The earth is spiraling towards total destruction and extinction – degrowth possible and necessary now in order to reverse the harms in time

∂ From the climate crisis to the , there’s growing evidence that humanity is on a trajectory toward environmental oblivion.∂ It’s no secret that we urgently need a green transition to tackle the climate crisis, overconsumption and the destruction of biodiversity – all of which are rooted in a global economy based on endless consumption.∂ Some experts believe the solution is something known as ‘,’ an approach that promotes economic growth and development while reducing humanity’s ecological footprint.∂ The main idea is that growth can be ‘decoupled’ from resource use, reducing our impact on the planet as economic output increases. This can be done by investing in green technologies and practices, such as renewable energy and sustainable agriculture and forestry.∂ Many international organizations such as , and have already been promoting green growth for over a decade. But is such an optimistic idea even possible?∂ In 2019, the European Environment Bureau (EEB) throwing cold water on the idea of decoupling as a sufficient strategy.∂ “Although decoupling is useful and necessary and has occurred at certain times and places,” it states, “‘green growth’ cannot reduce resource use on anywhere near the scale required to deal with global environmental breakdown and to keep global warming below the target of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.”∂ Economic growth has long been the principle measure of prosperity – but is this changing? Aditya Vyas, ∂ What is degrowth?∂ Enter a radical alternative gaining traction among scientists, policymakers and grassroots social movements: degrowth, an approach that questions the very notion that infinite economic growth is an appropriate way to measure economic prosperity and reduce poverty, or that it’s even possible with the finite resources we have.∂ Proponents of degrowth say rich countries must scale down destructive and unnecessary forms of production to reduce energy and material use, focus economic activity on securing human needs and well-being, and abandon the goal of economic growth altogether.∂ “We’ve overshot the capacity of the planet to support us,” says Peter Victor, professor emeritus of Environmental Studies at York University in Toronto and author of .∂ As his book points out, we are demanding far more of the planet than it can provide through its ability to regenerate – also known as overshoot. Last year, humanity’s ecological footprint exceeded global biocapacity by 71 percent. In other words, we used an entire year’s worth of biological resources in just seven months.∂ “Green growth assumes you can keep expanding GDP [gross domestic product] at the same time you are lightening the burden on the biosphere,” Victor explains.∂ “Degrowth says you can’t reduce this burden unless you reduce the materials and energy used in the economy, and this cannot happen fast enough – or at all – if increasing GDP remains the goal.”∂ Victor believes advocates of green growth don’t recognize that the economy is embedded in the biosphere: we extract raw materials from the earth, transform them into manufactured products, and then dump waste into the air, oceans and land. As the global economy grows, so too does our resource use and pollution.∂ The richest 1 percent of humanity are responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 50 percent. Timothy Newman, ∂ A question of environmental justice∂ What’s more, economic output isn’t shared equally between countries or between people within individual countries. As a result, we overuse resources while still failing to meet many basic human needs.∂ As a prime example, the richest 1 percent of humanity cause more carbon emissions than the poorest 50 percent, according to a 2020 .∂ And if everyone on Earth lived the same lifestyle as the average person in the U.S., .∂ “Escape from overshoot requires a much more comprehensive assessment of the situation than simply the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,” Victor says.∂ That means de-commodifying essential goods and services such as housing, transportation, energy, and healthcare, which should instead be funded through public financing and based on resource-efficient technologies.∂ On the other hand, degrowth would mean drastically cutting the production of goods and services that are not really necessary and have huge environmental footprints – private jets, fast fashion, advertising and military hardware, just to name a few.∂ Some fear that this could lead to mass unemployment, but exponents of degrowth argue that what we need is a fundamental redesign of the global economy, including employment.∂ Government policies would need to guarantee jobs by providing opportunities in the green sector, such as installing renewables and insulating buildings, regenerating ecosystems and improving social care. Demand for these jobs will grow as the economy is decarbonized.∂ As polluting and less ‘important’ industries are phased out, there will inevitably be less work to go around, but degrowth advocates plan on addressing that with a shorter work week, a lower retirement age, and a universal basic income to provide a healthier work-life balance for everyone.∂ What about the Global South?∂ Degrowth is all well and good for the Global North, but what about the developing world? High-income countries are the ones that need to consume less, says Jason Hickel, an economic anthropologist at the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.∂ “Our planet provides more than enough for all of us; the problem is that its resources are not equally distributed,” . “We can improve people’s lives right now simply by sharing what we already have more fairly, rather than plundering the Earth for more.”∂ Developing countries can – and should – grow their economies to improve standards of living, but they shouldn’t seek to emulate the consumerism of their richer counterparts, .∂ Instead, as rich countries slash consumption, the Global South can focus on achieving self-sufficiency rather than serving as exporters of cheap labor and raw materials.∂ “Degrowth is about changing our systems to value other things than economic growth,” says Tom Crowther, founder of the and co-chair of the UN .∂ “At the core of this concept is the equitable redistribution of wealth on our planet, which is also the foundation of a sustainable environmental movement. When we redistribute wealth to the communities living in association with nature, that is when biodiversity and people can thrive.”∂ Developing countries can – and should – grow their economies to improve standards of living.