{"id":1106,"date":"2025-10-02T04:02:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/is-anyone-really-ready-for-degrowth\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T04:02:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:02:42","slug":"is-anyone-really-ready-for-degrowth","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/global-green-economics\/is-anyone-really-ready-for-degrowth\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Anyone Really Ready For Degrowth"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"content column wide left normal content view\" id=\"content\">\n<div class=\"rounded-corner\"><\/div>\n<article class=\"fader\">\n<div class=\"overlay\"><\/div>\n<header class=\"contents\">\n<h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIs anyone really ready for degrowth?<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n<div class=\"addthis\">\n\t<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><\/p>\n<div class=\"addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style\" addthis:title=\"Is anyone really ready for degrowth?\">\n<div class=\"notification\">\n<form method=\"post\" action=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\" style=\"display: inline;\">\n\t<button class=\"follow\" type=\"submit\" name=\"ActionAddToNotification\" title=\"Follow this blog\" id=\"author\"><\/button><br \/>\n\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ContentNodeID\" value=\"4826\"\/><br \/>\n\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"UserRedirectURI\" value=\"\/Blogs\/Global-green-economics\"\/><br \/>\n\t<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t<a class=\"addthis_button_facebook_like\" fb:like:layout=\"button_count\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t\t<a class=\"addthis_button_tweet\" tw:via=\"thebrokeronline\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t\t<a class=\"addthis_counter addthis_pill_style\"><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<p>\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/js\/250\/addthis_widget.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n\t\t<!-- AddThis Button END -->\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<h3>\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/authors\/green-tom\/\">Tom Green<\/a>\t\t|<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>26 March 2025<\/strong><br \/>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"body contents\">\n<div class=\"object-left\">\n\t\t<\/div>\n<aside class=\"textblock\">\n<article>\n<h1>About the author<\/h1>\n<div class=\"tleft\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/var\/broker\/storage\/images\/authors\/green-tom\/148299-2-eng-gb\/green-tom_author.jpg\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"tright\">\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/authors\/green-tom\/\">Tom<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/>Green<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTom Green, is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia studying ecological economics&#8230;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/authors\/green-tom\/\">full profile<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/article>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\t<!-- body --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Only a few hours till the conference begins. I\u00b4ve been looking forward to this degrowth conference for months, though not without some trepidation. I cannot embrace the term degrowth enthusiastically\u2014it sounds about as intuitively appealing as undergoing deworming, though in both cases, the end result may be quite desirable. I used to think it would be better if the English-speaking world adopted the French term decroissance directly, though upon further reflection I realized it sounds to English speakers like all croissants will be confiscated\u2014an unappealing future of austere breakfasts. It\u00b4s not like the concept is new to me, but finding a label that does not turn people off before they\u00b4ve heard the idea out is a tough one. Early on, from about the age of 11, I\u00b4ve been worried about the natural environment and my thoughts became more and more focused on what we were losing as the economy expanded its reach. I came to ecological economics via Herman Daly\u00b4s Steady state economics, so the term \u201csteady state\u201d comes to me more naturally than does \u201cdegrowth\u201d. However, steady state suggests that nothing ever changes, that technology is frozen, that humans are not allowed to have new ideas, a misinterpretation that Daly has consistently sought to correct.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Earlier this week I was interviewed for a short film that is scheduled to be shown at the degrowth conference by two Canadian film makers, Leah Temper (who is doing her PhD in ecological economics here in Barcelona) and Claudia Medina. I struggled with the challenge of summarizing the complex and still evolving ideas involved in degrowth in a digestible sound bite, knowing that growth is such a pervasive idea that people don\u00b4t even have the concept that there might be an alternative. The degrowth ideal implies reduced rates of material and energy use in rich countries, but it also implies that poor people, in rich or poor countries, should have their material needs met in a way that supports wellbeing. It\u00b4s easy for degrowth to come across as sounding like there is a lot of sacrifice involved, but part of the problem here is that the degrowth future is compared to a future with growth that is ever less plausible. If anyone figures out how to summarize degrowth in a 30 second bite, pass on your secret.