💾 Archived View for jsreed5.org › log › 2023 › 202308 › 20230823-degrowth.gmi captured on 2024-03-21 at 15:14:44. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-09-08)
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I've seen and read discourse on economic, social and environmental stewardship for many years, but I first came across the term "degrowth" on Gemini in 2021. As best I can tell, the term encapsulates the idea that growth, especially economic growth, is either unfavorable, unsustainable, or doesn't actually exist at all. It advocates that the answers to many of the modern world's problems will involve pursuing a kind of personal, societal and natural minimalism: literally "de-growing".
While reducing our impact on the environment is a concept most people support, and most people recognize that it's generally good not to spend too much money or dictate how others live their lives, it seems degrowth itself is a contentious topic. I've seen lots of support for degrowth as a socio-political quasi-movement, and I've seen lots of criticism of the same.
Curiously, I've seen some wildly-differing claims about the ideology of degrowth. Some classify it as a Marxist neo-hippie movement that ultimately aims for some kind of anarcho-communism. Others claim that degrowth is an eco-fascist movement that embodies traditionalism, nationalism and revisionist romanticism. Degrowth thus seems to land on Schrödinger's political spectrum, being somehow left-wing and right-wing simultaneously.
The prevalence this cognitive dissonance is an indication to me that degrowth as a movement likely transcends political ideology. People from any part of the political spectrum can probably find something attractive about the tenets of degrowth, ans that can be a powerful way to build bridges among people who often agree on little else.
I don't know if I consider myself a "supporter" of degrowth, insofar as that implies some kind of political ideology, but I value the underlying principles. To me, the core of degrowth means that I live within my means, I avoid harming or imposing on others, and I temper my more-hedonistic impulses as best as I can. Degrowth also make sense to me from a practical stance: if I get used to reducing my consumption of resources when times are good, I'll get more satisfaction out of the resources I do consume, and I won't suffer if and when those resources become scarce.
Of course, those who abandon the modern Web and adopt Gemini are carrying out an act of degrowth: deliberately shrinking the breadth of their technology's functionality in exchange for resource savings, detoxification from a caustic Internet ecosystem, and engagement with a thoughtful and caring community. These things are worth it to me, so I largely leave the Internet behind, the same way I try to shut off my computer in the evenings and read a physical book instead. It's no coincidence that degrowth and its virtues are so prevalent on both Gopher and Gemini.
I generally dislike political labels, since they're often used as a shorthand to decide whether groups of people should be blindly trusted or preemptively dismissed. But in terms of how I want to live my own life, degrowth is one term that describes some of my values pretty accurately. Though in fairness, words like "frugal" and "thrifty" are probably just as applicable.
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[Last updated: 2023-08-23]