With the UN IPCC Working Group 3 report coming out last week, and it explicitly saying economic growth will be a prevailing factor in burning the world into a crisp, it’s time to ask again: what are the alternatives? How do we build societies that don't have fossil-based growth at the heart of them?
This week on the show we are joined by Timothée Parrique (@timparrique). Timothée's writings include his PhD “The political economy of degrowth”, which is he currently writing as a book adaptation, and “Decoupling debunked - Evidence and arguments against green growth”, a report for the European Environmental Bureau (EEB). We discuss the upcoming French elections (recorded before the results of the first round), degrowth in the latest IPCC report, the language of degrowth vs a Green New Deal, and why growth is a poor way to describe economic behaviour.
Check out our Just As Well series of articles with great writers across the world looking at just transitions.
LINKS
Delphine Batho - French presidential candidate on degrowth during a primary last year:
https://www.tellerreport.com/life/2021-09-09-delphine-batho-pleads-for-degrowth-in-the-face-of-the-climate-emergency.H1dgs0PzF.html
1972 Donella Meadows' report, The limits to Growth:
https://www.donellameadows.org/wp-content/userfiles/Limits-to-Growth-digital-scan-version.pdf
IPCC Group 3 report
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/
The social shortfall and ecological overshoot of nations
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-021-00799-z
The World Happiness Index
https://worldhappiness.report/
SHOUT OUTS
Scientist rebellion
@ScientistRebel1
The one and only Julia Steinberger (all the love to your mum right now)
@JKSteinberger
Ben Crawford
Suzie lawrence - our fantastic illustrator for the Just as Well series
@zanillustration