“Consuming less may be the single biggest thing you can do to save carbon emissions, and yet no one dares to mention it. Because if we did, it would threaten economic growth, the very thing that is causing the problem in the first place.”
So writes Tim Jackson of the UK’s Sustainable Development Commission, in a 2008 New Scientist article. Well worth reading on the issue of economic growth, and how economists chase it like racehorses with blinders on.
“This is the logic of free-market capitalism: the economy must grow continuously or face an unpalatable collapse. With the environmental situation reaching crisis point, however, it is time to stop pretending that mindlessly chasing economic growth is compatible with sustainability.
Read the full article: “Why politicians dare not limit economic growth“.
Related posts:
- Read: “Chinese Transportation Growth” Can China keep up its astronomical rates of growth? Seems impossible—but no one expected their continuing growth over the past...
- Was the market undone by growth itself? If the push for economic growth contributes to another crash, we may decide that we're better off without it...
- Read: “Zero Point of Systemic Collapse” article by Chris Hedges in Adbusters, February 2010 ...
One Comment
Tim Jackson’s book Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet – http://www.earthscan.co.uk/pwg develops this topic.