Green Social Thought

Produce less. Distribute it fairly. Create a greener world for all.

Subscribe
Donate

Tag: degrowth

  • The Limits of Capitalism

    —

    by

    fitzdon

    At this point in human history, the limits of capitalism and the limits of our species’ life on Earth have converged. We have never been here before, and we cannot go back. The political activism of my youth was largely in solidarity with anti-colonial movements in Africa and Palestine, anti-US imperialist movements and dictatorships in…

  • Is degrowth an alternative to capitalism?

    —

    by

    mesrod

    The newest book by Giorgos Kallis, one of the most prolific degrowth advocates is entitled Limits: Why Malthus Was Wrong and Why Environmentalists Should Care. It is a short and accessible read which contains some important and unconventional arguments. In what follows, I will first briefly summarize the core arguments of the book, which promises…

  • Six problems for Green Deals

    —

    by

    fitzdon

    If nothing else, the last few months have heightened awareness of the desperately parlous predicament that now faces humanity, with an accelerating climate and ecological crisis. So attempts to design assertive policy proposals are very welcome. The Green New Deal is the one that currently is getting the most attention and perhaps traction. So I…

  • Degrowth: a theory of radical abundance

    —

    by

    rsburke

    On the surface, degrowth sounds like an economics of scarcity, as many on both the right and left have been quick to allege. But in fact exactly the opposite is true.

  • No shortcuts: The climate revolution must be ecosocialist

    —

    by

    fitzdon

    The mobilization against climate change continues to build, gaining new social layers beyond the initial circles of environmental activists and tending toward a systemic critique of capitalist productivism with its underlying competition for profit. Particularly significant is the fact that young people are joining the struggle. On March 15 more than a million people, a…

  • A Green New Deal Must Not Be Tied to Economic Growth

    —

    by

    rsburke

    The Green New Deal narrative risks reproducing the hegemonic ideology of capitalist growth, which has created the problem of climate change in the first place.

  • Degrowth: A Call for Radical Abundance

    —

    by

    rsburke

    One of the core claims of degrowth economics is that by restoring public services and expanding the commons, people will be able to access the goods that they need to live well without needing high levels of income.

  • Actually, We Don’t Need To Grow the Economy

    —

    by

    rsburke

    The term degrowth comes from French ecosocialist André Gorz, and until recently was mainly used by European academics. Indigenous movements in Latin America, however, have provided perhaps the best model of a degrowth movement, resisting mining and deforestation projects and building cooperative economies outside the capitalist market.

  • Planting the Seeds of Degrowth in Times of Crisis

    —

    by

    fitzdon

    We must look for man wherever we can find him. When on his way to Thebes Oedipus encountered the Sphinx, his answer to its riddle was: ‘Man’. That simple word destroyed the monster. We have many monsters to destroy. Let us think of the answer of Oedipus. These words are from the Greek Poet Giorgos Seferis’…

  • Life in a ‘Degrowth’ Economy, And Why You Might Actually Enjoy It

    —

    by

    fitzdon

    What does genuine economic progress look like? The orthodox answer is that a bigger economy is always better, but this idea is increasingly strained by the knowledge that, on a finite planet, the economy can’t grow for ever. But what is a steady-state economy? Why it is it desirable or necessary? And what would it…