Can We Separate GDP Growth And Ecological Limits?

Next time you run into a classically trained economist (happens all the time, right?) start talking with him/her about ecological limits. They might squirm a little, but probably respond as trained: with some zombie-like responses about “decoupling.” What is decoupling? Basically, it’s a concept of being able to continue growing economic output without a corresponding increase in environmental impact.

The overall idea is that improvements in production efficiency allow you to make more with less. Theoretically we can increase our efficiency and make more stuff using the same amount of resources and/or generating the same amount of pollution.

Applying this concept to renewable resources would be incredibly beneficial. We could use wood, for instance, in a more sustainable fashion if we decoupled the economic growth from resource use and did so under the ecological limits of forest regeneration.

As you might have already guessed, there are quite a few flaws with this concept. You might have also noticed that it seems at first glance to have a broad definition. In general, however, there are two types of economic decoupling: relative and absolute. The first type appears to have a cursory chance of working, the latter is fundamentally impossible.

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In an certain ironic sense the “growth” of the growth debate is a bit of an oxymoron, but then again so is “jumbo shrimp.” I am a believer in humanity’s common sense and ability to make progress, even in the face of our own evils and stupidity. It sure seems to me that one could become down-trodden by news of all the degradation of our planet, social bonds, communities, humanity, and equality that result from endless pursuit of material wealth. Yet, it is to our own credit that we realize the err of our ways and make attempts to fix these problems.

There has been an increase in the number of post-growth-ers, de-growth-ers, steady-staters, and general questioning of economic growth in the last year. This might be partially fueled by the global economic recession and the increasing alarm of climate change. I also think it is beginning to fuel itself: our activities to raise awareness are spreading the seeds and we’re starting to see those seeds blossom. This is the early Spring of the Big Growth Debate. I hope to see 2010 as the year we changed the economic discussion on a mainstream level.

I am heading to DC next Tuesday to attend the New Green Economy Conference, where I will be volunteering and helping out, as well as joining in on some great seminars, breakout sessions, and symposia. I will, of course, be blogging while there, keeping you all in the loop of the fun and games.

While I partake in the furthering the growth debate, I hope you’ll take some time to further your knowledge as well! Here are a few resources for you to check out:

• Economists start to consider that money can’t buy happiness – a recent article by the Guardian about our metrics of prosperity, alternatives to GDP are becoming a bigger topic nowadays
• Beyond Growth – a new project put together by Jeremy Williams of the blog Make Wealth History
• Post Growth – a new project I am working on with some fellow steady staters, still in-process, but getting closer to an official launch.
• Butterfly Generation – Scott is one of the steady staters I am working with on the Post Growth project and he has a great blog.
• Make Wealth History – Jeremy, as mentioned above, is the blogger behind this work – great stuff on sustainability, related news, book reviews, and sustainable economies.
• cruxcatalyst – Sharon is the other blogger I am working with on the Post Growth project, her blog is her place to show off and stash great articles and the occasional piece of her own work.

New CASSE Site

Also, just a note – if you haven’t seen it yet, the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy has a brand new website design – check it out! They’re still triple checking the site for bugs, but it looks amazing!

Dave Gardner, film producer/director/writer, is in the process of completing would could be a monumentally important film in exposing the fallacy of “growth everlasting.” Armed with a camera and donations from regular folks, Dave has traveled the world questioning our growth addiction. He started in his home town of Colorado Springs and has now taken the filming to the national and global arena.

“Hooked On Growth: Our Misguided Quest For Prosperity” is still in production and could use your help to finish off the process, please take a moment to make a tax-deductible donation to help fund the film’s release. Here’s a quick blurb from the site about the movie:

“Why is it more important to our society to have GDP growth than clean air? And why do communities seek andsubsidize growth even when it destroys quality of life andincreases taxes?

Our growth-centric system is broken. It’s not providing the happiness or the prosperity we seek. But that’s good news; it means a shift to a sustainable model will not require great sacrifice or pain. A transformation will allow us to be happier and more prosperous…

From Las Vegas to Atlanta, Mexico City to Mumbai, the White House to the Vatican, Hooked on Growthtakes us on a whirlwind tour of growth mania. It’s Wild Kingdom with a twist: the cameras are turned onhumanity as our own survival skills are examined. Hooked on Growth looks into the psychology of denial and crowd behavior. It explores our obsession with community growth and economic growth, and our reluctance to address overpopulation issues head-on. This documentary holds up a mirror, encouraging us to examine the beliefs and behaviors we must leave behind – and the values we need to embrace – in order that our children can survive and thrive.”

View the Trailer here (also below) and join the cause!

