Imagining a postgrowth world
Human and earthly limits, properly understood, wrote the conservationist Wendell Berry, are not confinements, but rather inducements to fullness of relationship and meaning.
limits to growth
Kate Raworth: “The Superorganism V. The Doughnut”
On this episode, Nate is joined by the creator of Doughnut Economics, Kate Raworth, to discuss alternative economies that measure more than just the material wealth created by a society.
From Growth, through Degrowth, to a Pluriverse of Flourishings
Only by defying the persistently narrow choice between ‘growth’ or ‘degrowth’ in forms that are categorically given, can the twin faces of colonial modernity in technocratic consumerism and environmental authoritarianism finally be confronted and transformed.
‘Farewell to Growth’ Serge Latouche (2007)
The degrowth movement exists to advance these difficult arguments – to take the large body of evidence as to why the current economic process is failing, and propose a range of alternatives which might avert the catastrophic failure of this system.
Green Talks: Nate Hagens & The Great Simplification
Citizens in the US and Canada use over 300GJ per capita, so there is lots of room to simplify. We can reduce our energy demands without significantly reducing the general well-being of humanity.
The Rising Chorus of Renewable Energy Skeptics
We are going to have to dramatically downsize the dream of a future in which we replace 150-year-old fossil fuel infrastructure with “clean energy” by 2050.
Antonio Turiel: “Deep Challenges: Oceans, Scarcity and Culture”
On this episode, physicist Antonio Turiel joins me for a wide-ranging discussion from oceans and climate to energy and culture.
Gaya Herrington: “Humanity’s Soul: Life or Growth?”
On this episode, Nate speaks with econometrician and sustainability researcher Gaya Herrington about her new book, Five Insights for Avoiding Global Collapse, a more in-depth and personal telling of her 2021 review of the Limits to Growth (LTG).
Profits of Utopia
What led to the twentieth century’s rapid economic growth? And what are the prospects for that kind of growth to return?
Fusion Energy: A Different Take
Indeed, one thing seems indisputable: Unleashing fusion in an unbounded, growth-driven economy would be a wholesale disaster.
A review of One Hundred Years of Insanity, by Bob Lloyd
This book – and others it references, particularly Donella Meadows’ Thinking in Systems’ – should be a standard read for university students, but I suspect it will only be read by those who are already-there, or at least already well-on-the-way.
Why Understanding Limits Is the Key to Humanity’s Future
Taoist sages proclaimed, “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” Don’t just respect limits; celebrate them and work in harmony with them.