One of Escher’s themes was the idea that you can set out in a new direction only to find yourself back where you started, because you have failed to break out of some larger encircling loop.

He expressed visually the notion that systems thinkers label a ‘fix that fails’ and that psychologists term a ‘double bind’ – essentially actions that may not only not fix a problem, but inadvertently reinforce it.

The major problem with Voluntary, Market-Led sustainability is that it is failing to ‘break out’ from the underlying dynamic that is ‘externality-denying capitalism’. Because voluntary ESG-type efforts seem able to make only a small dent in this, the vast majority of investment and consumption actions continue to act as daily micro-reinforcements of the underlying externality-denying model…

The problem is multi-layered: ‘externality-denying capitalism’ has been rationalized by ‘externality-downplaying economics’, which has served to amplify deeper ‘Other-dismissing’ and ‘Nature-disregarding’ attitudes of the dominant Western/modern mindset.

Hence, ‘deep’ changes are needed – at the policy and cultural levels beneath, but prior to, the market system.