Recent events in 2025 have me thinking. I’m revisiting economic concepts I learned in college and questioning our society’s definition of success. In that process, I came across the idea of the Wellbeing Economy. Some call this a Wellbeing Economy, others a Solidarity Economy, Caring Economy, Next Economy, or even a Regenerative Economy. Whatever the term, the point is the same: an economy designed to support life, not just endless growth.

My goal in writing this post isn’t to condemn capitalism, but to question how our current economic system serves us, and how it fails us. And to consider if there might be a different system that could serve us better.

Beyond that, I want to offer small, manageable steps we can take right now to prepare for the next stage, if and when our system fails.

Rethinking Our Economic Systems

What Is the Economy Really For?

Most of the time, we’re told the answer is growth. Growth is how we measure progress and decide if society is on the right track. But if growth is supposed to make life better, why are so many people exhausted, isolated, and struggling? Why is the planet under such pressure?

Maybe it’s time to rethink that story.

The Cracks in the Old Story

GDP keeps rising, yet so do inequality, ecosystem collapse, and burnout. We measure success by the size of the economy, but that number doesn’t tell us if people are thriving, if communities are healthy, or if the natural systems we depend on are intact.

Much of what sustains us—caregiving, healthy soils, pollination, clean water—never shows up on balance sheets. 

And the financial system itself pushes us toward infinite growth. Money is loaned into existence with interest, which means the system needs more growth to keep running. On a finite planet, “more” can only come from somewhere: more extraction, more exploitation, more pressure on ecosystems and people. That cycle can’t run forever.

The question is: what happens when we hit those limits?

Living Within Limits

Limits aren’t always a loss. In design, art, and nature, limits create proportion, balance, and beauty. György Doczi explored this in The Power of Limits, showing how natural patterns are shaped by boundaries.

Permaculture’s third ethic—Fair Share, or limits to consumption—echoes the same truth: thriving comes not from endless accumulation, but from balance.

What if we treated limits in our economy not as restrictions, but as guides toward resilience and wellbeing?

Natural Capital

Economist Herman Daly and others introduced the idea of natural capital, which is the world’s stocks of soil, water, forests, minerals, and ecosystems that make life possible. In Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and Hunter Lovins, the authors argue that valuing ecosystems as a form of capital shifts how we treat them: from endless resources to a foundation for life.

This mindset naturally creates boundaries for the use of natural resources and clearer incentives to participate in regeneration.

What Changes When We Measure Wellbeing?

If we shifted our definition of progress, we might start to imagine something different. Success could be measured in health, strong communities, thriving ecosystems, and time for what matters most.

Schools, healthcare, housing, and green spaces could be seen as true signs of prosperity. Work could be valued not just for production, but for how it contributes to health, dignity, and connection.

Wellbeing Economies in Action

Some countries are already experimenting with this shift. New Zealand, Scotland, Finland, Iceland, and Wales are part of the Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership, working to measure success by health, equality, and environmental outcomes instead of just GDP.

Regional, Regenerative Business Models

These kinds of shifts are also showing up in business models that work within capitalism, and point toward resilience and shared prosperity:

• Co-ops: Worker-owned businesses where profits and decisions are shared. For example grocery co-ops and credit unions.
• Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs): Members invest in a farm and share in the harvest.
• Farm-to-table businesses: Restaurants and markets sourcing directly from local growers. Or, combination farm and restaurant businesses, such as Peaceful Belly Farm in Caldwell, ID.
• Employee-owned companies: Businesses where employees hold equity and vote on direction with Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). For example:
  • WinCo Foods (based in Idaho)
  • Davey Tree Expert Company (ecological and arboriculture services)
  • Recology (waste and recycling services)
• Repair cafés, tool libraries, and sharing networks:
  These aren’t big enterprises, but they fill important gaps, reduce waste, and strengthen communities.

Each of these models reflects a different priority: not maximum extraction, but local resilience, worker agency, ecological regeneration, and community benefit. They remind us that economies are designed—and can be redesigned.

