Search results for tag #degrowth
Health systems aren't failing.
They're being asked to manage illness generated elsewhere. 🏥
We built an economy for wealth.
Then asked healthcare to clean up the mess.
Now, that damage lives in our bodies.
What if we understood prosperity not as wealth, but as health? ✨
⭕️ A new paper by @ProfTimJackson → https://cusp.ac.uk/themes/health/wp45
—
cc #TheCareEconomy #ProsperityAsHealth #EconomyAsCare #WellbeingEconomy #PostGrowth #PublicHealth #HealthPolicy #Degrowth #ÖkonomieDerFürsorge
My profile tells me it's just over a year since I joined Mastodon, so a bit late for an #introduction but I hear it is a good way to get started on here.
As per my bio, I'm an #ecosocialist from #scotland . I'm principally on here because I write #blogs where I #review things I read, watch or play.
Other than that, my key interests are #culture, #politics, #cats, #taichi, #SF, #books, #systems, #cybernetics, #taoism, #environment and #degrowth.
Recommendations for follows are appreciated.
Research + Self Promo [SENSITIVE CONTENT]
It was an honor to be interviewed by @neil_selwyn for the #Education #Technology #Society #podcast he runs on #Critical #EdTech.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1301377/episodes/18914799-ed-tech-as-climate-criminal
It was about this research thread I've been pursuing for a while on Higher Ed's complicity in the excesses of the #tech sector. I have a position paper in the pipeline with an Irish Journal on EdTech, not super clear when that will be out. The provocation is: "EdTech as Climate Criminal".
Meanwhile, this was only possible thanks to the amazing work and research by loads of brilliant folx, many of who are right here on #mastodon and #lurk.
Huge thank you to @neil_selwyn @ketan @titipi @Aepasek @rra @l03s @320x200 @jasonkoebler @parismarx @decentral1se @alcstrt @djoerd @olivia @praxeology @latentspace @danmcquillan @gerrymcgovern + so many more contributors to the #permacomputing and #degrowth ideas and all my colleagues at the #climate #justice #universities #union #CJUU @index
❤️
I keep seeing phrases like “readily available solutions to the problems of oil dependence”.
That would be nice. But no.
Renewables are rebuildables built with the products of oil and mostly a ‘solution’ to electricity generation only.
There are tens of thousands of petrochemicals in everyday products. Which are slowly killing us and slowly degrading fertility too.
We should want to not be dependent upon oil, but we have to be prepared to do most of what we do *really differently*
Those who would give up essential Well-being for all, to purchase a little temporary Wealth for some, deserve neither Well-being nor Wealth.
What if Everything is Free? Exploring The #LibraryOfThings Concept
"Research has shown that people are increasingly open to collaborative consumption, with studies indicating a rising willingness to share goods instead of purchasing them outright."
by Jed Brown, Feb 19, 2025
"In today’s consumer-driven society, the idea of ownership is so deeply ingrained that imagining a world where everything is free can seem radical — if not downright impossible.
Yet, emerging initiatives like the Library of Things invite us to reconsider our relationship with material goods. Rather than accumulating items, communities are experimenting with a model where objects are shared rather than owned."
Read more:
https://medium.com/@jedbrown99/what-if-everything-is-free-f52874528afc
#SolarPunkSunday #SharingEconomy #LibrariesOfThings #BorrowDontBuy #Degrowth #LibrariesOfThings #Decapitalize
#Florida: Donations wanted for #OrlandoFL and #JacksonvilleFL #LibraryOfThings!
"The #CenterForBiologicalDiversity fights not only to protect wildlife and wild lands in Florida but also to address the underlying causes of the extinction crisis, including the excessive production and consumption of new products.
"That’s why we’re excited to announce that we’re working with #Shareable and other partners to establish Library of Things pilot projects in Orlando and Jacksonville.
"A Library of Things is a shared community resource where useful items can be borrowed just like books that are in circulation for years, reducing the demand to produce new goods that destroy habitat, generate greenhouse gases, create pollution, and harm wildlife.
"Sharing also disrupts the current U.S. economic model that demands endless growth through the constant purchasing of new things. It challenges the traditional consumerist mindset that drives overproduction and leads to items getting thrown away after only a few uses.
"You can support this effort by donating items from the library’s wish lists. Whether it's a bicycle repair kit for someone who bikes for transportation, kitchen items for a new university student, or a generator for emergency preparedness, every item counts. By donating, you’ll help neighbors save money and push back against the culture of consumerism.
