This article mentions the biodiversity impacts but none of the other six or so planetary boundaries identified as requirements for life to thrive and which are quickly also being overshot. Surely the impact of any retention of a growth paradigm is ultimately incompatible with these limits being kept?
GDP, if the measure of growth, merely measures how much money changes hands through trade. There is nothing wrong with increasing this, tho deeply flawed as a measure of wellbeing and wealth, it is neutral environmentally. The issue is with resource extraction and destruction, and overwhelmingly fossil fuel burning (and almost all extracted will be burnt, so its extraction). So extractive growth, the extractive economy is the one to curb / end. Apart from morals, its rubbish economics, asset stripping, burning the house to enjoy greater heat for a final party. I think the answer is for humans to think as as a single organism which is difficult but nature has done it once before when single cells discovered cooperation to become multicellular creatures. It took half of earths history to get there. Lets hope our brains can do better. Those in power not able to do it alone, that's clear.
Excellent article! We need to move away from our obsession with growth. The planet has finite space, materials and resources. Growth agnosticism strikes a realistic balance; balance being what we need more of.
I was hoping that the penultimate paragraph focusing on heterodox economics would go into far more detail. We need a roadmap of how to get there from here - "here" being the new Labour administration's version of neoliberal economics, and "there" being something that (a) makes sense and (b) avoids the cults of neo-classicism/neo-liberalism and MMT, sticking with independent types such as Steve Keen, Stephanie Kelton, Tim Jackson, Richard Murphy et al. The roadmap is obviously necessary for the UK economy to chart the best course through the global markets, or they will do the same that they did to Liz Truss & Kwasi Karteng.
This article mentions the biodiversity impacts but none of the other six or so planetary boundaries identified as requirements for life to thrive and which are quickly also being overshot. Surely the impact of any retention of a growth paradigm is ultimately incompatible with these limits being kept?
GDP, if the measure of growth, merely measures how much money changes hands through trade. There is nothing wrong with increasing this, tho deeply flawed as a measure of wellbeing and wealth, it is neutral environmentally. The issue is with resource extraction and destruction, and overwhelmingly fossil fuel burning (and almost all extracted will be burnt, so its extraction). So extractive growth, the extractive economy is the one to curb / end. Apart from morals, its rubbish economics, asset stripping, burning the house to enjoy greater heat for a final party. I think the answer is for humans to think as as a single organism which is difficult but nature has done it once before when single cells discovered cooperation to become multicellular creatures. It took half of earths history to get there. Lets hope our brains can do better. Those in power not able to do it alone, that's clear.
I've felt for a long time that the problem is with the word growth itself.
What is required is sustainable economic activity.
Growth comes with too many connotations, presumptions and expectations.
Excellent article! We need to move away from our obsession with growth. The planet has finite space, materials and resources. Growth agnosticism strikes a realistic balance; balance being what we need more of.
I was hoping that the penultimate paragraph focusing on heterodox economics would go into far more detail. We need a roadmap of how to get there from here - "here" being the new Labour administration's version of neoliberal economics, and "there" being something that (a) makes sense and (b) avoids the cults of neo-classicism/neo-liberalism and MMT, sticking with independent types such as Steve Keen, Stephanie Kelton, Tim Jackson, Richard Murphy et al. The roadmap is obviously necessary for the UK economy to chart the best course through the global markets, or they will do the same that they did to Liz Truss & Kwasi Karteng.