In response to climate change and environmental breakdown, degrowth has become one of the key concepts in political ecology and related disciplines. Degrowth provides a critique of the ideology of growth measured as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a core objective for capitalist economies. It argues that degrowth is possible, desirable and necessary to halt further ecological destruction and to build socially just and ecologically sustainable societies.
We’re over 8 billion people now and going to be well out of fresh water by the end of the century (if we even make it that far) and arable land soon after (if plants even survive that long what with the heat and unpredictable weather).
If all capitalism, war, and industry completely shut down right now, the resulting genocidal famine still wouldn’t be enough to stop the feedback loops already in place.
The blue ocean event is imminent (likely now in 2027) and once our ice caps melt, all the solar radiation the earth’s been reflecting gets trapped by the ocean and huge amounts of methane will be released from the seabed.
And even if that new fancy reflective white paint scientists just came up with gets the go ahead and starts being produced on a massive scale for global roll out, the manufacture and supply chains will add colossal amounts of carbon and other pollutants to the atmosphere.
So the future is looking pretty bleak guys. But yeah sure, let’s all recycle and keep eating meat and having kids because surely the world can’t end like that. High five for the human race!