Bread and Circuses on Nostr: PART 7 — Excerpts from an article titled “A (Friendly) Critique of the Degrowth ...
PART 7 —
Excerpts from an article titled “A (Friendly) Critique of the Degrowth Movement”…
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Few people have any understanding of the limits to growth situation and the need for large-scale degrowth. The almost universally held supreme goal among virtually everyone in executive government and the associated bureaucracies, in the corporate world, in the economics profession, in the media, and by the general public, remains indubitable commitment to limitless increases in production and consumption.
For these reasons it is evident that this society is not capable of dealing with the predicament. Our fundamental premise is that there is no possibility of achieving transition to a sustainable and just society deliberately and rationally via the existing official policymaking institutions and processes.
It is difficult to doubt that we are heading for extreme global system breakdown, likely to be triggered by financial collapse. This could eliminate any chance of building a new society, but it will open the way for us to try. Our task here and now is to help as many people as possible to see the sensible way to go, so that they will work hard on developing local alternatives as things deteriorate. People will be forced by circumstances to come together in an effort to take control of their situation.
How might we get there, then?
We need to work on the cultural problem, to change ideas and values, so that in time enough people are in favor of degrowth. This does not mean stop shouting at government to demand those policy changes: keep doing that, because it helps to get degrowth on the public agenda. But don’t do it with the intention or expectation of getting government to take any notice of you; do it as an educational strategy.
Again, we get nowhere unless and until there is a very different mentality, keenly aware that growth, affluence, and capitalism have to be dumped, and that the answer has to be mostly cooperative, self-sufficient, self-governing, frugal, local systems. The most important thing we can do to contribute to the emergence of that mentality is simply to raise the issues whenever and wherever we can.
Perhaps the most effective way to do this is to get involved in ‘prefiguring’ alternative ways — that is, building some of the structures and processes the revolution is for, such as cooperatives, community gardens, community-owned swap-shops, etc. But it is most important that these ventures be designed as educational devices, intended to introduce visitors to the big picture and thus to raise awareness of the need for huge and radical transition.
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Part 8 will follow soon.
Full article is here -- https://medium.com/postgrowth/a-friendly-critique-of-the-degrowth-movement-f0bd2297072d
#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Degrowth
Excerpts from an article titled “A (Friendly) Critique of the Degrowth Movement”…
_________________________
Few people have any understanding of the limits to growth situation and the need for large-scale degrowth. The almost universally held supreme goal among virtually everyone in executive government and the associated bureaucracies, in the corporate world, in the economics profession, in the media, and by the general public, remains indubitable commitment to limitless increases in production and consumption.
For these reasons it is evident that this society is not capable of dealing with the predicament. Our fundamental premise is that there is no possibility of achieving transition to a sustainable and just society deliberately and rationally via the existing official policymaking institutions and processes.
It is difficult to doubt that we are heading for extreme global system breakdown, likely to be triggered by financial collapse. This could eliminate any chance of building a new society, but it will open the way for us to try. Our task here and now is to help as many people as possible to see the sensible way to go, so that they will work hard on developing local alternatives as things deteriorate. People will be forced by circumstances to come together in an effort to take control of their situation.
How might we get there, then?
We need to work on the cultural problem, to change ideas and values, so that in time enough people are in favor of degrowth. This does not mean stop shouting at government to demand those policy changes: keep doing that, because it helps to get degrowth on the public agenda. But don’t do it with the intention or expectation of getting government to take any notice of you; do it as an educational strategy.
Again, we get nowhere unless and until there is a very different mentality, keenly aware that growth, affluence, and capitalism have to be dumped, and that the answer has to be mostly cooperative, self-sufficient, self-governing, frugal, local systems. The most important thing we can do to contribute to the emergence of that mentality is simply to raise the issues whenever and wherever we can.
Perhaps the most effective way to do this is to get involved in ‘prefiguring’ alternative ways — that is, building some of the structures and processes the revolution is for, such as cooperatives, community gardens, community-owned swap-shops, etc. But it is most important that these ventures be designed as educational devices, intended to introduce visitors to the big picture and thus to raise awareness of the need for huge and radical transition.
_________________________
Part 8 will follow soon.
Full article is here -- https://medium.com/postgrowth/a-friendly-critique-of-the-degrowth-movement-f0bd2297072d
#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Degrowth