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Written by: Kamran Mofid

Published: 30 September 2020

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Toward social transformation, justice, fairness, sustainability,

true democracy, peace, health and wellbeing.

Photo:degrowth.org

From COVID-19 pandemic toward sustainability and degrowth

‘The pandemic has lain bare the fragility of existing economic systems. Wealthy nations have more than enough resources to cover public health and basic needs during a crisis, and could weather declines in non-essential parts of the economy by reallocating work and resources to essential ones. Yet the way current economic systems are organized around constant circulation, any decline in market activity threatens systemic collapse, provoking generalized unemployment and impoverishment.

It doesn’t have to be this way. To be more resilient to crises – pandemic, climatic, financial, or political – we need to build systems capable of scaling back production in ways that do not cause loss of livelihood or life. We make the case for degrowth.’...The case for degrowth in a time of pandemic

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The Case for Degrowth

‘The relentless pursuit of economic growth is the defining characteristic of contemporary societies. Yet it benefits few and demands monstrous social and ecological sacrifice. Is there a viable alternative? How can we halt the endless quest to grow global production and consumption and instead secure socio-ecological conditions that support lives worth living for all? 

In this compelling book, leading experts Giorgos Kallis, Susan Paulson, Giacomo D’Alisa and Federico Demaria make the case for degrowth - living well with less, by living differently, prioritizing wellbeing, equity and sustainability.  Drawing on emerging initiatives and enduring traditions around the world, they advance a radical degrowth vision and outline policies to shape work and care, income and investment that avoid exploitative and unsustainable practices. Degrowth, they argue, can be achieved through transformative strategies that allow societies to slow down by design, not disaster.’- BLACKWELL’S

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N.B. Some introductory context is required for the  reader to make sense of Kallis et al.’s important new book (The Case for Degrowth), and other articles which are noted below. 

As many observers with an eye on truth and transparency have noted,  It is now widely accepted that we have entered a period of climate and ecological “emergency” leading to the existential possibility of “ecocide”. Complacency and delay to address and deal with these life-threatening matters have been endemic, whilst it is also recognised that fundamental change is required in order to avert disaster. 

In the last couple of decades the GCGI has been at the forefront of the struggle to highlight and explain  the madness of growth to nowhere, as well as providing some possible alternatives.

Please see below for a few examples from our archives:

Photo:bing.com

The madness of the never ending economic growth

We have to look beyond the madness: we should invest in everyday services to create a society run for collective good

The Growth Delusion and Confusion, The GDP Measurement: lies, damned lies and statistics

The Fallacy of Economic Growth: In Praise of Robert F. Kennedy

The Fallacy of Economic Growth: In Praise of Herman Daly

The Fallacy of Economic Growth: In Praise of Vandana Shiva

...And for a more comprehensive reading see:

Economic Growth: The Index of Misery

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A reduction of economic activity is necessary and just – and can lead to human flourishing.

Photo:OpenDemocracy

‘To sustain the natural basis of our life, we must slow down. We have to reduce the amount of extraction, pollution, and waste throughout our economy. This implies less production, less consumption, and probably also less work.

The responsibility to do so must lie mainly on the rich, who currently enjoy a disproportionate share of our resources. But we should also do things differently, as much of today's economic activity is of little benefit to human wellbeing. Imagine what could be if we organized democratically to produce what we actually need, distributed those resources fairly, and shared them in common. This, in a nutshell, is the vision of degrowth: a good life for all within planetary boundaries. And while this might seem utopian, there are already concrete policy ideas to start such a transformation’...Why degrowth is the only responsible way forward

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A Reflection on Growth, Prosperity and Wellbeing

Photo:The New Yorker

‘In 1930, the English economist John Maynard Keynes took a break from writing about the problems of the interwar economy and indulged in a bit of futurology. In an essay entitled “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren,” he speculated that by the year 2030 capital investment and technological progress would have raised living standards as much as eightfold, creating a society so rich that people would work as little as fifteen hours a week, devoting the rest of their time to leisure and other “non-economic purposes.” As striving for greater affluence faded, he predicted, “the love of money as a possession . . . will be recognized for what it is, a somewhat disgusting morbidity.”

