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Embracing Degrowth

I'm utterly exhausted - I haven't been sleeping well, work has been kicking my butt, and I've been preparing to go to a con in a few days, but I wanted to write this as a precis of a more detailed post to come.

I've historically viewed capitalism, while flawed, as a basically reformable system. That has increasingly become impossible for me. In particular, the excesses of consumer culture, both inside my industry and outside of it, are horrifying. The incentive structure of capitalism rewards mass ecological destruction, labor exploitation, and waste on an astounding scale. These factors are intimately linked with racism, sexism, and other forms of structural oppression. I have increasingly realized that while those problems are easiest for me to see in my own industry, they are ubiquitous to the capitalist system.

In light of the direction humanity is being taken by the relentless greed of the corporate ruling class, conviviality and degrowth - starting with groups of individuals seeking to help each other, without the intervention of our corpo overlords - appear to be the only viable path forward. We need to build a future system that guarantees enough for the comfort and stability of everyone, globally - rather than one that exploits the vast majority while a small handful of people live in untold luxury.

The future system also needs to place human dignity above productivity, an important break with some historical Left positions. A sustainable future is not one that we can make by simply taking the means of production for ourselves. The Soviet leadership attempted to compete with the capitalist states in industrial production; this left a deep legacy of ecological catastrophe and overwork, all under the direction of a new privileged class. We can do better. We should aim for a reduction in industrial output, resource consumption, and working hours, countered by an increase in quality and durability of goods, a reduction of waste, and a reduced requirement for goods that are, to put it frankly, luxuries.

In short, we need to end the constant requirement for More.

What This Looks Like

These are just my opinions - but there's quite a few ways an emerging degrowth system could reduce its consumption and production.

It means reducing egregious resource waste in housing. Suburbs are not efficient on fuel, nor on energy, nor on water use.
It means ending the constant cycle of churn in consumer electronics. What people do with their computers and phones has not meaningfully changed in many years - and yet there's still constant upgrade churn. This is made worse by Wirth's Law and by low-quality, non-maintainable electronic goods.
It means drastic reduction in car use, and corresponding reduction in car manufacture.
It means reductions in meat consumption, especially beef. I'm not saying that it should be a mandate that beef consumption be eliminated - but it should become a special-occasion food.
It means the goods we do make - clothes, electronics, vehicles, furniture - should be durable, with no expectation of rapid replacement. They should be feasible to repair when they break.
It means a default posture of looking for secondhand goods before buying new ones.
It means a corresponding reduction in working hours, matching reduced production and demand.
It means prioritizing stability of housing, food, healthcare, and education for everyone over profits, growth, or luxury goods.
It means a fundamental respect for the dignity of the individual - not as a worker or a consumer, but as a person, to who we should approach with the same care care, empathy, forgiveness, and understanding that we would want for ourselves.
It means allowing more time for family and creative pursuits, permitted by the decreased priority of profit.