Hej!

This month I am closing some chapters. Physically I’ll move away from Belgium, my country of birth and home for the past ten years. I am also moving away from the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) movement, an attractor for my professional activities over the past 15 years.

The attraction to the C2C movement started in 2008 with a curiosity to use a creative and positive mindset in facing environmental challenges. I attended a course at Schumacher College and did a follow-up internship at EPEA. My involvement with the C2C movement grew slowly and intensified to a nearly full-time senior consulting role in the last few years. During this time, I was mainly paid for applying technical skills, which have grown into strengths. The experiences taught me to value safety, objectivity, rigour and discernment as critical ingredients for organisations and societies facing contemporary challenges.

I want to thank and praise Sustenuto and Sustenuto – C2C Certified® Services, our partners, and the clients I worked with. We’ve faced a cocktail of challenges that required patience and persistence. Challenges included; implementing the new V4 standard, responding to exponential market demand, expanding the team, and implementing policy changes. I am confident the team is close to harvesting some of the hard work. 

I would also like to thank the other ‘homes’ in Belgium. Professionally shiftN expanded my mental and emotional toolkit, and Netwerkeconomie provided me with a space to experiment with coaching. The house I lived and worked in via wooncoop taught me, on a micro-scale, a lot about the messiness and freedom of a democratic process.

So where and why am I moving away?

First of all, Love. To build a life together with my partner Matilda, in Sweden. The first stop is Linköping, but this might change soon. I am also moving to unknown professional terrain because it’s time for a change, preferably to a context where my learned technical skills can be more balanced with natural skills of empathy and care.

Looking back, I see a circular economy, with the C2C certification as an essential mechanism, still searching for traction. While the old linear economy continues to grow, boosted by an attention economy. So this part of sustainable development requires more sensible approaches. Looking forward, my commitment remains to contribute to building a world where all beings (current and future generations) can live in peace.

What might attract me to the next phases of my professional life?

I learned that the wicked problems we face, and the attempts to solve them, are entangled by human emotions. Our bodies might go into blind reactions. Our minds might choose to stay ignorant or make up compelling stories. But working on a larger scale than your tribe needs detachment from emotions. And the scientific method supports this work because it highlights generalised truths and can lead to more trust and fairness. The paradox between subjectivity and objectivity intrigues me for making sustainability approaches more viable. I am also attracted to integrating a spiritual aspect into my work. With this, I mean nothing more than having the capacity to be equanimous with change. Because the earth, and human inventions, will force change upon humanity.

With this in mind, I see a potential win-win in the following domains:

• Philosophy: I can help explore models beyond circularity. Because webs, loops, or spirals might be more appropriate for distinct challenges.
• Fundamental research: I can help in bringing the sustainability context to humanities and, by doing so, contribute to the knowledge of our deeper motivations.
• Policy work: I understand the importance of policies and regulations and am good at linking their abstractions with practical implications.
• Applied research or consulting: I am good at linking R&D, policy, media and business and formulating advice on future scenarios.
• Education: I want to help upcoming generations to obtain capacities to survive and thrive by updating, developing and implementing pedagogies.
• Coaching: I want to help individuals and organisations utilise the workspace as a transformative collaborative space.
• Branding: I want to help storytellers build sincere stories that inspire and lead to a better future.

So, what will be arising next? Could you help me by bringing me closer to a person, network or organisation in Sweden that will resonate with this?

tack så mycket,

Merel