This transformation hasn’t taken place yet, and most economic policy makers remain committed to maximizing the rate of economic growth. But Keynes’s predictions weren’t entirely off base. After a century in which G.D.P. per person has gone up more than sixfold in the United States, a vigorous debate has arisen about the feasibility and wisdom of creating and consuming ever more stuff, year after year. On the left, increasing alarm about climate change and other environmental threats has given birth to the “degrowth” movement, which calls on advanced countries to embrace zero or even negative G.D.P. growth. “The faster we produce and consume goods, the more we damage the environment,” Giorgos Kallis, an ecological economist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, writes in his manifesto, “Degrowth.” “There is no way to both have your cake and eat it, here. If humanity is not to destroy the planet’s life support systems, the global economy should slow down.” In “Growth: From Microorganisms to Megacities,” Vaclav Smil, a Czech-Canadian environmental scientist, complains that economists haven’t grasped “the synergistic functioning of civilization and the biosphere,” yet they “maintain a monopoly on supplying their physically impossible narratives of continuing growth that guide decisions made by national governments and companies.”

Once confined to the margins, the ecological critique of economic growth has gained widespread attention. At a United Nations climate-change summit in September, the teen-age Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg declared, “We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!” The degrowth movement has its own academic journals and conferences. Some of its adherents favor dismantling the entirety of global capitalism, not just the fossil-fuel industry. Others envisage “post-growth capitalism,” in which production for profit would continue, but the economy would be reorganized along very different lines. In the influential book “Prosperity Without Growth: Foundations for the Economy of Tomorrow,” Tim Jackson, a professor of sustainable development at the University of Surrey, in England, calls on Western countries to shift their economies from mass-market production to local services—such as nursing, teaching, and handicrafts—that could be less resource-intensive. Jackson doesn’t underestimate the scale of the changes, in social values as well as in production patterns, that such a transformation would entail, but he sounds an optimistic note: “People can flourish without endlessly accumulating more stuff. Another world is possible.”

Even within mainstream economics, the growth orthodoxy is being challenged, and not merely because of a heightened awareness of environmental perils. In “Good Economics for Hard Times,” two winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, point out that a larger G.D.P. doesn’t necessarily mean a rise in human well-being—especially if it isn’t distributed equitably—and the pursuit of it can sometimes be counterproductive. “Nothing in either our theory or the data proves the highest G.D.P. per capita is generally desirable,” Banerjee and Duflo, a husband-and-wife team who teach at M.I.T., write.’...Can We Have Prosperity Without Growth?

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Time to get off the economic growth train?

‘The end of growth will come one day, perhaps very soon, whether we’re ready or not. If we plan for and manage it, we could well wind up with greater well-being.’-Richard Heinberg

Photo:Ensia

What does genuine economic progress look like? The orthodox answer is that a bigger economy is always better, but this idea is increasingly strained by the knowledge that, on a finite planet, the economy can’t grow forever. 

This much we know. But, the pertinent question is: How Can We Get There? What are the alternatives to the madness of growth and growth to nowhere?

To my mind, survival will mean an urgent transformation of the ways we think, organise, produce and consume. That means a society that knows when to slow down and stop its relentless expansion of production and consumption, a society that knows the difference between plunder and endless extraction of natural resources or being their custodians. 

And then, in place of economic growth it would value sufficiency, fairness and justice: enough, but not too much, for everyone.

All in all, this is my answer: My Ten Steps to a Better Life in a ‘Degrowth’ Economy

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Written by: Kamran Mofid

Published: 29 September 2020

Hits: 1966

One thing that COVID-19 has taught me is that:

‘The most precious thing in life is life itself’

‘Global coronavirus deaths pass 1m with no sign rate is slowing’-The Guardian, 29 September 2020

Photo: Pinterest

It is now a few months since the COVID-19 Global Lockdown. Even though the total lockdown has now been eased a bit, but, nonetheless, it still feels the same isolation, confusion and loss. 

This Coronavirus, this state of affairs, has taught us a few things.

Photo:achyutasamanta.com

Some of these lessons are crystal clear—like, health/home/social care workers are fantastic frontline soldiers in this battle and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude. Second, the rest of the key-workers, paramedics, ambulance drivers, firemen and women, police officers, and other first-line workers like supermarket employees, delivery drivers, volunteers, and the many other essential workers who are keeping us going, in spite of  personal risk and hazards to themselves. 

