|
Post by pieter on Mar 18, 2023 14:00:30 GMT -7
Degrowth (French: décroissance) is a term used for both a political, economic, and social movement as well as a set of theories that critique the paradigm of economic growth. It can be described as an extensive framework that is based on critiques of the growth-centered economic system in which we are living. Degrowth is based on ideas from a diverse range of lines of thought such as political ecology, ecological economics, feminist political ecology, and environmental justice, pointing out the social and ecological harm caused by the pursuit of infinite growth and Western "development" imperatives.
Degrowth emphasizes the need to reduce global consumption and production (social metabolism) and advocates a socially just and ecologically sustainable society with social and environmental well-being replacing GDP as the indicator of prosperity. Hence, although GDP is likely to shrink in a "Degrowth society", i.e. a society in which the objectives of the degrowth movement are achieved, this is not the primary objective of degrowth. The main argument degrowth raises is that an infinite expansion of the economy is fundamentally contradictory to finite planetary boundaries. Degrowth highlights the importance of autonomy, care work, self-organization, commons, community, open localism, work sharing, happiness and conviviality.
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Mar 18, 2023 14:01:57 GMT -7
BackgroundThe "degrowth" movement arose from concerns over the consequences of the productivism and consumerism associated with industrial societies (whether capitalist or socialist) including:
- The reduced availability of energy sources (see peak oil) - The declining quality of the environment (see global warming, pollution, threats to biodiversity) - The decline in the health of flora and fauna upon which humans depend (see Holocene extinction) - The rise of negative societal side-effects (see unsustainable development, poorer health, poverty) - The ever-expanding use of resources by First World countries to satisfy lifestyles that consume more food and energy, and produce greater waste, at the expense of the Third World (see neocolonialism)
In academia, a study gathered degrowth proposals and defined the movement with three main goals: (1) Reduce the environmental impact of human activity; (2) Redistribute income and wealth both within and between countries; (3) Promote the transition from a materialistic to a convivial and participatory society. A newer, open-access review is available. Degrowth is related to more general bodies of knowledge in a 2023 anthology.DecouplingThe concept of decoupling denotes that it is possible to decouple economic growth, usually measured in GDP growth, from the use of natural resources and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Absolute decoupling refers to GDP growth coinciding with a reduction in natural resource use and GHG emissions, while relative decoupling describes an increase in resource use and GHG emission which is lower than the increase in GDP growth. The degrowth movement heavily critiques this idea and argues that absolute decoupling is only possible for short periods, specific locations or with small mitigation rates. Moreover, there is no empirical evidence that decoupling will happen fast enough and on a global scale. A recent literature review called “Decoupling Debunked: Evidence and arguments against green growth as a sole strategy for sustainability” analyzed a large amount of empirical and theoretical work on the topic and concludes that:
“not only is there no empirical evidence supporting the existence of a decoupling of economic growth from environmental pressures on anywhere near the scale needed to deal with environmental breakdown, but also, and perhaps more importantly, such decoupling appears unlikely to happen in the future.” (Page 3).
Further, the paper states that reported cases of “successful” decoupling either depict relative decoupling and/or are observed only temporarily and/or only on a local scale. This is supported by several other studies who state that absolute decoupling is highly unlikely to be achieved fast enough to prevent global warming over 1.5 °C or 2 °C, even under optimistic policy conditions. Moreover, relying on decoupling as the main or only strategy to combine economic growth and the reduction of environmental pressures equals taking a large risk to our future well-being. Consequently, degrowth advocates argue that we need to look for alternatives.Resource depletionAs economies grow, the need for resources grows accordingly (unless there are changes in efficiency or demand for different products due to price changes). There is a fixed supply of non-renewable resources, such as petroleum (oil), and these resources will inevitably be depleted. Renewable resources can also be depleted if extracted at unsustainable rates over extended periods. For example, this has occurred with caviar production in the Caspian Sea. There is much concern as to how growing demand for these resources will be met as supplies decrease. Many organizations and governments look to energy technologies such as biofuels, solar cells, and wind turbines to meet the demand gap after peak oil. Others have argued that none of the alternatives could effectively replace the versatility and portability of oil. Authors of the book Techno-Fix criticize technological optimists for overlooking the limitations of technology in solving agricultural and social challenges arising from growth.
Proponents of degrowth argue that decreasing demand is the only way of permanently closing the demand gap. For renewable resources, demand, and therefore production, must also be brought down to levels that prevent depletion and are environmentally healthy. Moving toward a society that is not dependent on oil is seen as essential to avoiding societal collapse when non-renewable resources are depleted. Degrowth can also be seen as a call for resource shifting where one strives to put an end to the unsustainable social processes of turning things into resources, for example non-renewable natural resources, and turn instead other things into resources, for example, renewable human resources.Ecological footprintThe ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. It compares human demand with planet Earth's ecological capacity to regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area needed to regenerate the resources a human population consumes and to absorb and render harmless the corresponding waste. According to a 2005 Global Footprint Network report, inhabitants of high-income countries live off of 6.4 global hectares (gHa), while those from low-income countries live off of a single gHa. For example, while each inhabitant of Bangladesh lives off of what they produce from 0.56 gHa, a North American requires 12.5 gHa. Each inhabitant of North America uses 22.3 times as much land as a Bangladeshi.
