The Latin word oeconomia has its origin in ancient Greek oikonomia or oikonomos. The first part oikos means "house", and the second part nemein means "to manage". We agree, don't we, that we have mismanaged'' our 'household' - to near destruction?
REALITY CHECK
"The global economy, which is driving humankind beyond the limits of the planetary boundaries, is itself driven by the theoretical construct and practice of global finance...Just as we are in ecological overshoot, we are even more in financial overshoot.
Finance, in general, and specifically the flow of real investment capital is one of the critical leverage points to shift to a Regenerative Economy that serves humanity and stewards the integrity of earth’s ecosystems.
It will also entail a recognition that the regenerative process that defines thriving, living systems, enabling many of them to be sustainable over the long run, must define the economic system itself.
A Regenerative Economy is characterized by eight principles:
Right Relationship: It holds the continuation of life sacred and recognizes that the human economy is embedded in human culture and the biosphere.
Entrepreneurialism: A Regenerative Economy draws on the innate ability of human beings to innovate and “create anew” across all sectors of society.
Wealth Viewed Holistically: True wealth is defined in terms of the well-being of the “whole,” achieved through the enhancement of the multiple forms of capital.
Shared Prosperity: Wealth is equitably (although not necessarily equally) distributed in the context of an expanded view of true wealth.
Real Economy Circularity: The economy strives continually to minimize energy, material, and resource throughput radically at all phases of the production cycle, that products are remanufactured, recycled and composted, with natural outputs are safely returning to the biological world and that minerals and human made substances returning to the industrial cycle.
“Edge Effect” Abundance: Creative collaborations increase the possibility of value-adding wealth creation through relationship, exchanges, and resiliency.
Resiliency: The whole system develops the long run ability to adapt and learn from shocks; adaptability to change is valued over current brittle concentrations of power and hyper-efficiency.
Honors Place: A Regenerative Economy operates to nurture healthy, stable communities and regions, both real and virtual, in a connected mosaic of place-centered economies."
The above is an abbreviated version of an article Transforming Finance and The Regenerative Economy by Hunter Lovins and John Fullerton (Source: The Capital Institute – www.capitalinstitute.org) was published in Green Money Journal
Indefinite economic growth on a finite planet
We cannot be treating the issues of the polycrisis in separation, rather than treating them as a symptoms of what is underlying the problem (s). If we continue in the same way as we have, we will get the same results: "Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results" Albert Einstein
Therefore,
we need to balance humanity’s needs with the planet’s ecological boundaries.
We need to understand the root causes.; once we have done that, the cure for the polycrisis economy is through embracing a different set of economic design, values, and operating principles.
What are the main mistaken economic beliefs and operating principles which no longer serve us?
Indefinite economic growth on a finite planet
GDP as a true measure of a nation's wealth
Merely optimizing single variables, such as the ill-conceived shareholder value maximization, is part of the root of the problems.
It is true that during our lifetime, we’ve experienced an unparalleled period of constant economic growth. By now, we take indefinite economic growth for granted. However, unlimited growth, the mantra of Western economic thinking, is impossible on a finite planet. This is it, there is no planet B
Herman Daly, the father of Ecological Economics, made it clear: "the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment, not the reverse".
Here is a good article describing Daly's work in the magazine Nature. Daly observed the absurdity of mainstream economics, which completely omits the natural world. The economy is not an isolated system, as it is treated in mainstream economics: the fact is that all resources used by the economy come from the environment, and all waste products are returned to the environment.
We are reality blind in our economic thinking, because "it is the theory that determines what we can see" (Einstein) However, let's recognise that the well-meaning and ongoing financial reform agenda was conceived in the context of the old, degenerative world-view.
It is really quite simple: Human wellbeing depends on the wellbeing of the living Earth. We depend entirely on all resources and eco-services and creatures that our Earth offers, including those non-renewable resources, i.e. fossil fuel.
What 'fuels' this addiction to indefinite economic growth?
As Nate Hagens put it, we are 'energy blind "...We have combined innovation and ideas with energy and materials into technology that has massively increased the scale of the human enterprise. If you consider the number of humans on the planet, 7.9 billion, times the average material throughput—how many goods and services the average person uses—the human economy is over 1000 times bigger than it was 500 years ago. This is all on the backs of fossil energy and materials that we are extracting from the earth 10 million times faster than they were sequestered by natural systems. And our economic system is based on the idea, or the implicit reality, that these things are interest when, in reality, they are principle that we’re quickly drawing down.
And right now, the human enterprise uses the equivalent of 170 billion 100 watt light bulbs turned on 24/7. That’s 17 terawatts of power—85 percent or so fueled by fossil carbon and hydrocarbons, coal, oil, and natural gas. This stuff is finite, and we have extracted the best and easiest. There’s plenty left, but it’s more costly—it’s deeper, it’s lower quality, and it’s more ecologically impactful to extract. Once we reach the lower quality stuff, which will require a lot more energy and materials to extract, the societal benefits will diminish, especially for energy-intensive activities like flying, concrete production, or aluminum smelting.
With the industrial revolution, we added thousands to tens of thousands of units of fossil labor to replace one unit of what was previously human or animal labor. And we did that because it was so cheap; we just pulled it out of the ground. And that was the “cost”—not the 10 million years of geological heat and pressure it took to create.
What is even more insidious is that we are continuing to provide FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES:
https://www.climatesciencebreakthrough.com/
Mark Maslin x Jo Brand | Climate Science Translated NSFW
https://youtu.be/UxLvTF_9jv4?si=5IolXa6o7xWHLcOY
MM - governments subsidise fossil fuels to the tune of $1 trillion a year
JB -EVEN DINOSAURS DIDN'T SUBSIDISE THEIR EXTINCTION
What needs to be done?
We've been living beyond our means for several generations, drawing down natural capital well beyond its replacement rate, and treating it as if it were interest and not principal.
Ecologically, humans are in ‘overshoot. We have built machines and technology to boost our living standards around the world but have forgotten these machines are powered - mostly - by energy that is non-renewable on human time scales.
However, the transition away from a collapse-prone financial system and economy, both of which are driving ecological collapse, will not be quick or easy.
It will require fresh energy for a fundamental systemic reform to create the conditions for finance to serve the Regenerative Economy.
We must re-conceive finance in the service of a regenerative economic system.
Merely optimizing single variables, such as the ill-conceived shareholder value maximization, are insufficient in the era of Regenerative Capitalism.
Let's recognise that the well-meaning and ongoing financial reform agenda was conceived in the context of the old, degenerative world-view.
Success cannot be defined as putting us back on the path of exponential expansion, which brings on ecological collapse.
Connect with Green Money Journal, which has been covering sustainable business, impact investing, energy & climate change, food and farming, since 1992.
Nate Hagens is a great source for information about finance. His podcasts are excellent - The Great Simplification, - where he has conversations with experts in energy, ecology, government, technology, and the economy to provide a systemic view of the world around us.
Also check out the KNOWLEDGE BASE, where you will find all references for this section. This is an evolving website, and there is no difference in the reference section - it will grow over time.
However, the transition away from a collapse-prone financial system and economy, both of which are driving ecological collapse, will not be quick or easy. 
Where From Here?
Where From Here?