Degrowth can work — here’s how science can help

Some of the tangible, interdisciplinary actions that take place in degrowth strategies include economic modelling, civic scenario planning, environmental justice lobbying, teaching and communications, care work, industry-level systems design, grassroots activism and so much more—all contributing to and occurring under new policy conditions.

At a high level, degrowth refers to a voluntary reduction of growth in a democratic society. And degrowth is not specific to fashion alone. This transformative process doesn’t come from an “outside” force like, for example, a recession. A recession isn’t degrowth because it’s a reactive contraction, rather than proactive, controlled shrinking.

The contemporary “degrowth” movement, Giacomo D’Alisa, Federico Demaria, and Giorgios Kallis explain, isn’t against growth, per se; it calls, instead, for a critique of growth as an end in itself, for the “decolonization of public debate from the idiom of economism and for the abolishment of economic growth as a social objective.” [4] In other word

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But this isn’t just about seeking exit from the turmoil of a modern, connected existence, nor is it merely about recharging our batteries so that we can absorb yet more political polarisation, toxic social media or climate catastrophe. It is also about engaging in a social policy of degrowth as a corrective to practices that are taxing the planet, ... See more

For the diverse movement of people calling for degrowth, the motivation is simple: rich countries must balance their economies with planetary boundaries.

People need to understand that all degrowth really is, is a switch in the goal of the economic system. We need to change the goal of the system from the accumulation of capital to the flourishing of all people, not just people in the global north, also people in the global south, and the flourishing of all life on this planet, because our economic ... See more

At its core, the ideas behind degrowth call for new strategies: degrowth is a framework that’s about transformation. It builds on the work of ecological and anti-colonial theorists. In this way, the concept of degrowth is closely linked with climate justice, Indigenous rights, and reparations for fashion’s extractive and neo-colonial production mod... See more

Degrowth ideas sometimes go by other names, too. “Post-growth”, “Altgrowth”, “Donut Economics”, “the Wellbeing Economy”—there are a constellation of terms and intersectional approaches, which could be why this topic is so vulnerable to its language being co-opted.