Paul Gilding has spent over 40 years trying to change the world, doing everything he can think off. He’s served in the Australian military, chased nuclear-armed aircraft carriers in small inflatable boats, plugged up industrial waste discharge pipes, been global CEO of Greenpeace, taught at Cambridge University, owned and run two ground-breaking sustainability-focused companies and been a close confidant and advisor to the CEOs of some the world’s largest companies.
Current Work:
Despite the clear lack of progress, the unstoppable and flexible optimist is now an author and advocate, writing his widely acclaimed book The Great Disruption, which prompted Tom Freidman to write in the NYT: “Ignore Gilding at your peril”. He now travels the world alerting people - in business, community groups, government and even the military - to the global economic and ecological crisis now unfolding around us, as the world economy reaches and passes the limits to growth.
He is confident we can get through what’s coming and in fact thinks we will rise to the occasion, with change on a scale and at a speed incomprehensible today. He tells us to get prepared for The Great Disruption and “the end of shopping”, as we reinvent the global economy and our model of social progress.
Over his 40+ years as an activist and social entrepreneur he has been CEO of a range of innovative NGOs and social enterprises including Greenpeace International, Ecos Corporation and Easy Being Green. He recently co-founded Disruptive Consulting Pty Ltd and the Changing Markets Foundation.
Video
The Great Disruption: How humankind can thrive in the 21st Century
In this video Paul Gilding argues that humanity's capacity for compassion, innovation and resilience will be required to meet the economic and environmental challenges facing us.Paul Gilding: The Earth is Full | Saxton Speakers
Have we used up all our resources? Have we filled up all the livable space on Earth? Paul Gilding suggests we have, and the possibility of devastating consequences, in a talk that's equal parts terrifying and, oddly, hopeful.
