Breaking Free of a Toxic Socio-economic Model
It does not take much awareness to realise that we have extracted far more than Earth can afford to lose. The warm spirit of Christmas-time is a delight, but it comes wrapped in coercive consumerism. This is a huge ecological cost that we cannot afford. Despite this reality, we continue to ‘buy-in’ to the ecological disaster of exponential growth economics.
I recently attended a talk by Sarah Mills FRSA. Sarah was explaining about toxic cultures within an organisation. All these toxic culture traits play a role in perpetuating exponential growth economics in the WEIRD countries (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic).
As well as these biases, we have two huge ‘Elephants in the Room’, these are: overconsumption and overpopulation. The combination of deeply entrenched biases and persistent denial of the reality of ecological overshoot is highly toxic. It leaves us all incapable of taking any effective action to soften the collapse from climate breakdown and ecosystems collapse. This is what I call the ‘Metacrisis Mindset’. This entrenched mindset paralyses us; and it silences discourse around challenging topics. This mindset dominates at every level in the wealth and power hierarchy; to date, it has served to prevent any wise socio-economic strategy from emerging in the any of the WIERD countries.
The publishing house Poems For Parliament suggests a strategy that could break through the Metacrisis Mindset. These radical ideas are presented in a GoogleDoc. Readers can make comments; the intention is to seed ideas about what might be possible. Hopefully, readers will be able to germinate something from this seed: Global Leadership from the UK.
Evidence of how the Metacrisis mindset constrains the thinking of our finest intellectual institutions is offered below.
Oxford University — Public Lectures
For several years, I have been attending public lectures at the University of Oxford. Sadly, the Metacrisis Mindset is always evident at these public lectures. This mindset represents acute denial of the growing existential dangers, and the persistent delusion that we do not need to profoundly change our socio-economic model in order to address them.
Oxford Martin School (OMS) was founded to unite disciplines to seek solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges. The founder of the OMS bequeathed this guiding motto: ‘We can make any kind of world we want’. This is not the wisest slogan for a civilisation that has caused chronic ecological overshoot for over fifty years. OMS would be wise to modify James Martin’s inspiring words thus:
‘We can make any kind of world we want, but only if we can collaborate and share fairly and peacefully working within the biophysical constraints of Earth’
The image at the start of this article shows one of the slides from a talk delivered by Alan Haywood at the OMS on 5 November 2025. The talk provides a classic example of how the Metacrisis Mindset enables us to blithely switch from hopes of staying within of 1.5 degrees of warming, to casually accept the disastrous trajectory of 2.8 degrees degrees of warming.
‘Adapting’ to Extinction
The matrix in the image at the top of this article indicates shows the best scenario in the bottom left quadrant. Net-zero best efforts would result in an alarming 2.6 degrees of warming above pre-industrial levels. The worst case scenario is shown top-right as ‘adaption’. This is a disingenuous term to employ, since it covers the possibility of a hot-house Earth which might include the extinction of all human life from Earth. The ‘best case scenario’ offered by Haywood assumes we persist with ecocidal growth economics.
At 1:07:30 I suggested to the panel that we have misdiagnosed the problem. I pointed out the lack of recognition that our ecocidal model of growth economics is clearly unsustainable. My observations got no response from the presenter; although he did come and chat with me afterwards. A member of the audience also thanked me for challenging business-as-usual. The talk and the Q&A that followed demonstrates our reluctance to step outside the box of growth economics. Most people are accepting 2.6 degrees of warming without any challenge to our socio-economic model.
Andrew Hurrell — a ray of hope?
On the 10th of November 2025 the OMS talk included Professor Andrew Hurrell. At 23 minutes in, Prof Hurrell suggested that we need a global ‘we’ that can unite to find a way to create a new global order. Hurrell expresses the belief that Trump’s ambitions to ‘Make America Great Again’ are doomed to fail. Refreshingly, to my ears, at 31 minutes he points out the ‘ignorance and arrogance’, of the West; he points out the injustices and instabilities that reveal the methods employed by the West to assert order are not really worthy of our respect.
