#32. February 4, 2020. Stef Kuypers joins me from Antwerp, Belgium exploring the fascinating world of money and his proposed new sustainable money system. Could changing our global money system save our planet and our lives?
Stef if one of the founders of Happonomy.org.
His TEDx talk in Antwerp posted on the nature of money and his proposed sustainable money system is a must-see for anyone interested in how we might re-invent one of the most important human systems; money itself.
https://www.ted.com/talks/stef_kuypers_money_behaviour_and_society_the_invisible_link?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare
Stef asks some profound questions:
When we talk about the economy, what do we actually mean by that? Why does the economy need to grow? What happens if we keep growing the economy? Where does money come from? How does it work? How does it influence us? Can it be changed? Why does everyone need a full time job? What kind of jobs are we talking about? What is the impact of those jobs on personal well being? What is the impact of those jobs on society?
His current work focuses on the influence of monetary systems on individual behaviour and society at large. He conducts research on the topic and facilitates workshops where people can experience what a change in monetary system does to them and the group.
In depth theoretical explanations are useful but we are emotional beings and as we have all experienced, just hearing the facts is not always convincing. Our mind comes up with a list of 'yes, but ...' statements as soon as we hear something that feels far fetched, not in line with how things are or, even stronger, goes against our beliefs.
Stef offers an experience that goes along with the theory. That way our head gets connected with our emotional self, resulting in deeper conversations and better insights.
Stef’s history lies in IT, creative thinking, improvisation and business interventions. His concern for climate change led him in the direction of monetary systems after discovering that the biggest hurdle to solving our climate change problem is our current day dominant financial system and more importantly the behaviour it creates.
He went on to self-study economics, complexity theory, human behaviour and sociology by diving into online research and engaging with progressive thinkers.
Together with the people at Happonomy he created a system which can lead to more sustainable economic and social behaviour, scalable up to a global level.
He called it the Sustainable Money System or SuMSy.
