@DoomsdaysCW Yes, of course, degrowth is dangerous. It will be very difficult to achieve, and many setbacks will occur along the way. But the alternative, which is Business As Usual, staying on the path of continued economic growth, is far *more* dangerous.

You can see the evidence all around us — crashing biodiversity, sea levels rising, the climate heating up, forests and cities burning — to go on this way is madness. Degrowth is the only hope we have for a soft landing.

This is not a joke. It’s a look at the future.

#Capitalism #Enshittification

Thanks for nothing.

I don’t see it much here on Mastodon, but corporate media *loves* articles and news reports about how much better off we are today than our ancestors were.

Sarah Miller (@sarahmiller_22747) has something to say about that…
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Globalized capitalism may be destroying the world, but it has a great PR department. It’s astounding how many people still accept Steven Pinker’s distorted claim that everything has gotten better under capitalism — or since the enlightenment, as he prefers to put it. People live longer, fight less, know more, are happier. You name it, it’s better, says Pinker and his ilk.

What makes life now inarguably better? Having a cell phone and being able to answer questions with a Google search? Having more groovy gadgets? Going to McDonald’s?

It’s true that life expectancy has doubled in the US since the 1880s. But that was thanks mainly to cleaner water and better sewage systems, and then to antibiotics, vaccines, and perhaps blood pressure reducers. Most of that had worked its magic by 1960 and resulted from government-sponsored programs. Since then, life expectancy gains first slowed and have now gone into reverse.

If things have indisputably gotten better over the last 70–100 years, how come we’re all ready to vote out practically anybody who’s in power? How come life expectancy is falling again in the US? There’s a war in Europe? We’re looking for escapes from reality everywhere from sports to meditation? Globalization is collapsing?
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FULL ESSAY -- https://medium.com/@sarahmiller_22747/the-ridiculous-everythings-gotten-better-guys-144ce2d6c19c

#History #Economics #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #Capitalism

This little blip in time from around 1850 until now, when humans had access to seemingly unlimited energy that fueled massive industrial expansion along with a population explosion, clearly cannot be sustained. Something has to give.

After a short but meteoric rise, with most of it occurring across only a few generations, our modern complex industrial society soon will come to an end. That appears all but inevitable.

Degrowth cannot prevent the end of industrial civilization. In fact, it’s not even intended to do that. Instead, degrowth aims to *replace* what was with something better, more just, more equitable, and more sustainable.

If begun quickly and achieved successfully, degrowth may provide a soft landing for our children and our grandchildren, sparing them the horrors of a hard collapse. Not to say the path will always be easy or comfortable, but looking squarely at our options, there can be only one sensible choice:

Degrowth now.

️ https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04412-x

#History #Economics #Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis