Doughnut Unrolled: Introducing the four lenses

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Description

The goal of the Doughnut is to meet the needs of all people within the means of the living planet, but what does this mean for the neighbourhoods, cities, districts or nations where we live?

To help you explore this question the Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) have created Doughnut Unrolled, a concept that takes us from the Doughnut to four ‘lenses’ that invite you to look at the interplay between local aspirations and global responsibilities in your place – both socially and ecologically – and identify possible entry-points for transformative action.

This tool – Introducing the four lenses – introduces the concept of unrolling the Doughnut to reveal the four lenses on life, and the ways in which they can be used to help your place bring humanity into the Doughnut. This can be a starting point to exploring how your school can meet the social foundations of the school community while also operating within the ecological ceiling that nature provides.

Introducing the four lenses is one of five Doughnut Unrolled tools that work together to apply the ideas of Doughnut Economics to your place/school:

• Introducing the four lenses (this tool)
• Community Portrait of Place
• Data Portrait of Place
• Exploring a topic
• Dimensions of the four lenses

Together they help you create a ‘Doughnut Portrait’ of your place/school – a holistic picture with diverse inputs and perspectives – that can act as a starting point for transformative action.

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How to use this resource

The Introduction to the Four Lenses of the Doughnut Unrolled is a starting point for leadership to reflect on current organisational practices through a lens of sustainability. Under each segment of the Doughnut, the organisation current practices can be reviewed under multiple lenses to reveal opportunities for transformative change. This resource links the local, global, ecological and sociological relevance of each Doughnut segment for a multi-perspective and multi-layered reflection and decision-making tool.

The resource is the starting point for a series of tools and lenses through which to explore the sustainability of the organisation/school. The Doughnut Economics segments map to the SDGs, with a detailed breakdown of each segment into component dimensions for consideration. Through the use of the subsequent Doughnut Unrolled tools, a ‘Doughnut Portrait’ is developed of your place, acting as a holistic picture with diverse inputs and perspectives that can act as a starting point for transformative action.

The resource facilitates school leaders to examine and map the school campus infrastructure, supply chains and providers to examine the ecological impact and sustainability. This Doughnut Portrait can be used to stimulate innovative approaches to reducing the local and global impact their school has on the environment. This has the potential to inform local and regional policies.

The Doughnut Unrolled series of resources are tools that require collaboration and synthesise of school stakeholder knowledge to create and deliver school environments that support the development of Sustainability Citizenship in their communities. By modelling the values and concepts of Doughnut Economics, a school will act as a model of good practice for others.

Later stages of the Doughnut Unrolled series of resources, such as Data Portrait of Place, provide the framework for collecting locally relevant, data-led targets and indicators to create a holistic snapshot or a ‘portrait’ of your place’s performance across each of the four lenses. An emphasis is put on collecting and comparing data on desired outcomes versus current performance of your place using available data, offering a ‘portrait’ to discuss complex issues, which can keep evolving as more data is made available over time.  This developing portrait can be used to assess the Sustainability Citizenship development in their school and community. 

Through the Doughnut Economics Action Lab, a community of educators, community leaders and other invested parties is supported in adopting and developing tools to implement Doughnut Economics at national, regional, community, school and household level. The website facilitates local communities of interested parties, sharing of resources and experiences, as well as webinar events.

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The resources

Introducing the four lenses (PDF):

Other Resources:

More information and additional resources are also available on the DEAL website using the link below:

• Doughnut Unrolled: Introducing the four lenses
• Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL)

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Learning Outcomes (Leadership)

• Apply a range of suitable tools and frameworks to promote Sustainability Citizenship within their schools and communities.
• Examine their own national/regional curricula, educational policies, programmes and external stakeholders to identify opportunities to promote Sustainability Citizenship in their schools and communities.
• Collaboratively synthesise knowledge, tools and frameworks to create a vision for delivering a school environment that supports the development of Sustainability Citizenship in their community.
• Develop and apply assessment criteria to evaluate Sustainability Citizenship development in their school and community.

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Green Competencies

• Embodying Sustainable Values: Valuing Sustainability; Supporting Fairness; Promoting Nature
• Embracing Complexity in Sustainability: Systems Thinking; Problem Framing
• Envisioning Sustainable Futures: Adaptability; Exploratory Thinking
• Acting for Sustainability: Collective Action; Individual Initiative

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Creative Commons

This resource has been derived from Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) and  doughnuteconomics.org under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.

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SDGs