Today, humans and their livestock account for 96% of mammalian biomass, and wild animals make up only 4%. Existential crises like these are the direct result of human economic activity. The most striking examples are today’s rapidly advancing ecological overshoot, whereby renewable resources are used faster than they are regenerated by nature, along with the sixth mass extinction. The degrowth movement embraces the inconvenient truth that climate change is only one of several macro-scale challenges unfolding on the planet today. The snail, symbol of the degrowth movement (CC0 1.0 Public Domain) A Case for Degrowth Here I make the case for degrowth and green growth as crisis response strategies, then explore the potential for a productive interlocution between the two. Integration of this and other ecological insights into climate dialogue and action is crucial for shifting the needle toward a more holistic, structural response to emerging environmental collapse. But degrowth is grounded in the ecological reality that resources are finite, a key truth that mainstream climate advocates seem to ignore. It’s like an annoying heckler best relegated to the sidelines of climate strategy.ĭegrowth’s foundational opposition to continued economic expansion presents a clear challenge to coalition-building on climate. For green growthers, degrowth is an impractical diversion. It critiques the only consensus solution available today: the decarbonization of the global economy through a “green growth” renewable energy revolution. Degrowth runs perpendicular to the current, hard-won momentum of the global climate response. My friend’s problem lies more with degrowth as an action plan on climate than it does with degrowth’s theoretical underpinnings. She views it as an unhelpful distraction from humanity’s efforts to grapple with the climate crisis. She’s wary of the degrowth movement, as are many prominent players in the climate transition.
She is easily the most astute climate thinker I know, with insights available only to those deeply immersed in the nuances of climate finance and decarbonization.
I’m having an ongoing conversation with a friend about the merits and drawbacks of degrowth as a climate action strategy.
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