DeGrowth – Shrinking to Survive THEN Prosper
DeGrowth is a resurgent survival strategy for contemporary civilization.
First, the consumption footprint must shrink so that most do not have to perish for a few to survive. THEN DeGrowth advocates movement to a Steady State Economy where consumption matches sustainable and renewable resources so that ALL have the opportunity to prosper, not just a few at the top of the Ziggurat.
At the end of March 500 citizens turned up in Barcelona for the second International Conference on Degrowth (aka, DeGrowth, a topology that makes it clear the topic is ‘growth’).
It is not surprising that about 150 – 30 percent of the total – registered as being ‘from Spain’ including 19 who wanted it known they were ‘from Catalonia, thank you’ (New Urban Regionalism at work within the EU).
It may be of comfort to Euro bond holders that the other PIGS were not as well represented (Portugal – 4, Ireland -1 and Greece – 2). There were 9 representatives from the US including both Richard Register from EcoCities and Brian Czech from the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE).
In April of this year a similar gathering was held in Vancouver. The Vancouver New Urban Region is number 4th on the 2010 Mercer Quality of Living Survey Best 50. Barcelona is #44, Paris is # 34.
The First International DeGrowth conference was held in Paris in 2008. The Paris conference produced a declaration that defines ‘degrowth’ as “a voluntary transition towards a just, participatory and ecologically sustainable society.” In other words, enlightened self-interest for the majority.
The declaration states that “if humans do not bring global economic activity into line with the societal needs, the result will be a process of involuntary and uncontrolled economic decline or collapse.” In other words DeGrowth is enlightened self-interest focused on what is best for ALL humans, not just a few at the top of the Ziggurat.
In an impressive display of the power of the Internet, the Barcelona conference organizers have posted a ‘virtual conference.’ This one page provides links to the visuals from many of the key presentations. The presentations are well founded in science and history. There is data on topics that range from Happiness to the Wealth Gap and from Equity to the History of Steady State Economy. Those familiar with the work of Florida and Reich will feel right at home. Go to www.degrowth.eu and judge for yourself.
Enterprise Media did not seem to be interested in covering the Barcelona conference. Information about the conference turns up via Google but there are no obvious links to Enterprise Media outlets. Wikipedia has a detailed summary of ‘degrowth’ and documents why DeGrowth is a ‘resurgent’ survival strategy.
The OVERARCHING perspective of DeGrowth is that CONSUMPTION cannot exceed the capacity of renewable resources, PERIOD.
Most of the participants seem to assume that humans are already in OVERSHOOT. OVERSHOOTERS have been temporarily living off of the consumption of Natural Capital. For this reason SHRINKING consumption is the FIRST step to a sustainable trajectory. (The HOME movie that Groveton recommended is a good place to get a beautiful overview of this reality.)
The overall objective of DeGrowth that can be gleaned from the presentations is to peacefully and equitably evolve lower per capita consumption AND lower number of consumptors through enlightened self-interest including birth control via pillow talk – not war, famine or state dictates.
This goes far beyond the typical concern for ‘conservation and only ASAP in Charlottesville seems to be addressing this issue in the Commonwealth.
The Bottom Line is that it will not be possible to maintain civilization with great disparity between per capita wealth at the top of the Ziggurat and those at the bottom. Further, Balance must exist within the Ziggurats of Community, Region, MegaRegion, Continent or Globe scales.
On the specific topic of “growth”:
To quote Edward Abbey:
“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”
Perpetual growth of consumption is not just impossible, to advocate perpetual growth of consumption is immoral.
Growth and prosperity for a specific:
Ethnic group ( Hitler / Aryans )
Self appointed and / or hereditary ‘leaders’ (North Korea)
Governance philosophy (communism for example)
Religious belief (you choose one) or
Economic system
Is not possible in ‘flat’ world with wide-spread literacy, instant communications / information dissemination and weapons of mass destruction.
As noted at the outset:
DeGrowth is a resurgent survival strategy for contemporary civilization. First, the consumption footprint must shrink so that most do not have to perish for a few to survive. THEN DeGrowth advocates movement to a Steady State Economy where consumption matches sustainable and renewable resources so that ALL have the opportunity to prosper, not just a few at the top of the Ziggurat.
That was the idea of the Founding Fathers except that ALL did not include slaves of either sex, females of any class and most of the males that did not reside at the top of the Ziggurat.
Humans have come a long ways, baby. But they have even farther to go to a sustainable trajectory.
It is the perspective at SYNERGY is that DeGrowth will only succeed when there is a Critical Mass of citizens that understand the need for Fundamental Transformations in settlement patterns, in governance structure and in economic systems.
That perspective is based on an idea that is 2,300 years old and first articulated by Aristotle:
Human settlement patterns are organic systems.
The evolution of organic systems must be founded on an understanding of those systems and must start at the smallest scale – the Unit, the Dooryard, the Cluster, the Neighborhood, the Village and the Community and work UP. Dictates from the nation-state down do not work. See TRILO-G: How to Make the World a Better Place One Alpha Community at a Time.
EMR