One year ago I started writing out of passion (and some anger). My how things have evolved! This blog has seen 75 posts in the last year, some of them great, some of them alright, some perhaps less so. I have tried my best to write about the issues important to me: a sustainable society, a healthier planet, a ethcial economy, and a more just world.

I have also learned so much about life, happiness, sustainability, and where I want to be in the world. More importantly, I have learned there is quite a large group of people out there feeling the same way, and we are all beginning to see the division between economic growth and true prosperity. What do you think? I would really value your input on ways I could make this blog better, both in function and in form. Please comment on this post or email me!

Since today marks Steady State Revolution’s one year blogiversary I decided to take a look at the very first post and revise it with some fresh ideas (and hopefully improved writing skill). Here’s the 75th post on the 1-year blogiversary!

Citizen or Consumer?

The US Consumer Unit

Yesterday was the start of the “Christmas Shopping Season.” Aside from the typical trampling of an elderly person at a Wal-mart, this day signifies the beginning of the American Consumer’s busiest time of the year. Between today and New Years we Americans will increase our waste by 25%.

Each year we start sooner and sooner with our Christmas consumption, this year marketers started preparing for the season around Halloween. The average consumer spends about $1,100 a year on gifts, over $800 worth of which is holiday-related purchases. This means 73% of all our gift-related buying is done in the holiday season. That’s a lot of consumption.

Consumerism accounts for a large cog in the economy. Consumption drives the sales of goods, which is incentive to produce more goods. Producing goods is the basis our growth model. In order to grow the throughput (GDP) of our economy, we must increase the production and consumption cycle. What better way to do so than to make it your intuitive nature to spend? What if we could find a way to move people from identifying as themselves, or their jobs, but instead as what they buy? From this the American Consumer is born.

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Here are two lists for the post-growth, steady state economy. The first list is for those of you who haven’t done much reading or are new to the topics. I would suggest reading them for an introduction into steady state concepts and then move on to the more in-depth list. The second list is what I consider (so far) to be the top books/articles – the “must haves” on your post growth reading list and is an expanded companion to the introduction list.

If you only read 5, 10, or 16 books/articles about sustainable economics and post-growth thought these are my suggestions:

Introduction to Post Growth, Steady State Economics

1. Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train, by Brian Czech
2. Thought Control in Economics, Adbusters Issue #85
3. Deep Economy, by Bill Mckibben
4. Prosperity Without Growth, report by Prof. Tim Jackson at the SDC (now a book)
5. The Great Transition, report by New Economics Foundation

Further Post Growth Reading

There you have it. There are many other books/articles/blogs out there and I would definitely recommend you read as much as you can on anything that interests you. My problem usually lies in having more books to read than I have time to devote to them. I’m sure there are worse up-hill battles to be in, though.

Finally done with my big exam! Back to trying to save the world or something of the sort, anyway. What follows is some thoughts I have been having recently while reading Prosperity Without Growth, a great report released by the UK Sustainable Development Committee’s Redefining Prosperity campaign a while back. I will write more about it in the future, but here are some initial thoughts spurred while reading it.

At a certain point our society’s leaders realized that in order to continue growing the economy we would have to turn consumers to debt. This is simply the next step in a series of events lead by our growth addiction. You see in order to get bigger the economy needs consumers to consume. However, you can only consume so much before you run out of money – even with raises there is an ultimate limit.

Our growth economy eventually demands more than you can afford. The solution was to simple relax the restrictions on credit and encourage consumers to buy more than they could afford now, assuming that could afford it later. (up until recently these low restrictions were mostly ignored, though not much has really changed)

But “later” comes with even more demands and less money because you’re now making payments on the stuff you bought in the past. This leads to more lending, spending, and indebtedness.  I would propose that this equates to a false growth of the economy, and a false sense of wealth to the consumer.

So riddle me this batman, what has economic growth done for you lately?

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You too can try this experiment in your house with some simple materials! This is a great short and informative video about neoliberalism, the economic thought that has been triumphed for awhile, that encourages more private economic control instead of public. Of course, we might point out that the economic system is not sustainable – neither ecologically or financially.  Enjoy this video:

Herman Daly is often given credit for pioneering the term “Uneconomic Growth.“  It is a key term in ecological economics and Daly has given us numerous works on the subject. What is uneconomic growth? It is closely related to the optimal or sustainable scale of our economy.

When social or environment costs become larger than the benefits of more production and consumption growth is no longer economic. As Daly and Farley put it in their textbook Ecological Economics uneconomic growth happens when continued growth “costs us more than it is worth. A situation in which further expansion entails lost ecosystem services that are worth more than the extra production benefits of the expanded economy.”

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