Hurrell points out that the academic study of ‘International Relations’ was a product of the colossal failure of the West in the early 20th century, not a result of its successes. At 36 minutes he points out that the diplomacy of power managing power in a way that meets diverse interests is a phenomenon that preceded the neoliberal West. Hurrell recognises that three systems are now under strain: geopolitics, Capitalism, and planetary ecosystems.
At 55 minutes, I suggested to the panel that there is no world order at the moment. I suggested that we are clinging to a delusion of order, and that only very few individuals like Kate Raworth and those in the Degrowth movement are being realistic about a viable route forwards. At 1:18 Prof Hurrell responds to my comment when he acknowledges the need to learn to live in the deeply disorderly world resulting from the renewed danger of a nuclear winter and the failure to tackle climate change.
The fact that none of the other panellists responded to my concerns, reflects the inability to acknowledge the dangers that we currently face.
William Hague a Possible Global Leader?
A recent talk by Lord Hague, who is the chancellor of Oxford University, is a classic example of the level of delusion that we exhibit. Lord Hague is an inspiring orator, with an endearing quality of humility that makes him a potential leader for a cross-party emergency government. Lord Hague admits that he needs to gain more understanding about science. His speech is firmly anchored in the delusional, false optimism that I call the ‘Metacrisis Mindset’.
Lord Hague splits our post-World War history into three phases: the cold war era he describes as stable but dangerous, then up to the 2008 financial crash he describes as stable and exciting, finally, from 2008 until the present day, he describes as unstable, dangerous, and exciting. The speech assumes that technology and economic growth will be linchpins in our strategy to deal with dangers like 2.8 degrees of global warming. Near the end of the Q&A there is one question pointing out the rise in wealth inequality in recent decades and challenging the wisdom of that phenomenon. Hague’s response heaps admiration and reliance on the techno-oligarchs like Elon Musk who are steering our Earthship Titanic.
This is evidence that our elite academics are failing to think outside the box created by the wealth hierarchy and growth economics. Before any genuine mitigation from the existential polycrisis can be achieved, we shall need to break through this metacrisis of perception. We are currently living in a delusional bubble which is overdue to burst.
The Sustainable Development Goals were worthy aspirations; but they were conceived within the metacrisis mindset of growth economics. They will need to be reframed as Sustainable Degrowth Goals. Some inspiring quotes might guide us into a new way of thinking:
“It always seems impossible until it’s done”-Nelson Mandela, an exemplar of the Ubuntu philosophy and defender of human rights for all people.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”
More Symptoms of the Metacrisis Mindset
The UK parliament recently heard pleas from scientists at the UK National Emergency briefing. This was covered in the Guardian newspaper, but I could not find any reference in other mainstream media, nor the BBC. University of Oxford are offering this: Thinking of National Strategy from the Ground Up; on page 8 it declares the need to ‘Maximise opportunities for growth’; clearly the Blavatnik School of Government remain firmly in the grip of the metacrisis mindset.
Positive Developments
OnePlanet are combining with the National Strategy Project in a manner that resonates with the ideas in the Global Leadership paper.
I recently met with my MP who is an Oxford alumnus called Calum Miller. I shared with him the ideas expressed in the concept article Can the UK Lead Socio-Economic Change? If you are a UK citizen, and these ideas appeal to you, please share the links and raise a case with your MP to chat with them. We cannot achieve profound change without breaking through the metacrisis mindset.
We teach children to conquer, not to care. In today’s world output triumphs over empathy, competition over curiosity — these values shape behaviours that destabilize our world. Education must instead cultivate ethical, adaptive, and ecologically conscious minds. We are taught to admire and to emulate malignant narcissists like Trump and Musk; that is why people like these have so much power over us all right now. We must stop admiring the rich and powerful, they are just as weak and flawed as we are; we need to look for humility in our leaders and within ourselves.