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Selected Presentations by David Korten
Find more presentations at People-Centered Development Forum
A New Economy Policy Agenda
Presentation to BALLE National Conference May 23, 2009 in Denver on the Plenary Panel on Public Policy. Outlines policies to shift the balance from favoring Wall Street to favoring Main Street.
The Living Economy Challenge
Presentation to BALLE National Conference May 22, 2009 in Denver to the BALLE 101 breakout session. Presents the big picture framing of the BALLE mission as part of the conference orientation for new members.
The World We Want - CCMA
Presentation to the Consumer Cooperatives Management Association, Portland, OR, June 13, 2008. Explores the essential role of the cooperatives movement in creating a new economy for the world we want and the world we must bring forth if there is to be a human future. Equitable, democratic participation in ownership is key and the cooperatives movement is a primary repository of essential experience and expertise.
"Macy_Korten_Dialogue" Finding Our Power in the Great Turning: A Public Conversation between Joanna Macy and David Korten
A public conversation between Joanna Macy and David Korten on the Great Turning at the Seattle Unity Church before 450 people on May 25. The event was organized by For the Grandchildren and moderated by Victor Bremson. Eco-philosopher Joanna Macy, Ph.D., is a scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology. A respected voice in movements for peace, justice, and ecology, she interweaves her scholarship with four decades of activism. Joanna framed and popularized the term the Great Turning. She is a popular speaker and workshop leader as well as the author of numerous books, includingWorld as Liver, World as Self; Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World; and In Praise of Mortality. Available in audio only. Click on the button below or go to Ourmedia.org.
Presentation to the
End of Empire and the Rise of Earth Community
Sermon delivered by David Korten to the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fllowship, Port Townsend, WA, January 27, 2008. This is a short version of the basic great turning story with a focus on three contrasting meaning stories that frame very different understandings of our human nature and place in creation. PDF version.
Imperial Politics, Christianity, and the True Jesus: Reflections on the 2004 Election
Remarks by David Korten in Dialogue with Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Rauschenbusch Center Annual Dinner, November 12, 2004, University Congregational Church, Seattle. With Follow-on Remarks at University Baptist Church Brunch. Examines the challenge facing mainstream Christians in the light of role of the Christian Right in electing an administration dedicated to policies in sharp conflict with moral teachings of Jesus, who opposed Empire and called his followers to create a world of peace and justice.
Renewing the American Experiment: A Post-Election Reflection
Keynote presentation to the 2004 San Francisco Green Festival, November 7, 2004. The results of the 2004 U.S. elections give new clarity to the work of renewing the American Experiment. Lists essential elements of the Economic and Political Democracy agenda before us. Examines how the far right won the election by defining Kerry as a "wishy-washy liberal" and calls on progressives to speak clearly in the language of values and discuss the spiritual foundations of their activism.
BALLE and the Renewal of the American Experiment
Closing keynote, 2nd Annual Conference of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), May 23, 2004, Philadelphia. In 1776 America's founders met in Philadelphia to articulate a vision of the possibility of self-rule by all people and initiated a great social experiment dedicated to its realization. As a nation we have made substantial progress toward realizing that vision through a long and difficult struggle by the people to whom it held out a great promise. As the policies of the current administration remind us, however, much work remains. We meet in this same city of Philadelphia to renew the vision and carry forward the work of economic transformation essential to its realization. The presentation explores what this means for BALLE.
Renewing the American Experiment
Keynote address, Seattle Thunder, Seattle, WA, Saturday, January 24th, 2004. It is time to renew the unfinished American Experiment the create a democratic society grounded in principles of liberty, justice, and opportunity for all. The real political divide in America is not between conservatives and liberals, but rather between principled conservatives and principles liberals committed to the Experiment on one side and power seeking extremists from both ends of the political spectrum who seek to roll back the gains of the American Experiment at the other. Right wing extremists control the political discourse and agenda because they control the stories that answer our questions about prosperity, security, and meaning. To gain a foothold in the discourse, progressives must come up with more holistic and compelling stories.
End of Empire and the Step to Earth Community
Keynote presentation by David C. Korten to the Twenty-Fifth Prairie Festival, The Land Institute, Salina, Kansas, September 26-28, 2003. The transformation of an increasingly destructive corporate industrial agriculture is an essential foundation of the human step from a 5,000 year Era of Empire to a new Era of Earth Community.
Global Economics, Environmental Integrity, and Justice: Reflections of an "Economic Missionary
Keynote presentation by David C. Korten to National Council of Churches Conference "Enough for All: Sustainable Living in a Global World, Seattle University, June 20-23, 2003.
A Good Time to Speak for Change
Presentation to the National Conference of Responsible Wealth, Seattle, March 8, 2003. The extremist agenda of the present U.S. administration is driving a national and global political awakening and creating an unprecedented opportunity for deep change.
Seattle Peace Vigil
March 21, 2003. "Now that War has Started: What Role for the Peace Movement?" Following the initiation of the second Iraq war, citizens gathered in peace vigils across America and the world. This is a statement presented to the vigil held in Seattle at the Federal Building on the second full day of the war.
SVN Living Economies
Presentation to the Social Ventures Network Annual Fall Conference, El Capitan Canyon, Santa Barbara, CA, October 10-13,2002. Outlines how the SVN living economies initiative takes business responsibility to a new level and places it in an evolutionary perspective of the critical choices now facing the human species between American empire and Earth democracy. One of the SVN presentations that shaped the formation of the Business Alliance for Local Livng Economies.
The New American Agriculture
Luncheon presentation to the Annual Conference of the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC), Seattle, October 7, 2002. Contrasts dead agriculture and food with living agriculture and food. Discusses the centrality of the work of the CFSC to citizen efforts to create living economies and Earth democracy as alternatives to the global suicide economy and American empire.
From Empire to Earth Community
Keynote presentation to the Earth Charter Community Summit 2002,Seattle, September 28, 2002. Places the Earth Charter in the context of an epic struggle between the forces of empire and the forces of Earth community. Empire has reached the limits of the social and environmental tolerance of a finite planet. The Earth Charter sets forth a vision of Earth community the global civil society is living into being (link here for a web cast of this and other 2002 Earth Charter Community Summit presentations).
Revitalizing Democracy — Transforming Society
Keynote presentation, Revitalizing Democracy Conference, Duluth, July 28-30, 2002. Democracy in America has always been an unfinished project. The current right-wing assault on democracy in America places the entire project at risk. It also, however, creates a moment of opportunity to advance national awareness of the historic gap between American ideal and American reality and engage the work of reclaiming the initiative and advancing the project as an act of true patriotism.
Beyond the Global Suicide Economy
Keynote address to Global 6 Billion People's Summit, University of Calgary, June 22, 2002. Names three issues citizens groups will be addressing in Calgary that the G8 will not address: the threat of official terrorism, why growth is an agenda of the rich, and the need of African's for greater control of their own economies. Presents a strategy for replacing the global suicide economy with a planetary system of local living economies.