Here's how it works
"The Jacksonville Library of Things pilot, located at University of North Florida dormitories, is looking for donations of board games, kitchen items, phone chargers and tools to be used by students living in the dorms, based on a needs assessment conducted with students in partnership with the University.
"The Central Florida Tool Library (serving Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties) is seeking donations related to disaster preparation and response, as well as home repair and maintenance. These items were identified based on conversations between community members and our partner, #CentralFloridaMutualAid.
"Each wish list notes whether the item can be gently used or refurbished or must be new. (Certain products must be new for the libraries to ensure they meet safety and fire code standards. But purchasing these items once to be shared among the community prevents each future borrower from buying more.)
"Links to secondhand and refurbished sites are included where possible. The wish lists also provide a desired quantity of each item. Once the maximum number of items is claimed, you’ll see the request has been fulfilled. The mailing address to send the products for inclusion in the Library of Things can be found in the wish list."
Original article:
https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/sustainability/library_of_things
#CentralFlorida #ToolLibrary Wishlist:
https://sokindregistry.org/registry/CFLToolLibrary
Jacksonville Library of Things Wishlist:
https://sokindregistry.org/registry/JaxFLLOT
#LibrariesRule #Libraries #LibrariesOfThings #SharingEconomy #SolarPunkSunday #BorrowDontBuy #Degrowth #CircularEconomy #LibraryOfThings
📺 https://peer.adalta.social/w/23R4WXse3SeTsBue4NNvxa
🔗 [🇩🇪🇺🇸🇫🇷](https://p4u.xyz/ID_ZSXGFI-0/1)
🔗 [ℹ️](https://www.monbiot.com/2019/04/30/the-problem-is-capitalism/")
Le système économique dominant atteint ses limites biophysiques, forçant un choix radical entre sa perpétuation et la survie des écosystèmes.
📺 https://peer.adalta.social/w/ur6Vke9SrgV2r69SMRupFy
🔗 [🇩🇪🇺🇸🇫🇷](https://p4u.xyz/ID_ZSXGFI-0/1)
🔗 [ℹ️](https://www.monbiot.com/2019/04/30/the-problem-is-capitalism/")
The foundational conflict of our era is between an infinite-growth economic model and the finite boundaries of a living planet.
📺 https://peer.adalta.social/w/u9xjXBm3P3GnV8M5yvbpU3
🔗 [🇩🇪🇺🇸🇫🇷](https://p4u.xyz/ID_ZSXGFI-0/1)
🔗 [ℹ️](https://www.monbiot.com/2019/04/30/the-problem-is-capitalism/")
Die systemische Krise des Kapitalismus erfordert eine radikale Neuausrichtung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft.
Knowing that yt is BAD, that a solarpunk future uses privacy respecting, just tech, that we have a lot of learning and sharing skills and ideas to do, how do we move valuable information currently found on yt to open platforms like Peertube and the internet archive?
How can non-techy people learn more about this stuff, and help? What hashtags would help?
Wow. This is really harsh criticism👍 of integrated assessment modelers and engineers who hide everything that challenges their lifestyle in fairy tales about CCS and H2. Allwood shows how #paper, #steel, #cement, #aluminum, #plastic, and #glass can only become climate-neutral through degrowth.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44286-025-00344-1
The best thing is his harsh language. He takes no prisoners, but shoots liars on sight.
No wonder. After all, it was their lies that always prevented greenhouse gas reductions from being implemented quickly enough to match the risk. Academia bears a huge share of the blame.
#CCS #ClimateChange #IAM #SharedEconomicPathways #Degrowth #EconObscene #Economics #ClimateEconomics
"Degrowth is defined as the intentional downscaling of global resource consumption for the purpose of achieving ecological sustainability and social justice. In doing so, degrowth challenges the idea of economic growth itself."
"We do need some renewables. But the ‘transition’ must be radically reframed. We must not start by asking “how do we transition the current global economy to renewable energy” – that proposition is a death sentence. We must start by asking “what are our real human energy needs, and how do we meet them in the wisest way possible?” In other words, what are the needs of thriving local economies."
Link: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2026-02-13/humanity-is-not-the-problem/
#Localization #DeGrowth #Community #Sustainability #Economy
Alt...
Humanity Is Not the Problem!
