Who are we?

The West Cork Doughnut Economy Network (WCDEN) started in April 2020 under the first lockdown. It was set up by environmentally active people from across West Cork. Its inspiration? Doughnut economics, an alternative model designed by Kate Raworth who calls herself a “renegade economist”. While working at Oxfam, she concluded that “conventional economics” and its unrealistic idea of “eternal economic growth” did nothing to combat poverty and inequality or to help sustainability, biodiversity. And that it certainly doesn’t serve the community. The doughnut in her alternative graph, see below, has nothing to do with junk food but everything with the circular shape that represents, “the safe space for humanity”. The idea is that an economy should focus on helping people thrive. Not the other way around.

Doughnut economics is a place-based model not a one-size-fits-all recipe. Ideally, each place will end up with a local economy that produces local resources a way that respects and serves biodiversity, the local community, and human rights across the planet.

To help us get there, Raworth wrote an influential book, Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist. With her team, she also set up DEAL aka the Doughnut Economics Action Lab where groups from across the world meet, exchange information, and share ideas as well as co-create tools.

WCDEN is involved in IDEN (the Irish Doughnut Economy Network) and is a project under the Green Economy Foundation.

To find out more about doughnut economics, https://www.kateraworth.com/doughnut/

WCDEN launch video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEXpyoWS5CY

What do we do?

Many of West Cork Doughnut Economy Network’s founding members are active in local sustainability groups. Some of these are represented on this website. It facilitates workshops using tools that “help turn doughnut economics from a radical idea into transformative action.” See https://doughnuteconomics.org/stories/266. It took part in last year’s West Cork Feel Good Festival and will do so again in July/October 2023.

A local doughnut economics group, the Ballydonut, was established in the village of Ballydehob in 2021 where it is now working on a Community Biodiversity Action Plan.

How can you get involved?

Email westcorkdoughnuteconomynetwork@gmail.com or go to https://www.facebook.com/WestCorkDoughnut