Why Degrowth?

Pressure from humanity has pushed the Earth past seven of the nine “planetary boundaries” identified by the Stockholm Resilience Center: critical global processes that regulate the stability and resilience of the Earth. What brought us here? Too much production and consumption of goods and services—a.k.a., economic activity. But rather than pumping the economic brakes, the establishment continues to pursue growth. They pacify us with promises that “green growth” will enable us to absolutely decouple economic activity from ecological harm. This hasn’t happened yet, and it never will, because the human economy is rooted in the Earth.

Instead, we need degrowth to a steady state economy. Degrowth is defined by the Degrowth Institute as an intentional downscaling of the global economy. A steady state economy is defined by the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE) as an economy in which population and consumption are stabilized at a sustainable scale. This transition must begin in the wealthiest nations, as economic growth is still appropriate in many low-consumption contexts. It must comprise top-down policies to limit consumption and redistribute wealth, as well as a complete bottom-up rethink in growth-obsessed cultures.

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