Helena Norberg-Hodge Henry Coleman, originally published by Local Futures
February 13, 2026
True climate action doesn’t require vast data centers, billions of liters of water, or mineral-intensive hardware. It requires shorter distances, stronger communities, healthy soils, local food webs, and diverse, place-based economies that reduce demand at the source.
Teaser image credit: A turbine blade convoy passing through Edenfield, England. By Paul Anderson, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5159931
"We need to curb consumption! #degrowth now! Wean yourself off of your screens and the endless doomscrolling!"
The monkey paw curls.
Hell, I'm not even mad. I smell a scavenging, repair, and refurbishing boom coming, and I'm all for it. :)
www.ft.com/content/3c15... "50,000km of high-speed #rail, enough track to circle the globe, compared with 8,500km in the whole of the #EU as of 2023. Just over two decades after it was launched, the network now links 97 per cent of #cities with #populations of more than half a million" #degrowth
#Degrowth and fashion: How #upcycling innovators show us how to rethink and reuse waste
by Handan Vicdan, The Conversation
June 19, 2025
"We emphasize the growing interest in the story of waste material, which is reinforcing strong connections to waste and its origins. Upcycling designers highlight local and material heritage in the production of upcycled clothes, which is necessary to foster the ecological and material consciousness required for a degrowth transition. Designers we interviewed evoked the idea that 'nature doesn't waste anything', and mentioned being inspired by and mimicking nature's cycles in the design process."
Read more:
https://phys.org/news/2025-06-degrowth-fashion-upcycling-rethink-reuse.html
#SolarPunkSunday #SlowFashion #FastFashion #ReuseRestoreRepair #Mending #Upcycling #Reuse
"But what if I told you that the most effective weapon against Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin isn’t a new missile system or a trade treaty?
What if the revolution starts with a worm bin in your kitchen and a tomato plant on your balcony?"
Link: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2026-02-04/the-radish-rebellion/
#RightToRepair #Gardening #Thrift #Community #Sustainability #Economy #DeGrowth
Alt...
The Radish Rebellion
Saskia , originally published by Resilience.org
February 4, 2026
Every time you plant a seed, you are declaring independence. Every time you repair a toaster, you are voting against disposable culture. Every time you generate a kilowatt-hour on your roof, you are disarming a dictator.
Photo of two radishs half out of the soil, under a canopy of leaves. Teaser image credit: Raphanus sativus var. sativus Radish. By 松岡明芳 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22460280
“It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life.” - Gandalf
Read the Article: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2026-02-03/you-dont-miss-what-doesnt-exist/
Get the book: https://www.sevenstories.com/books/4795-anthropause
#Bookstodon #DeGrowth #Community #Sustainability #Economy #SteadyStateEconomy
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You Don’t Miss What Doesn’t Exist
Don , originally published by Green Social Thought
February 3, 2026
“Anthropause” is an amazing word and the latest book about it is an eye-opener. Stan Cox’s Anthropause: The Beauty of Degrowth (2026, Seven Stories Press), does what far too few degrowth books do – it first focuses readers’ attention to the positive experiences we could enjoy in a society less dedicated to producing unnecessary stuff. It then details the destructiveness of overproduction.
"...The contributions of Anthropause are mind-bending. It should be on the bookshelf of all of the growing number of degrowth enthusiasts. To repeat, its most significant feature is its focus on how people could enjoy degrowth. Like other recent authors, Cox points out that capitalism requires growth, making it incompatible with human and environmental needs. Similarly, he notes that degrowth inspires people to struggle against racism and colonialism. Capitalist growth is based on creating a poor world for the rich world to exploit..."
Wir haben hier ja einige #solarpunk s.
Thematisch sehr nah dran scheint mir #degrowth.
Mich würden Eure Meinungen dazu interessieren:
- economic madness,
- der einzige Weg nach vorn oder
- just another craze?
https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/104840-007-A/brauchen-wir-wirtschaftswachstum/
Wie steht ihr zu #Degrowth im Allgemeinen?
Im Speziellen?
