growth

The Trap of Green Consumerism

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:49:35 -0500

by Raj Patel

I often get asked whether I think fair trade is a bad idea, and my response is usually "it's much better to buy fair trade than to buy unfair trade - but if you care about farmers, ask them what they want." In general, I'm not favorably inclined toward green consumerism.

Economics without Ecocide

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:15:22 -0500

by Peter Brown & Geoffrey Garver

Guiding the global economy now is apparently in the hands of the G20. In September, at their meeting in Pittsburgh (their third in a year), the G20 leaders adopted what they called a "Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth."

The framework is cast as "a process for economic co-operation and coordination to help ensure that post-crisis policies avoid a return to dangerous imbalances that undermine long-term economic growth."

Economic Growth Has Failed Us. What's the Alternative?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:26:33 -0500

by Tim Jackson

Economic growth is supposed to deliver prosperity. Higher incomes should mean better choices, richer lives, an improved quality of life for us all. That at least is the conventional wisdom. But things haven't always turned out that way.

Growth has delivered its benefits, at best, unequally. A fifth of the world's population earns just 2 per cent of global income. Inequality is higher in the OECD nations than it was 20 years ago. Far from improving the lives of those who most needed it, growth let much of the world's population down. Wealth trickled up to the lucky few.

Our Sense of Troubled Normalcy Returns

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:07:00 -0500

by James Carroll

A year ago, the panic was at full bore. October 2008 was the month in which the economic collapse seized the nation by the throat. After weeks in which Congress could not get a grip on the emergency (remember the frantic John McCain suspending his presidential campaign to ride to the rescue in Washington?), the $700 billion bailout bill was passed. Even so, the stock markets went into their steepest declines in decades, the gross domestic product registered its first drop in almost 20 years, and jobs fell off a cliff.

Radical Economic Restructuring Needed, But Not Just Any Version Will Do

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:24:46 -0400

by John Nichols

PITTSBURGH - The G-20 Summit that opens today is unlikely to achieve much when it comes to restructuring the global economic order. That's good news for workers, farmers, consumers and citizens.

What's good about inaction on the part of the leaders of the world's wealthiest nations? While there is no question that a radical restructuring is needed, it must be the right restructuring.

The Biggest Shift from North to South: 'Time to De-Grow'

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:52:21 -0400

BUCHAREST - Serge Latouche, professor emeritus of economic science at the University of Paris-Sud, is one of the main proponents of "the society of de-growth".

He calls for "abandoning the objective of growth for growth's sake, an insane objective, with disastrous consequences for the environment." The need for a 'de-growth' society stems from the certainty, he says, that the earth's resources and natural cycles cannot sustain the economic growth which is the essence of capitalism and modernity.

On a World without Growth

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:57:57 -0400

by Herman Daly

The following excerpts are from Herman Daly's interview with ecological economist Tom Green:

Thinking the Unthinkable: Not Growing the Economy

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:54:45 -0400

by Tim Jackson

Every society clings to a myth by which it lives. Ours is the myth of economic growth. For the last five decades the pursuit of growth has been the single most important policy goal across the world. The global economy is almost five times the size it was half a century ago. If it continues to grow at the same rate, the economy will be 80 times that size by the year 2100.

Consumption: The Root Cause of Climate Change

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:37:42 -0400

by Merrick Godhaven

Technology is part of the solution to climate change. But only part.

Imagine: Prosperity without Growth

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:29:30 -0400

by Murray Dobbin

It is ironic that homo sapiens, we big-brained and clever species, can trace almost every tragedy and failing to one generic cause: a failure of imagination.

We seem to be an idiot savant species -- stunningly clever at so many things, capable of greatness, creativity and sacrifice for others, melding genius and love when we are at our best, and greed and hate at our worst.