According to the same report, the average number of global hectares per person was 2.1, while current consumption levels have reached 2.7 hectares per person. In order for the world's population to attain the living standards typical of European countries, the resources of between three and eight planet Earths would be required with current levels of efficiency and means of production. In order for world economic equality to be achieved with the current available resources, proponents say rich countries would have to reduce their standard of living through degrowth. The constraints on resources would eventually lead to a forced reduction in consumption. Controlled reduction of consumption would reduce the trauma of this change assuming no technological changes increase the planet's carrying capacity.Degrowth and sustainable developmentDegrowth thought is in opposition to all forms of productivism (the belief that economic productivity and growth is the purpose of human organization). It is, thus, opposed to the current form of sustainable development. While the concern for sustainability does not contradict degrowth, sustainable development is rooted in mainstream development ideas that aim to increase economic growth and consumption. Degrowth therefore sees sustainable development as an oxymoron, as any development based on growth in a finite and environmentally stressed world is seen as inherently unsustainable. Critics of degrowth argue that a slowing of economic growth would result in increased unemployment, increased poverty, and decreased income per capita. Many who understand the devastating environmental consequences of growth still advocate for economic growth in the South, even if not in the North. But, a slowing of economic growth would fail to deliver the benefits of degrowth—self-sufficiency, material responsibility—and would indeed lead to decreased employment. Rather, degrowth proponents advocate the complete abandonment of the current (growth) economic model, suggesting that relocalizing and abandoning the global economy in the Global South would allow people of the South to become more self-sufficient and would end the overconsumption and exploitation of Southern resources by the North. Proponents of degrowth see it as a possible path to preserve ecosystems from human pressures. In this idea, the environment is communally cared for, integrating humans and nature; degrowth implies the perception of ecosystems as inherently valuable, not just as a source of resources. At the Second International Conference on degrowth, ideas such as a maximum wage and open borders were discussed. There's also an acknowledgement with degrowth that population growth is not the central issue to the need for industrial growth, because larger populations in the global South may use far fewer resources than a handful of individuals in the global North. Degrowth suggests a deontological shift so that lifestyles that involve a high level of resource consumption are no longer seen as attractive. Other visions of degrowth include the global North repairing past injustices from centuries of colonization and exploitation, and redistributing wealth, and a concept of the appropriate scale of action is a major topic of debate within degrowth movements.Some researchers believe that the world will have to pass through Great Transformation, "by design or by disaster", therefore ecological economics have to incorporate Postdevelopment theories, Buen vivir and degrowth if they want to really change something.
A 2022 paper by Mark Diesendorf found that limiting global warming to 1,5 degrees with no overshoot would require a reduction of energy consumption. It describes (chapters 4-5) degrowth toward a steady state economy as something possible and probably positive. The study ends with the words: “The case for a transition to a steady-state economy with low throughput and low emissions, initially in the high-income economies and then in rapidly growing economies, needs more serious attention and international cooperation."Rebound effect"Technologies designed to reduce resource use and improve efficiency are often touted as sustainable or green solutions. Degrowth literature, however, warns about these technological advances due to the "rebound effect", also known as Jevons paradox. This concept is based on observations that when a less resource-exhaustive technology is introduced, behavior surrounding the use of that technology may change, and consumption of that technology could increase or even offset any potential resource savings. In light of the rebound effect, proponents of degrowth hold that the only effective "sustainable" solutions must involve a complete rejection of the growth paradigm and a move to a degrowth paradigm. There are also fundamental limits to technological solutions in the pursuit of degrowth, as all engagements with technology increase the cumulative matter-energy throughput. However, the convergence of digital commons of knowledge and design with distributed manufacturing technologies may arguably hold potential for building degrowth future scenarios.Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrowth
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Mar 18, 2023 14:19:40 GMT -7
Mitigation of climate change and determinants of 'growth'Scientists report that degrowth scenarios, where economic output either "declines" or declines in terms of contemporary economic metrics such as current GDP, have been neglected in considerations of 1.5 °C scenarios reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), finding that investigated degrowth scenarios "minimize many key risks for feasibility and sustainability compared to technology-driven pathways" with a core problem of such being feasibility in the context of contemporary decision-making of politics and globalized rebound- and relocation-effects. However, structurally realigning 'economic growth' and socioeconomic activity determination-structures may not be widely debated in both the degrowth community and in degrowth research which may largely focus on reducing economic growth either more generally or without structural alternative but with e.g. nonsystemic political interventions. Similarly, many green growth advocates suggest that contemporary socioeconomic mechanisms and metrics – including for economic growth – can be continued with forms of nonstructural "energy-GDP decoupling". A study concluded that public services are associated with higher human need satisfaction and lower energy requirements while contemporary forms of economic growth are linked with the opposite, with the contemporary economic system being fundamentally misaligned with the twin goals of meeting human needs and ensuring ecological sustainability, suggesting that prioritizing human well-being and ecological sustainability would be preferable over growth in current metrics of economic growth. The word 'degrowth' was mentioned 28 times in the United Nations' IPCC Sixth Assessment Report by Working Group III published in April 2022.1.5 °C scenario map under different levels of energy-GDP decoupling, RE speed and NETs
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Mar 18, 2023 14:31:45 GMT -7
FeminismThe degrowth movement builds on feminist economics that have criticized measures of economic growth like the GDP as it excludes work mainly done by women such as unpaid care work, that is the work performed to fulfill people's needs, and reproductive work, that is the work sustaining life, first argued by Marilyn Waring. Further, degrowth draws on the critique of socialist feminists like Silvia Federici and Nancy Fraser claiming that capitalist growth builds on the exploitation of women's work. Instead of devaluing it, degrowth centers the economy around care, proposing that care work should be organized as a commons.
