ECOSYSTEM INITIATIVE DPRS Distribution - Productivity - Resilience - Sustainability
The Jacksonville Black Chamber of Commerce (JBCC) will play a vital role in the ecosystem
by becoming the resource hub focused on leveraging our connections with businesses,
finance, and neighborhoods to build bridges between communities and funders.
ECONOMIC CHALLENGES
Most economic systems today are based on a very limited definition of what it means to be human. Because our economies encourage consumption and novelty-seeking behavior, we have created societies that value profit, material wealth and economic expansion above all else.
And then we have the climate crisis and the destruction of the living world. Our studies are clear: the linear based model of economic growth that relies on unsustainable levels of consumption and production is destroying the ecological building blocks on which our well-being depends.
The devastating irony is that despite these horrific side-effects, economies have to keep expanding to prevent the system from collapsing. In doing so, we end up consuming more resources and causing even greater ecological harm. This is the dilemma of growth.
ECONOMIC SOLUTIONS
There is a significant need to restructure our economies so that they are circular and regenerative instead of linear and extractive. By presenting policymakers, corporations and society with ways to get out in front of the problem, we can harness the full power of human ability and transformation.
Second, we need to redefine what we mean by wealth. In the economies of tomorrow wealth must become synonymous with human well-being. Do our lives have more or less meaning? Do people have access to things they care most about: family, friends, health, the natural environment, meaningful work? And are these being achieved within planetary boundaries?
We all must put nature at the heart of economics. This means recognizing that the living world is “our most precious asset”, a concept that lies at the center of what we mean by “natural capital” and “inclusive wealth”.
With a new strategic plan focused on leveraging our connections in business, finance, and neighborhoods we will build bridges between communities and funders.
Our focus areas underpin economic mobility. They are the economic drivers of health, household financial well-being, and climate-related risks.