NOW (No Other Way) C.I.C.
Not known because not looked for but heard, half-heard, in the stillness
between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always--
a condition of complete simplicity
(costing not less than everything).
T.S. Eliot.
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Who are we?
We are NOW (No Other Way) CIC a Community Interest Company limited by shares under schedule three of the Companies Act 2004. Our declaration being:
"for those interested in creating a more sustainable and philanthropic lifestyle, tackling all forms of prejudice and inequality, climate change and ecological degradation by evolving and changing the way we understand ourselves, educate and carryout business, commercial and social activities."
We exist for the benefit of our community, for social purposes, and not for private gain, any surplus or assets are used principally for the benefit of the community.
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Our mission: we pledge to pursue ever-deeper awareness, experience, understanding, knowledge and enlightenment through the questioning of certainties, the cultivation of an inquiring mind and the role and contribution of humankind to the integral wellbeing of society and our home planet Earth.
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We deploy radical philanthropy (a socio-economic-ecological change prioritising wellbeing over exploitation) and disruptive innovation (upsetting established markets whilst offering greater choice) through integral development (enlarging peoples' freedoms, opportunities and wellbeing as an integral element of nature) in order to overcome humankinds negative impact on our home planet Earth, reduce inequality and improve wellbeing for all life merging business, community, economics, ecology and ethics creating an ecovisionary (eco: forging positive, thriving relationships between living things and their environments) society.
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We do this by providing research and development through the NOW movement (think tank), continuous personal and organisational development and community interaction via the NOW portal (online platform) and operating commercial activities via NOW enterprises.
Why are we doing this?
Our home planet Earth is under existential threat from the human induced metacrisis, an interconnection of crises: economically, ecologically, politically, spiritually and ethically, and, unintended consequences e.g. global warming, species extinction (including humans) inequality, pollution, falling levels of mental, physical and spiritual health and both hot and cold war etc. caused by the greed of humankind as it colonises and exploits our homes scarce resources, J. Rowson describes it as an "exhaustion of modernity". Humankind has never before experienced global risk on such a scale and it is happening within our lifetime - we are solely responsible for its causes, we are all complicit, and solely responsible for the solutions. The top global risks identified by the World Economic Forum are all related to the changing climate and earth systems, with extreme weather events; critical change to Earth Systems; biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse; and natural resource shortages the top four global risks identified in that order.
Some of the key statistics relating to the foregoing are:
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The human population in 1975 was 4bn, 48 years later in 2023 it had doubled to 8bn.
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50% of fossil fuel emissions caused by humans have been emitted since 2000 - in just 23 years and during this time global GDP per capita grew by 130%.
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Emissions from fossil fuels are still growing, up over 23% since 2000 and 7% since 2020 despite efforts to transition to renewable energy.
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19 of the warmest 20 years have all occurred since 2001.
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Less than 20% of waste is recycled annually, with the remaining 80% becoming part of landfill sites.
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It is estimated that $600 trillion of damage will be caused by climate change if we stay on our current trajectory that is more than the total current wealth of the world.
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We are told by our governments that global GDP needs to grow by 2-3% per annum in order that the less well off, along with under developed countries, might 'catch up' with the developed countries. However what transpires is that the wealthiest gain vastly greater from such growth. Since 2000 figures published by visualcapitalist.com show those with a net worth in excess of $1m (roughly 57m adults) have seen their net assets grow 175% with those having net assets less than $100k (roughly 5.1b adults) benefiting by 35%. UK income growth (adjusted for housing costs) during the same period grew by 21% for the richest 10% and by just 5% for the poorest 10% (source; The Health Foundation), by far the greatest benefit going to the richest.
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Why are we doing this?
With our current and foreseeable levels of technological innovation and political governance the foregoing statistics will only worsen.
To act unsustainably (killing off future livelihood) must be insane and not to act philanthropically (to do bad or cause harm) is immoral. Everything is connected, we are all connected, unfettered predatory competition along with much of contemporary life, severs this connection.
Sooner, through intelligent choice, or later, forced upon us by our blind ignorance, we will have to change the way we go about our daily lives, we must reimagine what it means to be human - our feet are being put to the flames of a fire we have started.
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"We have to aspire to an economy that doesn't just take from the planet but gives back creating a world where innovation, sustainability and equity are woven into the fabric of our society." S. Lenier.
We have to act now.
NOW movement
Research and development
The NOW Movement is for those who want to take up the mantle for creating a more sustainable, philanthropic, and ecovisionary lifestyle, thereby overcoming our existential, Metacrisis challenges.
