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Any opinions and ideas about the book "The Case for Degrowth" from Giorgos Kallis, Susan Paulson, Giacomo D'Alisa and Federico Demaria about degrowth here? I'm looking for more books about degrowth, preferably in a compact format. So that I can recommend them to interested friends. There's also a comic about degrowth out there. Thanks in advance
Nov 07 · 6 weeks ago
🚀 mimas2AC [OP] · Nov 07 at 08:16:
voilà:
— https://en.goteo.org/project/who-is-afraid-of-degrowth
👻 shikitohno · Nov 11 at 04:06:
It's been on my "To-Read" list for quite a while now, so I picked it up and read the first essay the other night. I'll be looking forward to reading a more systematic presentation of the ideas behind it.
As things stand at the moment, it strikes me as a necessary idea that's more likely to be imposed on people than willingly adopted en masse. I don't mean to say some sort of eco-dictator will force us into it, but that people will say it's a great idea for others (the domestic poor, the developing world, etc), but refuse to adopt it personally until circumstances force its adaptation in an ad-hoc manner. If we can even do that much when push comes to shove.
One book on the topic of degrowth that I can wholeheartedly recommend "Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World" by Jason Hickel
Haven't read the book, but any voluntary slow contraction is not likely or possible in the current fiat debt money regime. There needs to be more money created to pay back the debt and the interest, and governments borrow more and more, requiring a never ending expansion/inflation balance. It can only end badly.
👻 shikitohno · Nov 30 at 07:21:
I see it more as a situation where we can be proactive and manage the process to minimize the fallout, or wait for things to really go pear shaped and be stuck arriving at a worse version of the same thing while we pick up the pieces.
Of course, given how things have gone in the last century or so, I can much more easily imagine the latter situation coming to pass, as humans seem intent on proving we generally cannot address issues proactively when the possibility exists to kick the issue down the line and baselessly hope for the best.
Governments have to borrow money and accelate growth at whatever cost or else they risk getting overthrown or just not getting reelected in case of democracies. Just look at what happens to various green parties accross the globe the moment they push enacting policies that might hurt the current status quo or lower the GDP growth - people get furious and vote for the far-right. Nobody in power is going to do shit unless the issues of climate change and the destruction of the environment threaten their business as usual and the people feel the consequences. We are so doomed.