probably see different things…
Loving this thread, video and ideas! Tagging our Comms and Knowledge leads- incase these 3-mins explainer videos is something they can engage in further
@earthlingib , I think my starting point was to assume people are generally comfortable with what ‘wellbeing’ or ‘economy’ refers to, but ‘wellbeing economy’ felt (to me) like a tricky thing for a casual observer to get a broad understanding of. The video was kind of an accidental by-product of me mulling it over… your feedback and discussion is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for! Thanks
I can find one-sentence answers to the question ‘what is a wellbeing economy’ (which can feel quite abstract and nebulous), or I can find lengthy blog posts, opinion pieces, and high-level policy documents (which I struggle to properly digest). I really like the expression ‘explain it to me like I am 5’ - and this was part of my motivation.
I would love for someone here to ‘explain it (wellbeing economy) to me like I am 5’! Then, we can take that explanation and broaden out the conversation to as many people as possible.
Great, I’m currently motivated to do something similar (as video above) but don’t have the skills or confidence in my own interpretation of the topic(s) to do it alone! Do you think there would be any enthusiasm for a new collaboration?
Also tagging my colleague @francesrayner our other Comms Co-Lead who actually did a similar exercise with the team last year- on what a WE is- but explain to a 12-year-old. Slightly older than what you are looking for. But Frances- I am wondering if you still have any of those responses to share with Oliver?