Jessica Long – författare

Can we align global production and consumption systems with sustainability? Can business growth actually lead to a healthier planet? Can companies innovate through the circular economy to create competitive advantage and genuine impact?

Waste to Wealth proved that the emerging circular economy advantage exists – now Lacy, Long and Spindler show you how to realize it at speed and scale in The Circular Economy Handbook.    

We stand at a crossroads, with rising geopolitical and geo-economic tensions, massive technological change and a host of social and environmental challenges. We are pushing planetary boundaries to their limits, with climate change and threats to biodiversity and oceans as just a few examples. Significant impacts are already being felt, and both people and planet face potentially catastrophic and irreversible consequences if we don’t urgently change our global model and systems. Our current linear “take, make, waste” models of production and consumption will not be sustainable in a world of some 9 billion people by 2050, especially with ever-expanding rates of consumption. Thriving within these dynamics demands more than incremental adjustments to business-as-usual. 

The circular economy offers a powerful means to decouple growth from use of scarce and harmful resources, enabling greater production and consumption with fewer negative environmental impacts—at the same time, making companies more innovative and competitive. In fact, this book shows that $4.5 trillion in economic value is at stake.

Delivering on the promise of a circular economy demands impact and scale, extending through value chains and, ultimately, disrupting the entire economic system.   

In The Circular Economy Handbook, the authors illuminate the path from insight to action, from linear to circular. With case studies, advice and practical guidance, they show leadershow to pivot towards a holistic circular organization, embedding circularity internally and delivering broad-based system change. 

With unique insights across business models, technologies, and industries – featuring stories and real-world examples from circular pioneers – this book is the essential guide to help companies become leaders in the movement to secure the circular economy advantage. 

Inspirational speaker and Paralympic champion Jessica Long shares her story—and powerful principles to help you find your own path to unconditional self-acceptance.Jessica Long is one of the most compelling figures of our time. From having her lower legs amputated as a toddler, she has gone on to become one of history’s most decorated athletes. Yet her true successes—and struggles—are not about winning medals or setting world records. “Our worth cannot be placed in external things—our looks, job, or approval of others,” she says. “No achievement will make us feel worthy unless we can love ourselves without judgment.”With Beyond the Surface, Jessica offers an intimate exploration of the hard-won lessons she learned on her extraordinary journey. She opens up about the toughest challenges she faced—not just the trauma of multiple surgeries and prosthetics, but the anger, resentment, and insecurity of trying to find her place and identity in a world that viewed her as less than whole.In each chapter, she reveals the resources and support that allowed her to overcome hardship—and translates them into practices to help you create a bedrock of self-acceptance that you can rely on even in the most difficult times.Part 1 invites you to look within—to examine your beliefs about yourself, how they came to be, and how you can move from self-criticism and unworthiness to the freedom and possibility of unconditional self-love. Part 2 urges you to look outward—to challenge the cultural narrative and systemic forces that stand in the way of a more inclusive and equitable society.“In sharing my story,” says Jessica, “including the ugly and uncomfortable parts, I hope to inspire you to love yourself just as you are. It is our differences that make us so incredibly beautiful and human and strong.”Beyond the Surface is a guide to fathoming the depths of your life experience—to both that which makes you utterly amazing and unique, and the essential dignity and value we all possess.