I miss critiques of degrowth. A few years back, a single online search for the term would unleash a stream of fury. But no more. In fact, I cannot remember the last time I stumbled upon a well-argued critique. Why degrowth is wrong by Adam Lee is definitely not one of them – not even close (I […]
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Degrowth in the IPCC AR6 WGII
This is historical. For the first time since its original report in 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has talked about degrowth. The term is mentioned 15 times (plus 12 mentions in the bibliography) in the 3,675-page report of the second working group “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability,” which was released on February 28th, 2022. […]
I often complain about texts critical of degrowth being short. And they mostly are. The average degrowth detractor only affords a few paragraphs, often copiously sprinkled with conceptual slur. Collapse-porn addicts, Malthusian maniacs, prophets of climate despair, civilisation-haters, dirty hippies; closer to a rap battle than to an academic dialogue. Imagine my joy when I […]
I must confess: I spend way too much time reading criticisms of degrowth. While there is plenty to go around (here is a list for fellow aficionados of conceptual brawl), it is – unfortunately – rare to stumble upon a constructive critique. But every now and then, something shiny ends up in my sieve, like the […]
As a social scientist working on degrowth, I got a sudden surge of excitement upon hearing that Marxist geographer Matt Huber recorded a podcast titled Destroying degrowth with facts and logic. But the surge was short-lived. The episode is not really worth listening to, with very little of it actually about degrowth. But this was a […]
It takes time to build a card castle but less to destroy it. While the first part is quite dull, the razing is always a thrill. This is perhaps why people enjoyed Bryan Walsh’s 3-pager How stalling growth hurts the planet. The text is tiny but ambitious since it claims to debunk the degrowth argument. Having […]
On November 26th, Yanis Varoufakis appeared on The Jolly Swagman Podcast. For all of us economics nerds, this is the best Christmas present one could ask for. What threw me off my chair was Varoufakis’ opinion on “degrowth.” As a long-time enthusiast of his work, and considering him a pinnacle of erudition and wit, I was surprised to see him […]
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Fear and Loathing in “Degrowth”
Degrowth is a word that upsets. In certain settings, a mere evocation of the D-word is enough to transform a constructive discussion into a strife; in others, the term becomes a smoke bomb causing widespread confusion. On these grounds, several commentators have argued that “degrowth” must change its name. I hear their arguments and yet I […]
Alors que la situation sanitaire s’enlise, que s’aggrave la situation économique, et que s’approfondit la crise écologique, le débat public autour de la croissance s’appauvrit à coups d’articles superficiels, de préconceptions, de prêt-à-penser, voire d’assertions erronées. Dernier en date : « L’économie s’est-elle vendue à Thanos, adepte de la décroissance ? » par Sébastian Laye dans Capital. Des […]