However, as noted by many wise observers around the world, there is also something more profound that this pandemic and the subsequent lockdown is teaching us- The Meaning of Life!

‘The most precious thing in life is life itself’*

Human life is a work of art and is the highest expression of nature. This is measured by one thing: the human spirit. It takes years and lives of good deeds to be born as a human being into this world. But as the world grew, and times moved fast, somewhere down the line, we forgot the true meaning of our lives. 

Paradoxically, the all-consuming COVID-19, which is supposed to be a setback for the world, is working as a blessing in disguise. It has taught everybody in this world the true value of life, irrespective of the caste, creed, religion, gender or class. 

In a single move, it has shown the world the importance and significance of every single human life. The next step to this is that this very precious human life has to be protected by all means. 

And moreover, to further enhance the preciousness of this precious life, we can always help others to grow. 

Following the fundamentals of “Art of Selflessness and Giving” is the simplest way to reach the highest potential of one’s life.’

Happiness, compassion, kindness, love, peace, gratitude, giving thanks, are all part of life, and they are all the values which make us human. They must be shared freely and not hoarded, for that will interfere with the flow and the web of life. 

To be happy, to value life we have to know that we are part of the life force. A life devoid of balance would throw us off on a tangent, and we would go swinging away from the wheel of life. In order to help others achieve happiness and fulfillment, we have to learn how to achieve these and more ourselves first. That is the crux of a happy life!**

*The most precious thing in life is life itself

**What is the most important thing in life? 

Photo: Google

‘The most important thing in life is life itself’+

Life is to be in harmony with our life-sustaining system, Nature

Photo: Pinterest

‘We strive so hard and so long to create our safety net, our comfort zone, competing with society, getting an education, climbing the corporate ladder, and chasing the quintessential element called money. We work and buy our way to a model of security, success and self-realization that is actually programmed into our heads by the material-based culture that keeps us fundamentally disconnected from the ultimate reality, Nature.

Besides our material needs which are never truly satisfied, we dedicate so much to satisfying our equally starving egos. We make our petty little personal life dramas seem so important. And how about our distractions, most of which have become the escape out from the increasingly overwhelming reality around us, or the evasion from the lack of fulfillment we silently acknowledge inside.

The fact is that all effort, struggle and achievement even, do in most cases nothing for the absolute bottom line, life. And I do not mean just your life but everybody else’s and everything else’s. I am referring to the totality of life, possibly the most precious phenomenon in the universe.

In this present day society most of us are confused, unsatisfied and continue to endanger ourselves and the very planet we inhabit just because our priorities are not set right. As simple as it may sound, making LIFE (its preservation, restoration, and enhancement) the number one priority will I believe, set our priorities right and lead us into the sustainable paradigm where we are destined to be in harmony with our life-sustaining system, Nature.’

+The most important thing in life is life itself

See also: Pricing the Priceless

A few related inspiring articles from the GCGI Archives for your interest:

Photo: american Meadows

Thank You NHS for who you are and what you do. The nation owes you a debt of gratitude. 

 'If This Time' Has Taught me Anything…

An open letter to all my Friends

Lessons from an old-time social distancer for novices like us

A most moving letter from Italy to the world: ‘When all of this is over, the world won’t be the same.’

Have We lost the Art of Knowing What it Means to Be Human?

In Praise of Gratitude 

In Praise of Kindness 

 This is How to Make the World Great Again: The Compassion Project

The Number One Message of Lockdown

“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”

In a time of panic, please don’t forget to be kind.

How can we measure what makes a country great?

Imaging a Better World: Moving forward with the real Adam Smith

Adam Smith and the Pursuit of Happiness

Build a Better World: The Healing Power of Doing Good

Today is World Kindness Day: Embracing Kindness to Defeat the Political Economy of Hatred

In Praise of Frugality: Materialism is a Killer

There is more in less: The Evolution of Simplicity

Simplicity: it’s our true guide to a better life

The beauty of living simply: the forgotten wisdom of William Morris 

In this troubled world let the beauty of nature and simple life be our greatest teachers 

Saving the Web of Life: The Time is now to Tune into Peace, Love and Wisdom with a Spiritual Revolution

On the 250th Birthday of William Wordsworth Let Nature be our Wisest Teacher