Enacting a progressive culture, we are dedicated to evolving and changing the way we understand ourselves, educate, and operate commercial and social activities; to realise our potential to live a virtuous life, and to thrive.
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Our overarching premise is based upon the principles of critical theory which, for us, seeks to understand human experience in order to change the world, it critiques and challenges the taken-for-granted assumptions upon which society is established and operated in order to become enlightened, improve coherence with ourselves and our broader ecology, not just for some but for all both human and non-human.
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We are guided in all we do by the following description of Action Research provided by Reason and Bradbury:
“To produce practical knowledge that is useful to people in the everyday conduct of their lives, to increase wellbeing – economic, political, psychological and spiritual of individuals and communities, and to a more equitable and sustainable relationship with the wider ecology of the planet of which we are an intrinsic part.”
Both critical theory and action research are cornerstones of the NOW portal.
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NOW Portal
Continuous personal and organisational development
We believe that each person is born into the world for a purpose, bearing unique gifts that unfold over one’s lifetime, therefore to “know thyself and to be thyself” is the highest achievement one can attain in this life, necessitating lifelong development.
Our online portal is for discerning, open minded, professional, critical thinkers from all walks of life who are aspiring leaders and architects of change, seeking to broaden their outlook and to enhance their capacity to thrive in the 21st century from within a vibrant learning community where they can gain insight, expand their knowledge and nurture their individual gifts, especially ecovisionary leadership. Here we explore and enact antidotes to the metacrisis.
​Here we gather and curate, reputable, freely available, resources from across the Web: videos, papers, podcasts, thought pieces etc. that are relevant to our cause, utilising a state-of-the-art community development platform and content aggregation, in support thereof. Our programmes, news and insights challenge, provoke and stimulate thinking. Our added value being to aggregate, source, sift, condense, comment and reflect on relevant content and depending on membership level, accredit an adequate level of understanding achieved, coupled with social interaction and topical discussion. Programme headings include: ecology first, being human, quantum connection, context and perspective (local and global), personal narrative/mastery, economics and business.
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NOW Enterprises
Philanthropic business
​As a distinctive life-style choice, the NOW brand reflects how we want to lead our lives and how we want to be seen in the world. Lives that are not exploited by an outmoded culture which has brought us to the edge of destruction.
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​It engages technological, ecological, ethical and economic considerations acting in unison to deliver a sustainable living for all, one where actions and identities reflect values, morals and ethics through purchasing choices and market offerings.
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NOW is about having discerning and astute customers who recognise the importance of granting or withholding their purchasing power and understand the consequences of their actions on markets and capital flows. We recognise that there needs to be a supply of suitable products, services and capital to match this new market demand and will facilitate accordingly through NOW Enterprises. We will disruptively innovate both the demand side and supply side in creating more choice and more power to consumers to deliver the societal and ecological changes demanded.
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Implicitly NOW is asking potential customers the crucial question;
“Do you want to be part of the cure, or part of the disease?”
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Initial market segments identified include: clothing, coffee shops, housing and education.
Investing in our future
We hope you have gained a useful insight from the foregoing as to what we are trying to achieve and that you will be excited to stand with us.
Our definition of investment is taken from the Oxford English Dictionary, “an act of devoting time, effort, or energy to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a worthwhile result”, it makes no reference to a financial investment. Indeed, an equity investment of a purely financial nature is not possible.
Therefore an investment in NOW (No Other Way) CIC is a philanthropic investment, a commitment for the long term. We are only seeking those who are committed to our cause - they become, in every sense of the word “invested”, members of our community. However if you are supportive of our ethos and want to help us achieve our objectives, have signed up to our constitution and our declaration (see page 2) and then express an interest to make an equity investment you can (subject to our terms and conditions, contract and, if resident in the UK, sign the appropriate exemption under Financial Conduct Authority regulations) apply. We have advance assurance under HMRC Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme allowing those resident in the UK who choose to invest to receive a reduction of 50%, of the value of any investment made, off their liability to income tax.
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Please stand with us
Commercial Partners
Delivering
Members
Enabling
Customers
Value
We are merging business, community, and ecology to create an
ecovisionery and equitable society and expect to launch progressively throughout 2024/2025.
In the meantime please read our book; NOW Who Cares Wins (No Other Way)
available at www.Amazon.com.
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​​​You can register your interest in becoming a member, commercial partner, customer or all three at contact@www.nootherway.co.uk or complete the form below. We look forward to hearing from you.
