Reintroducing the Endogenous Sustainable Economy Theory: A New Vision for Global Sustainability
In recent years, the global conversation around sustainability has increasingly centered on frameworks like the circular economy: models designed to reduce waste, regenerate resources, and create more efficient systems of production and consumption. From the European Union’s Circular Economy Action Plan to China’s state-led industrial circularity initiatives, these efforts have laid the groundwork for a more sustainable world. Organizations like the Ellen MacArthur Foundation have played a pivotal role in translating these ideas into actionable strategies for businesses, governments, and communities.
Yet as effective as these frameworks are, they often remain exogenous, shaped by external regulations, standards, and institutional mandates. While they address efficiency and material flows, they do not fully engage with the inner dimension of sustainability; the consciousness, values, and agency of the individuals and communities at the heart of economic systems.
This is where the Endogenous Sustainable Economy Theory (ESET) enters the conversation. ESET is not simply a set of policies or technical solutions; it is a paradigm shift in how we understand and organize the economy itself. At its core, ESET proposes that true sustainability must arise from within—from the values, intentions, and decisions of individuals, communities, and local ecosystems. It envisions an economy that is relational, regenerative, and self-aware, where prosperity is measured not just in financial or material terms, but in the flourishing of human and ecological well-being.
The theory challenges the traditional “take-make-dispose” paradigm by asking not only how we produce and consume sustainably, but why and for whom. It recognizes that external systems—whether regulatory, technological, or market-driven—can only succeed when aligned with the conscious choices of the people they serve. In an ESET-informed world, economic systems are co-created, adaptive, and deeply rooted in local cultures and ecologies, yet connected by universal principles of regeneration, sufficiency, and ethical reciprocity.
I am going to further my work to fully develop and operationalize ESET on a global scale. This next phase will focus on defining practical pathways for education, governance, industrial systems, and technology that are informed by endogenous principles. It will involve collaboration across sectors, cultures, and communities to ensure that ESET is not just a theoretical framework, but a living, actionable model for sustainable and equitable global economies.
The goal is ambitious: to create an economic paradigm where sustainability is not imposed from the outside but emerges naturally from the conscious choices of humanity itself. The circular economy is a great structure, but ESET provides the inner logic, the compass guiding how those structures are used, adapted, and evolved.
In the months ahead, I will share updates, insights, and practical tools as we begin this work. ESET is more than a theory. It is a call to reimagine how we live, produce, and thrive together on a finite planet. We invite innovators, thinkers, and change-makers from all sectors to engage, contribute, and co-create this next chapter of sustainability with us.
The journey toward an endogenous sustainable economy is just beginning and together, we can design systems that are not only regenerative for the planet, but restorative for society, communities, and the human spirit itself.
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