Tag: Politics

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Progressive Degrowth

Degrowth is a conservative perspective on humanity’s future and thus always runs into serious  acceptance problems when dealing with progressive proposals of “limitless” developments. What is needed is a reframing of these proposals as conservative and limiting our future while degrowth is presented as a “new progressivism”.

If you are an optimist regarding your life, technological opportunities and the general scheme of things, degrowth is hardly an attractive political-economical idea – less a philosophy you’d like to call your own.… Read more

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Groundhog day in Greece: On the missed opportunity for setting degrowth on the political agenda

The electoral victory of SYRIZA in Greece has fueled imaginations on the European left for a departure of ‘no alternative’ austerity politics. As much as a return of more imaginative politics is desperately needed in order to revitalize European democracy and save it from too much technocratic post-politics, it is rather doubtful if there really is a true alternative from a postgrowth or degrowth perspective. When looking more closely at SYRIZA’s Thessaloniki program many elements can be found that have the name of John Maynard Keynes written all over them: cutting taxes on fuel and property, raising the tax threshold, reintroducing a 13th month pension for low income pensioners, a 3bn EUR employment program sought to create up to 300,000 new jobs, and an increase in the country’s minimum wage.… Read more

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Underneath our skin: the new economy beyond growth

This is a very rough transcript of an interview done with Justin Ritchie and Seth Moser-Katz from the Extraenvironmentalist, a great “podcast, blog and video series that explores the mindset of an outsider looking in on Earth” – and a way of thinking as they proclaim. The original podcast from which this transcript has been produced (by myself, so all errors are exclusively my fault) can be found on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/extraenvironmentalist/episode-83-1-andr-reichel-are

 

André Reichel (AR): If we want to restrict global climate change to about 2C we need emissions reductions in the range of 8 to 10 % per year.… Read more

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It’s Postgrowth, Stupid!

The recent report on ‘Better Growth, Better Climate’ immediately resonated strongly with the media and policy makers. In a nutshell, the report argues that we can have everything: inclusive growth and development, better climate and ecosystem stability, and most likely we also can save the whales. I don’t want to belittle the strategic intent of the report and its drive towards very sensible policies in the light of an ever-increasing global ecological crisis. I especially welcome its focus on cities as a level of transformational government, the plea for establishing a low-carbon infrastructure, and a cut to non-sustainable subsidies in the energy sector.… Read more

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Postgrowth Europe: The Next Big Civilization Experiment?

Earlier this year, I wrote a blog article on “The End of Europe“. The motivation behind it was this nagging feeling that something went wrong on the old continent, that something along the way to European integration got lost – the heart and soul of Europe and what this European project is about. For 500 years, Europe was about civilization – and dominance, colonization, exploitation of people and planet, bloody wars at home and abroad; but also great successes in the progress of humanity, with the formulation (and “sacralization” according to Hans Joas) of human rights, born out of the European traumata so inseparably connected to its cruel history.… Read more