Centering care goes hand in hand with changing society's time regimes. Degrowth scholars propose a working time reduction. As this does not necessarily lead to gender justice, the redistribution of care work has to be equally pushed. A concrete proposal by Frigga Haug is the 4-in-1-perspective that proposes 4 hours of wage work per day, freeing time for 4 hours of care work, 4 hours of political activities in a direct democracy and 4 hours of personal development through learning.
Furthermore, degrowth draws on materialist ecofeminisms that state the parallel of the exploitation of women and nature in growth-based societies and proposes a subsistence perspective conceptualized by Maria Mies and Ariel Salleh. Identifying synergies and opportunities for cross-fertilization between degrowth and feminism is currently advancing, with the two discoures being connected through networks including the Feminisms and Degrowth Alliance (FaDA).Intersectional feminismAdditionally, feminist degrowth scholars stress the importance to build on intersectional feminism. Intersectionality describes the simultaneous, multiple, overlapping, and contradictory systems of power that shape our lives and political options. Intersectionality has become one of the key concepts of feminism in recent times. While hegemonic feminism was aimed at white middle-class women, that is, it was eminently a white feminism with very defined characteristics, intersectionality introduced much more disparate realities into the equation.
Legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” in 1989 to describe how systems of oppression overlap to create distinct experiences for people with multiple identity categories. While this theory can be applied to all people, and more particularly all women, it is specifically mentioned and studied within the realms of black feminism and Critical Race Theory. Since its origins, African American scholars and activists criticized the essentialism of the concept of gender, and exposed the need for feminist scholars to be self-reflexive, self-critical and aware of their own positionality as a standpoint.
The emergence of the term intersectionality in fact coincides in time with the rise of third-wave feminism and postcolonial studies, expanding feminism to include women with diverse racial and cultural identities.
The strategy of turning to African American, postcolonial, and socialist feminist work to trace a genealogy of intersectionality pursues a twofold purpose. First, the concept of intersectionality is to be seen in the light of political struggles and theoretical interventions by the very women who are constructed as "the others" by mainstream feminism. Second, by shifting our attention towards the peripheral perspectives within feminism allows bringing them to the center, converting feminism into “the very house of difference” where all diversity among women can find their place.DecolonialismA relevant concept within the theory of degrowth is decolonialism, which refers to putting an end to the perpetuation of political, social, economic, religious, racial, gender, and epistemological relations of power, domination, and hierarchy of the global north over the global south.
The foundation of this relationship lies in understanding that the imminent socio-ecological collapse has been caused by capitalism, which is sustained due to economic growth. This economic growth in turn can only be maintained under the eaves of colonialism and extractivism, perpetuating asymmetric power relationships between territories. Colonialism is understood as the appropriation of common goods, resources and labor, which is antagonistic to degrowth principles.
Through colonial domination, capital depresses the prices of inputs and colonial cheapening occurs to the detriment of the oppressed countries. Degrowth criticizes these mechanisms of appropriation and enclosure of one territory over another and proposes a provision of human needs through disaccumulation, de-enclosure, and decommodification. It also reconciles with social movements and seeks to recognize the ecological debt to achieve the catch-up, which is postulated as impossible without decolonization.
In practice, decolonial practices close to degrowth are observed, such as the movement of Buen vivir or sumak kawsay by various indigenous peoples.
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Mar 18, 2023 14:55:40 GMT -7
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Mar 18, 2023 14:56:43 GMT -7
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Mar 18, 2023 14:58:37 GMT -7
In this Our Changing Climate climate change video essay, I look at how we end consumerism. Specifically, I unpack how degrowth and ecosocialism can work in tandem to stop consumerism and overconsumption and reduce emissions in order to transition to a zero-carbon, post-climate change world. Degrowth is a response to the rampant growth/profit capitalist paradigm that fuels consumerism and is causing climate change. Degrowth de-centers capitalism and consumerism and instead argues for a world wherein there's a planned contraction of rich economies to allow for the well-being of everyone in the world. Degrowth, however, can't function well without ecosocialism. Ecosocialism recognizes that the climate crisis is a capitalist crisis and vice versa. In order to degrowth to work it needs to incorporate full democratic control of the means of production and the state in order to avoid draconian measures of austerity. Degrowth and ecosocialism represent an end to consumerism and overconsumption.
|
|