Doughnut Economics Circus with Kate Raworth: A Theatrical Showdown on Finance vs. Nature

One Planet Lab
vor 21 Stunden
3 Min. Lesezeit

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What would it look like if finance was designed not for endless extraction and growth, but to support life itself? Together with Kate Raworth, more than 230 participants explored this question through a participatory circus experience that transformed economics into something tangible, emotional, and collective. Supported by volunteers from the audience, Kate turned the stage into a playful yet powerful reflection of today’s economic system.

Kate Raworth is the brilliant mind behind Doughnut Economics, the groundbreaking framework reshaping how we think about prosperity in the 21st century. She is co-founder of the Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) and Senior Teaching Associate at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford.

Laurène Descamps led us through an evening full wonder, excitement and learning. The opening words by Thomas Vellacott, CEO of WWF Switzerland, set the scene for the evening by emphasizing that infinite growth on a finite planet is not possible. This means that we need to rethink our economic system - and here Kate took us on a transformative journey with the doughnut economics circus show.

The event was co-hosted by the One Planet Lab, Impact Hub Zürich and the Swiss Donut Economics Network.

Nature vs. Finance

At the heart of the evening was one central tension: nature is cyclical, relational, and regenerative, while finance, as it largely exists today, is often linear, extractive, and accumulative.

This conflict became tangible in unexpected ways throughout the evening. Together with volunteers from the audience, Kate Raworth transformed the stage into an interactive exploration of economic systems: one participant juggled, another performed with a hula hoop, while two others embodied the tension between the financial industry and nature.

A powerful sonograph performance then illustrated the dramatic decline in global wildlife populations since 1970, turning ecological loss from an abstract statistic into a deeply emotional sound experience.

Rethinking Finance

One message became especially clear throughout the evening: the ideas that brought us into today’s ecological crises will not be the ones that lead us out.

Kate highlighted the stark contrast between investments supporting regeneration and those continuing to drive ecological destruction:

Around $220 billion flowed into nature-positive finance in 2023
Approximately $7 trillion continued to fund nature-destructive activities

And yet, despite these realities, the evening remained hopeful. Examples shared throughout the evening ranged from debt-for-nature swaps and community-supported agriculture to Indigenous-led stewardship models financed through microloans.

We also see these approaches reflected across many of our partner projects that are pointing toward a more resource-light future, where sufficiency, community, regeneration, and economic viability can go hand in hand.

From knowledge to action

After the show, Leonard Creutzburg explored the theme of rethinking economic systems and shared insights into alternative economic models. He presented the newly published whitepaper "Rethinking the economy – Sufficiency strategies for future-proof businesses" proposing concret ways to transform your business and bring it into the doughnut.

Applying the Doughnut to Swiss Cities

After the circus came the work. Following the public evening event, representatives from cities and municipalities across Switzerland gathered for a dedicated working session with Kate Raworth focused on applying Doughnut Economics in the Swiss context.

Kate introduced participants to the “Four Lenses”, a practical framework used to “unroll” the Doughnut and apply its thinking to cities, institutions, and organisations.

The session quickly became collaborative and action-oriented, with participants discussing what is already happening in cities such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Copenhagen and what still needs to happen to help bring Swiss cities into the Doughnut.