The world is facing a crisis of care. The number of people requiring care is growing, and the failure to provide essential sustaining care to our ecosystem as much as our body politic now poses an existential threat. Yet, care remains orphaned by the logics of commodification and markets, the only tools we currently use to ascribe value. 

As societies, organizations and businesses, we act on what we measure, and, for the most part, we don’t measure care. Most human care work is performed by women – overwhelmingly women of color – in either unpaid or severely underpaid positions. The essential benefits of this care work to society, meanwhile, are not counted at all. Likewise, other essential components of care – the vital contributions of nature, the commons and public institutions – are, for the most part, not counted. Addressing this crisis demands a fundamental transformation in how we ascribe value to care, as well as new tools and methods to measure that value. 

This project sought to address the crisis of care in part by connecting with the Care Economy of Durham – an integrated economic and societal system that promotes the flourishing of humans, culture and the environment – to better understand its successes and challenges. The team also investigated and raised awareness about care-inclusive ways of viewing national economies, such as Doughnut Economics and the Happy Planet Index.

The Durham Care Economy

Poster by Meyra Coban, Kendall Dees, Grace Endrud, Emily Gustafsson, Tahlia Harrison, Sebin Jeon, Yana Kachenyuk, Zoe Macomber, Natalie Meltzer, Jocelyn Olcott, Dirk Philipsen, Samantha N. Smith and Ellen Zhang

This subteam enhanced its understanding of the role care plays in our economy and society. They found that increasing visibility and acknowledgment of interdependence can improve community members’ access to resources.

Duke Climate Simulation Game

Poster by Sarah Brotman, Allie Brown, Charlotte Brown, Professor Miller, Talissa Nam, Kyle Newman, Jocelyn Olcott, Dirk Philipsen, Tanvi Poondota, Cody Schmidt and Adam Skinner

This subteam created a climate issues game to raise awareness of metrics for evaluating national success other than GDP, such as Doughnut Economics and the Happy Planet Index. The simulation illustrates the tension that exists between social and environmental wellbeing under current paradigms.