Donut Munich

Donut Munich started in January 2023. We met in the Impact Hub in Munich. It was a very warm welcome there and in the sustainability community of Munich as well. A lot of positive feedback and support arises as we reached out to existing associations and initiatives. 

Our first idea was to connect dots, the people who are dealing now with sustainability in Munich, because we still see kind of silo thinking in this area. The Kick-off event took place with 25 people. After an introduction from Rob (with slides in German, very appreciated) we felt the ecological ceiling and the social foundation by using the tool “Steping into the Donut”. It is a completely different approach to talk about planetary boundaries and the SDGs or to really feel it. One participant said: “I died nine times as I walked through the planetary boundaries. That changed my mind.” It enables a new perspective on the world itself and our portion with regard of our life and actions. 

The next event was the first City Portrait of Munich. The participants choose to look at the topics of biodiversity and education. The tool City Portrait itself seemed to be a complex tool, with different layers and possibilities. The challenge was to bring it in the right form for the participants, with regard to the region of Munich. In the end the participants were enthusiastic as they formulated the visions: 

• Wild bees on every balcony (biodiversity) 
• Education follows the people, not the other way around (education)

The next steps, to bring it into reality are not done yet, because of time limitation. 

Regarding the time it is a real challenge to keep Donut Munich going. As an association we are at the start-up phase, and we try to split up our time in doing the organizational background and at the same time offering interesting workshops and events. Apart from that, recruiting new members is on our list as well. 

The benefits of Doughnut Economics we see in having an easy-to-understand tool to help people reflecting what sustainability and regeneration means for them, their organization and their environment. A lot of people are thinking of the Donut as a fancy tool to easily explain why sustainability and regeneration are so important. When we dig deeper into the ideas of doughnut economics in the deep design of organizations and societies, people say “Yes, that’s right” but have no clou how to get it info life. We as Donut Munich see an opportunity to help to do that on a regional level. For that reason, we organized a series of events “Donut meets Munich” this summer to visit places who are on their way to regeneration, to inspire people by seeing sustainability and regeneration in real life. 

We as Donut Munich offer a call on monthly basis for people how want to learn more about Donut Economics in the region of Munich. It is an interactive exchange format via Zoom for all who are interested. 

We have to stay tuned, even when there are hard times. Preseverance could be the key. Having that shared vison together in mind of a regenerative Munich and keep going, step by step. Don't be afraid to say the same things over and over again.

Furthermore, we need different layers, who engage. For example, the political level has to be aware, support the deeper systemic change and set general conditions to enable that. 

Another leverage could be to work with systemic tools, like systemic constellation work or 4D-Mapping, to illuminate a layer who is normally not visible. Or simply using systemic knowledge and principles “to bring the system through the gate” in a new paradigm.