The Imperative for Degrowth

Growth is the structural imperative of capitalism. Unlimited growth has caused our ecological crisis. Unending growth is unsustainable on a finite planet. We are experiencing the initial impacts of climate change, but these impacts are only a part of the ecological breakdown we face. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has spelled out nine planetary boundaries: The most recognized among them, aside from climate change, are biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, ozone depletion, freshwater abuses, and land-system change. Economic growth has been sold across the world as necessary to improve people’s lives. The data indicate the opposite, however.

Many countries with lower GDPs than the U.S. have higher life expectancy, better health care, superior educational systems, and more affordable housing. Take Costa Rica with a tenth of the GDP per capita of the U.S. as an example. Life expectancy there is about three years more than in the U.S.; it enjoys universal health care, and its health-care system is ranked higher than that of the U.S. by the World Health Organization; it spends 8 percent of its GDP on education compared to the U.S.’s 5 percent; and it has less poverty and income inequality than we have.

Published in 2020, Jason Hickel’s book Less Is More lays outs a comprehensive path to restructuring capitalist economies to move away from unfettered growth and consumption. One strategy he propounds is to end planned obsolescence by requiring extended warranties on products (2-5 times their current average lifespan) and by establishing the “right to repair,” making it illegal to produce things that can’t be easily repaired.