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Degrowthers Gain Support as Planet Cooks. Can They Ally With Green New Dealers?

Degrowth and its opponents recognize the necessity of mass movements and system change to address the climate emergency. By Gareth Dale , TRUTHOUT 27Aug 23

egrowth, a movement advocating reductions in energy and resource use across the Global North, is finding new audiences. In Japan, Kohei Saito’s degrowth manifesto Capital in the Anthropocene became a bestseller. In Europe, members of the European Parliament sponsored a three-day “Beyond Growth” conference. In the U.S., the socialist journal Monthly Review has come around to degrowth. In recent weeks, the topic has been covered by New Statesman, The New Yorker, Jacobin, the British Medical Journal and The New York Times, among others.

Writing in New Statesman, economist Hans Stegeman proposes that the debates between degrowth and green growth are already outdated. In the present era of low GDP growth, there is no meaningful choice between the two. Instead, at least in the absence of any radical reordering of society, economies are by default transitioning toward a post-growth model.

In The New Yorker, environmental activist Bill McKibben presents degrowth as a call to reduce consumption, in contrast to the Green New Deal (GND), which emphasizes production. Evenhandedly, he opposes “endless” growth but parts company with degrowthers when they, citing the ecological costs of all the mining required, refuse to support “an all-out push for electric vehicles (EVs), heat pumps, solar panels and wind turbines.” Why not do both, he asks: Invest in renewables and EVs while also restricting “wasteful consumerism”?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………more https://truthout.org/articles/degrowthers-gain-support-as-planet-cooks-can-they-ally-with-green-new-dealers/?utm_source=Truthout&utm_campaign=c6c53059c2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_3_20_2023_13_41_COPY_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbb541a1db-c6c53059c2-650192793&mc_cid=c6c53059c2&mc_eid=73e1cd43d0

August 28, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | ENERGY