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">A more substantive source of my trepidation about this conference comes from the fact that degrowth is a tough sell in a world that has just experienced involuntary degrowth. It sounds a bit like we might be holding a conference on how to deliberately sabotage the economy, throw more people out of work and ensure that government services and social assistance will be cut back even further. I\u00b4m also a little uncertain about how the program merges elaborating degrowth theory and a heartfelt desire for on the ground change. Don\u00b4t get me wrong. Change is urgently needed. I think that there is little value in insisting on sound theory, then using this theory to develop a \u201cperfect\u201d degrowth scenario, if this scenario is entirely na\u00efve about what people want and what is politically possible. But at the same time, getting the theory right is helpful to clear thinking about the implications of different degrowth policies and pathways (as far as those can be predicted when we are talking about taking a growth-dependent system and putting it into an entirely different domain). How well we mix theorizing and pushing for a desired future (and the alternative visions thereof) remains to be seen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">At the hostel I\u00b4m staying at, a master\u00b4s student in development studies from the London School of Economics asks me what brings me to Barcelona. When I tell her it\u00b4s for a conference on degrowth, she tells me she\u00b4s never heard of the term in any of her LSE courses and when I explain the concept, her reaction is hardly enthusiastic or displays much curiosity (to her credit, she\u00b4s on a break before exams). And yet, one would think that within the development studies community, the concept of degrowth would be embraced, or at least given serious consideration. Otherwise, how are the material needs of people in the South supposed to be met if the North\u00b4s voracious appetite for resource inputs and its corresponding emissions of wastes are not brought under control?<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\tMy impression, LSE students notwithstanding, is that in North America, we are way behind Europe in terms of public discourse on degrowth or the steady state, so in Barcelona, I am looking forward to probing discussions, based on a shared premise that further economic growth in the rich world is likely to be ecologically suicidal and of little benefit to human wellbeing. Not even two weeks ago in Vancouver I was at workshop convened by a progressive Canadian think tank that delved into the problems with growth and what alternatives might improve humanity\u00b4s predicament. The workshop was framed around the theme of the Prosperity without growth report put out by the UK Sustainable Development Commission\u00b4s Tim Jackson. Peter Victor, author of Managing without growth spoke in what was intended to be a degrowth-consistent manner, avoiding adding to the workshop\u00b4s CO2 tally by being beamed in from Toronto on a (sadly unreliable) internet conferencing system. Richard Lipsey, co-author of one of the standard economics texts that has introduced many a Canadian student to the mainstream economics paradigm and with it the love of eternal growth, provided a response to Victor\u00b4s argument that further growth made no sense and that an alternative pathway that met the needs of society\u00b4s most vulnerable people was possible. Lipsey argued that people would not be willing to go back to early 1900s standards of living and technologies. I felt like the workshop participants had been sucked into a time warp and spit out in the 1970s, with the economics profession\u00b4s allergic reaction to the Club of Rome\u00b4s Limits to growth report and their subsequent misrepresentations of that report and the model it relied upon. As the discussion continued, Lipsey began hedging a little\u2014further growth might be environmentally problematic, so his solution was that society needed to pursue \u201csustainable growth\u201d \u2013 whatever that is. Bill Rees, co-originator of the ecological footprint followed with a presentation on why sustainable growth is an oxymoron. Here is not the place to go into further details, the workshop did not coalesce into any great wisdom other than that public policy should not focus in on ensuring GDP growth, but the big question on my mind was why was it that some 40 years later and with much more sobering data in hand, society is still not able to grapple with a rather simple question about what limits might exist and what they might imply for economic activity with any sophistication? I assume we will do better in Barcelona because of our shared starting point\u2014but eventually, a much more diverse community will have to be brought into the conversation.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<!