Small Steps Toward a Wellbeing Economy

Hints of a different economy are already visible. They aren’t sweeping revolutions, yet, but they show how change grows from the ground up.

Here are some thoughts on ways we can start approaching a wellbeing economy. Keep in mind, this isn’t an all-or-nothing approach, but ideas for baby steps to move forward.

1. Question and Learn

One form of growth that isn’t inherently exploitative is personal growth. Keeping our minds open to new ideas and ways of living, questioning old assumptions, and always striving to do better is what will ultimately bring in positive societal change.

Recently, I discovered the podcast Next Economy Now, which discusses ideas like this in depth. I highly recommend listening if you’re looking for something meaningful, optimistic, and hopeful in this time of uncertainty and fear. 

One idea that Next Economy Now brought to my attention is the importance of building trust and generosity in our communities.

2. Build Trust and Generosity

Gift and trade economies depend on trust in a way currency-based systems don’t. The next economy likely won’t abandon currency completely. However, a foundation of trust and generosity in our communities is necessary to take the next steps forward to a wellbeing economy.

I know that neither trust nor generosity is easy—or always wise—to develop in the current social era. We live in a very individualistic, fend-for-yourself environment. Scams are prevalent, resources are scarce, and many of us struggle to pay our bills. So this isn’t about blind trust or altruism. It’s about starting small: offering help in your close circles, standing face-to-face, walking in your neighborhood, sharing slowly.

Over time, trustworthy networks can form, not overnight, but by repeated small acts of kindness and generosity.

3. Meet Some Needs Without Money

Ask yourself: What are my current needs, and how might I meet some of them without monetary transactions? Think small or big.

Maybe you check your local Buy Nothing group when your coffee pot breaks.

Maybe you trade skills—haircuts, childcare, landscaping, or repairs—instead of paying cash.

Maybe you grow some of your own food and save seeds for the future.

Maybe you rethink your consumption habits.

Maybe you even imagine exchanging your work or skills for part of your rent. Even as a thought experiment, it helps us think creatively about what we really need, and how to meet those needs outside the cash economy.

4. Choose the Businesses You Support with Care

One power we already have is deciding where our money goes. Supporting businesses that prioritize wellbeing over extraction is a step available to us now.

That could mean shopping at a local co-op instead of a chain, banking with a credit union, or supporting a B Corp like Patagonia or Dr. Bronner’s, companies certified for higher environmental and social standards.

Using apps such as Goods Unite Us while shopping can help you make informed decisions on the go.

None of these steps alone will overturn the system, but they build momentum for change.

5. Forget Idealism

It’s easy to get stuck wishing for the “perfect” business or policy. But perfection isn’t the point. No solution will be flawless, and every business makes tradeoffs. That doesn’t mean they’re not worth supporting.

What matters is moving in the right direction—toward less harm and more good. Better, not perfect, is the goal.

6. Understand the Cost of Doing Better

Businesses that treat workers fairly and avoid exploitation often (but not always) carry higher costs. That means their products cost more. In times of hardship, that’s a tough choice.

But every dollar we spend is a vote for the kind of world we want. Even shifting part of our budget toward regenerative or worker-owned businesses helps. It doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing.

Why This Matters Now

We face real challenges: climate instability, social division, and economic precarity. Growth at all costs may have brought us here, but it can’t take us where we need to go.

Times of disruption can also be times of imagination. If the old story is cracking, it creates space for a new one to take root.

Closing Invitation

What’s one way you might experiment with this in your own life? Could you try meeting a need without money, support a local co-op, or notice the natural capital around you that quietly sustains everything?

Reflection Questions

• What are my current needs, and how might I meet them without money?
• What co-ops, CSAs, or employee-owned businesses exist in my area?
• What skills could I share that would strengthen my local network?
• How might I reduce my dependence on fragile supply chains?

The wellbeing economy isn’t a distant dream. It’s already here in glimpses. The question is whether we’ll nurture those seeds into something larger.