Konkret?
| Degrowth unterstütze ich und würde mitmachen: | 41 |
| Degrowth klingt sympathisch, aber ich habe Zweifel: | 24 |
| Macht mal ruhig, aber nix für mich: | 0 |
| Degrowth ist das Ende des Wohlstands: | 3 |
Der Siegener Uni-Professor Niko Paech lehrt Ökonomie, will von Wirtschaftswachstum als dauerhaftem Wohlstandsgarant nichts wissen, und lebt selbst #Degrowth.
https://www.rnd.de/panorama/uni-professor-niko-paech-will-dass-sich-die-industrie-in-deutschland-halbiert-VE5JXQKVLFBFZASJTKJBQGLYL4.html
@emily_rugburn Also, there are topics that we regularly post about -- #Degrowth, #CircularEconomy, #RepairCafes, #LibraryOfThings, #Rewilding, #GrowYourOwnFood, #Solar, #CriticalMass, #GardeningForPollinators, #Earth4All, #SolarPunkFiction, #Permaculture, etc. Both visions of the world we want to create, and practical ways to pull it off. We share information and (hopefully) are helping to build community, and make others aware of resources, what's being done, tips and DIYs, etc.
Everything the oligarchy is doing is about the coming Climate Collapse and Resource Wars.
One way or another it all ties back to the reality they know good and well is coming.
They don't want DeGrowth b/c they want to keep living like kings while everyone else is living as serfs. Or slaves.
They don't want a world where all get their fair share. They want a world with nobody else in it.
#ClimateCrisis #PolyCrisis #Economy #DeGrowth #Sustainability #Community
Alt...
We’re racing down the highway to a Mad Max world: But there’s a degrowth way out
Stan Cox, originally published by Tom Dispatch
January 15, 2026
We’d reap myriad benefits by deeply cutting resource use while ensuring that collective sufficiency and justice for all become the focus of our world.
Featured image: Oil Rigon a misty predawn sea by Philippa McKinlay is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 /Flickr
Folks who made fun of degrowth as being magical and unrealistic should be asked about this totally natural phenomenon - population shrinking, consumption reducing in some of the wealthiest parts of the world. No upheaval. No revolutions. Just nothing. Maybe it is a viable idea - politically speaking.
#degrowth #population #justice #humanrights #climatechange #adaptation
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Household consumption in Europe
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Number of births in Japan
20 books that have had an impact on who you are. One book a day for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just book covers (don't forget the alt text).
#20books20days 1/20 #bookstodon #LimitsToGrowth #Degrowth #LtG #Earth4All #ClubOfRome #StabilizedWorld
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THE LIMITS TO GROWTH
"This headline-making report on the imminent global disaster facing humanity -- and what we can do about it before time runs out. One of the most important documents of our age!" - Anthony Lewis, The New York Times
An image of an shrinking planet earth.
Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jorgen Randers, William Behrens, et al.
RE: https://scholar.social/@wim_v12e/115740022842000842
My talk at the
School of Computing Science
in the seminar
Low Carbon and Sustainable Computing
in #Glasgow is public. Thanks to @wim_v12e for inviting me!
As usual an update on "Resource Consumption of Data Centers and AI"
Investigation shows large support for core ideas of degrowth—but not the label https://phys.org/news/2025-12-large-core-ideas-degrowth.html
Essay - How the climate conversation went punk
From #SlowFashion to #GuerrillaGardening, the internet has transformed solarpunk, a literary movement, into an alternative lifestyle trend.
Written by Sonal Gupta
Mumbai | Updated: November 20, 2025
Excerpt: "In 2020, #SolarPunkFarms cropped up in California as a #communal living space whose inhabitants grow and share their own food. The leftovers are sent to local markets. They have designed their #greenhouse after the animations of #HayaoMiyazaki. In fact, the works of the #StudioGhibli founder have found resonance among solarpunks, as he places nature as a character in his plots. In his visions, nature is at its most beautiful—lush greenery, rays of light, the dew on leaves, and the wind blowing life into trees.
"Though these changes are encouraging, it’s ironic that as we move past dystopian visions, the #capitalists of the world, running in the #AI race, threaten to steer us to the very future. The use of AI itself depletes water resources and generates immense amounts of greenhouse gases and electronic waste. If we are to live in a world where technology exists in harmony with #nature, #activists, stakeholders, and individuals must actively call for more #SustainableSolutions, #AffirmativeAction, and policy changes.
"If cyberpunk warned us of what happens when technology consumes humanity, solarpunk invites us to imagine what is possible when humanity reclaims technology. It reminds us that hope, like sunlight, is a renewable resource too."