-- body -->\n\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"commentform content column wide left\">\n<div class=\"topright\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"bottomleft\"><\/div>\n<h1>Comments<\/h1>\n<div class=\"form\">\n\t<a id=\"formstart\"><\/a><\/p>\n<form enctype=\"multipart\/form-data\" method=\"post\" action=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Your comment will not be automatically posted but first reviewed by the editor. If the editor has questions with respect to the content of your comment, you will be contacted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"input-row\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"reaction-name\">Name:<\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"input\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<input id=\"reaction-name\" class=\"halfbox\" type=\"text\" name=\"Name\" value=\"\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"input-row\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"reaction-subject\">Subject:<\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"input\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<input id=\"reaction-subject\" class=\"halfbox\" type=\"text\" maxlength=\"40\" name=\"Subject\" value=\"\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"input-row\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"reaction-comment\">Message:<\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"input\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<textarea id=\"reaction-comment\" class=\"halfbox\" name=\"Comment\"><\/textarea>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"submit-row\">\n\t\t\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\t\t\t\tvar RecaptchaTheme='white';\n\t\t\t\tvar RecaptchaLang='';\n\t\t\t\tvar RecaptchaOptions = {\n\t\t\t\ttheme: RecaptchaTheme,\n\t\t\t\tlang: RecaptchaLang\n\t\t\t\t};\n\t\t\t\t<\/script><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/challenge-k-6lfb9quaaaaaaepvwx5fiki25xfnxbh85tkko1-d.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n\t<noscript><br \/>\n  \t\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/noscript_k-6lfb9quaaaaaaepvwx5fiki25xfnxbh85tkko1-d_ext_iframe\/\" height=\"300\" width=\"500\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n  \t\t<textarea name=\"recaptcha_challenge_field\" rows=\"3\" cols=\"40\"><\/textarea><br \/>\n  \t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"recaptcha_response_field\" value=\"manual_challenge\"\/><br \/>\n\t<\/noscript>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"submit-row\">\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"grey\" type=\"submit\"><span class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Submit<\/span><\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" value=\"4832\" name=\"NodeID\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" value=\"\/Blogs\/Global-green-economics\/Is-anyone-really-ready-for-degrowth\" name=\"RedirectURL\"\/><br \/>\n\t<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"subitem content column wide left\">\n<article class=\"comment\">\n<div class=\"topright\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"bottomleft\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"comment\">\n<div class=\"icon\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/extension\/broker\/design\/broker\/images\/comment\/icon.gif\">\n\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<h3><a id=\"comment_4836\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">Is anyone ready?<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>Tom,<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nGlad to see you writing about this, and very happy you&#8217;re in Barcelona for the conference. Look for my co-producer, Donnie Maclurcan, there (we&#8217;re producing a documentary about the very subject of your post).<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nI think your assessment of the world&#8217;s readiness and what needs to happen is very accurate. I share your feelings about &quot;degrowth&quot; &quot;steady-state&quot; etc. In our film, Hooked on Growth, I&#8217;m exploring the things that are keeping us from reacting rationally to all the evidence that Limits to Growth was correct.<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nI look forward to your further thoughts and input on the subject, and hope we might count on your support in building our global grass roots network of supporters for the film and the movement to get the world unhooked from growth addiction!<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nIf you see Donnie, tell him I said &quot;hello.&quot;<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nDave Gardner<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nProducing the documentary<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nHooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nwww.growthbusters.org<\/p>\n<div class=\"tagline\">\nDave Gardner |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>March 26, 2025<\/strong> |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">Respond<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false,"raw":""},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is anyone really ready for degrowth? Tom Green | [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template_4.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1106","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is anyone really ready for degrowth? \/ Global green economics \/ Blogs - The Broker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Only a few hours till the conference begins. I\u00c2\u00b4ve been looking forward to this degrowth conference for months, though not without some trepidation. I cannot embrace the term degrowth enthusiastically\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit sounds about as intuitively appealing as undergoing deworming, though in both cases, the end result may be quite desirable. 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I\u00c2\u00b4ve been looking forward to this degrowth conference for months, though not without some trepidation. I cannot embrace the term degrowth enthusiastically\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit sounds about as intuitively appealing as undergoing deworming, though in both cases, the end result may be quite desirable. 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