It's not just humans who stand in need

"How do we save our planet?" asked the World Economic Forum in June of 2022. "Some economists believe the only way is to radically scale back our global consumption of resources."

 

They go on to state that "The solution is essentially to move away from the assumption that growth is good.

"One of the things degrowthers would like to see is the end of gross domestic product (GDP) being used as a measure of economic progress, notes The Conversation. GDP measures an economy’s entire output of goods and services."

In addition, Tim Jackson, with Bill McKibben and others, wrote "Prosperity Without Growth, published in 2011 and revised some seven years later.  In it, they argue against the pursuit of exponential growth as a basic human good, a basic belief among economists, politicians, and ordinary voters (and non-voters) alike.

I would like to buy this book!  I think we really need to think about how both bourgeois industrialism and everyday human egoism got us where we are today, and what hard thinking and questioning we will have to do to turn toward less destructive and exploitative ways of life.

I know it's summer, and it's the weekend. But does anyone have any thought on economics and ecology which they'd like to share?

Posted by Jennifer A. Nolan