Read more:
https://indianexpress.com/article/fresh-take/what-is-solarpunk-climate-change-10334376/
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/8loNL
#SolarPunkSunday #SolarPunk #HopePunk #DeGrowth #DeCapitalize #RightToRepair #NatureRocks #AISucks #ClimateChange #RenewablesNow #GrowYourOwnFood #ABetterWorld #StabilizedWorld #ClimateAdaptation
The main reason I believe this is that Earth's energy imbalance continues to worsen, and there seem to be no credible efforts aimed at reducing it. If anything, many world governments seem hellbent on making the imbalance worse. By energy imbalance I mean the difference between the amount of energy coming into the Earth system from the sun compared to how much is radiated back out to space. For Earth's average temperature to remain stable, the energy going out must balance the energy coming in. However, for a long time now more energy has been coming in than what leaves. Since 2010 or so, the imbalance persists in this direction all year long (1). You don't need sophisticated modeling to understand that a net influx of energy results in an increase in temperature; that's basic thermodynamics.
Things will not get better for us climate-wise till we reverse this imbalance. Global average temperature will continue to rise. As a result, extreme weather events will become more common and more extreme. More and more of Earth's surface will become uninhabitable. More and more non-human species will go extinct. More and more ecosystems will collapse. Forests will burn. Temperate regions will become deserts.
Perhaps more frighteningly, we're on track to hit a couple tipping points, like the collapse of the AOMC, that would cause major shifts in world climate patterns in very short timeframes, possibly shorter than the amount of time we'd need to effectively adapt to them. Some of us (2) could adapt to some of the changes wrought by gradually-increasing temperature, at least for awhile. But something like AOMC collapse would likely generate a catastrophe of a scope and scale far beyond any we've ever lived to see.
We're almost literally playing with fire right now. Changing your lightbulbs to LEDs or bicycling instead of driving a car is not going to put it out, sorry to say (3). Obsession with exponential economic growth will undo the good of any individual-level actions almost immediately. We need something more than this.
I still don't know what I, personally, can or will do. I'm reflecting on that question a lot lately. I hope everyone will. #NewYear #HappyNewYear #Climate #ClimateChange #Degrowth
(1) In prior years, there'd be at least a few months during the year when more energy was radiated back out to space than stayed at the surface. That changed around 2010.
(2) I don't mean to diminish the horrors of those who will be disproportionately affected by climate warming and who may not be able to adapt.
(3) Still do those things--everything helps--but there's a rushing current going one way and splashing a bit in the opposite direction is not going to change the flow.
Long post [SENSITIVE CONTENT]
I am not trying to imply that any of this is simple to solve or deal with. I think the analysis of ultimate outcomes if we stay on a particular #energy usage trajectory is relatively simple because it's just about energy balance, but what to do about it is a significantly different matter bringing in the full range of complexity of human endeavor. I don't pretend to have answers there, but naturally I have a lot of thoughts and I'll share a couple more.One reason I'm not solidly in the #renewables camp, aside from the energy blindness argument I posted previously, is that virtually everything we do right now is deeply dependent on #fossilfuel. Even an unforeseen 1% deficit in #oil production could have catastrophic effects across the planet. I think we have no choice but to give up this source of energy eventually--it's finite, after all, and we seem to be pulling up the last feasibly-accessible bits of it as we speak--but we're inviting disaster if we're not circumspect about how we go about it.
To elaborate a bit, one area of risk I know a bit about because of my simulation work is that so-called "baseload generation" of electricity cannot be done with current renewable technologies (that I know of) aside from hydroelectric and geothermal. Baseload generation refers to the consistent baseline of energy required to make things go--think hospitals or water treatment plants and pumping stations, the sewage system, things we deem necessary to have always going. Without adequate baseload generation we risk the entire electric grid collapsing and everyone losing electric power and everything that depends on it for long periods of time across large geographic areas simultaneously, a dystopian apocalypse film made real for a large number of people.
Nuclear (18%), hydroelectric (6%), coal (20%) and natural gas (40%) are the main baseload generation technologies in the US energy mix (from https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3). Geothermal could be baseload but is
It's a hairball of a problem.
That's why what I'm really on board with is #degrowth, or in the absence of that not adding more to growth. In the long term we have no choice but to abandon "make #GDP go up" as an #economic imperative for governments, so we might as well drive there in the most systematic and harm-minimizing manner we can. Anything we can do to reduce harm in the meantime--including embracing renewable energy sources--is great and we should do all of them, but I can't hang my hopes on what I see as stopgaps. One of the most immediate and effective things we can do is take the pressure off the energy-generating system by not increasing energy demand exponentially year after year. That's where I am in my thinking right now anyway.
Unless we develop that perfectly-insulated planetary exhaust pipe, I guess!