CHRIS OESTEREICH is a writer, lecturer, and circular economy leader. He is the publisher of the Wicked Problems Collaborative, and a lecturer at Thammasat University’s School of Global Studies, where he teaches sustainability and social innovation. He’s also a co-founder of the Systemic Design Studio and the Circular Design Lab, efforts that work to bring systemic design to communities. Chris formerly led zero waste programmes in the US grocery industry and he now helps organisations shift towards the circular economy via his firm, Linear to Circular. His new project is Morph, a social enterprise that upcycles waste into useful, everyday goods.
What’s to Gain from AI?
I have lived through an interesting technological era. When I was young, many families still used black and white televisions, phones were attached to walls, and the internet hadn’t been created. Much has changed in…
Rethinking Retirement: Navigating Ageing Societies Amidst Accelerating Change
We live in an era defined by transformation. The pandemic heaped challenges on ageing societies that were already dealing with climate change, accelerating technological evolution, widening inequality, rampant overuse of resources and more. The ideas…
The Pandemic, Work and Universal Basic Income
This article is adapted from Chris’ book ’Pandemic Capitalism: From Broken Systems to Basic Incomes’ published in 2020. With no other option, people suffering from hunger and those at risk of the same are forced…
Observing Disintegration
I have vivid memories of my last day at the office. It was March 2020, and I was in a briefing at the UN’s regional headquarters in Bangkok, learning about the escalating pandemic. We were…
The Circular Economy Is Not Optional
Lately, there has been a growing segment of dire climate change-related headlines in the news. Stories like “Fire, Floods, and Power Outages: Our Climate Future Has Arrived” and “The Planet is Burning” seem to come…
Will Robots do Our Work?
“ The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.” – John Maynard Keynes Few things are universally revered. Family, friendship, music, sharing meals, and a strong work…
