Post Growth Institute » Joshua Nelson

What We’re Reading: October 2011 - The God Species, A Chorus of Stones, and Consulting the Genius of the Place

Joshua Nelson — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:22:48 +0000

This post is part of an on-going series highlighting what our members are currently reading in the Post Growth and sustainability realms.

The God Species by Mark Lynas

The planet has nine boundaries that should not be crossed, argues Mark Lynas. Some we’re familiar with, like the climate boundary. Others we more or less ignore, such as the nitrogen cycle or ocean acidification. Since humans are in charge of the planet now, it is our God-like responsibility to manage our behaviour to stay within the range of safety. It’s a well researched popularisation of planetary boundaries, although there is much for environmentalists to get upset about along the way. Unfortunately, Lynas is adamant that biological boundaries don’t need to be economic boundaries, and dedicates the final chapter to dismissing the concept of limits to growth. Anyone who’s read anything on post-growth economics will spot the flaws a mile away. - Jeremy Williams

A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War by Susan Griffin

One of the most beautiful and painful books I have encountered. It covers so much historical, social, personal, ethical, and geographical ground, it is impossible to summarize. Griffin does a masterful job of refusing to arbitrarily draw lines around phenomena, choosing instead to highlight the interconnectedness among so many seemingly disparate realities. The insights in this book are relavent for anyone interested in human change processes – particularly systemic change. It highlights the complex ways we all uphold the very systems we may oppose, through such ingrained practices as secrecy and denial, among others. And it pushes through the obvious questions about change in order to bring the reader to some that are more difficult to face. – Janet Newbury

Consulting the Genius of the Place: An Ecological Approach to a New Agriculture by Wes Jackson

The exponential growth of everything – population, energy use, carbon emissions and soil loss – will increasingly challenge our ability to feed ourselves into the future. Jackson presents empirical evidence that our natural systems may be far more efficient at capturing and using water, nutrients and energy than our current agricultural systems. Even if they were not, our agricultural systems have only achieved massive leaps in production due to the unsustainable reliance on fossil fuels, fossil soil carbon and fossil water since the Green Revolution. Jackson promotes the use of perennial polycultures in agriculture as a way of mimicking the functions of our natural systems. It sometimes appears as if he is promoting an engineering fix to the symptoms of an international growth addiction. Nevertheless, Jackson is well aware of the causes and consequences of ‘exponential everything’ on agriculture, and provides pragmatic suggestions for how we can buy ourselves some time. – Jane Addison

What We’re Reading: September 2011 - The Sharing Solution, Anthill, and The Bridge at the End of the World

Joshua Nelson — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:00:24 +0000

This post is part of an on-going series highlighting what our members are currently reading in the Post Growth and sustainability realms.

The Sharing Solution: How to Save Money, Simplify Your Life, and Build Community by Janelle Orsi and Emily Doskow

This is an easy-to-follow guide for easy-to-implement possibilities. The premise is positive and very simple: Finding ways to incorporate sharing into our lives in informal and formal ways can connect us with others, save us money, and help us live more sustainably. The authors, who are both attorneys, have written the book as a very clear how-to guide including worksheets, agreements, questionnaires, and other practical tools. It has dedicated sections on sharing things such as housing, tasks, food, child- and -pet-care, and transportation. With such concrete recommendations, it is a refreshing read within a school of thought that is often heavily weighted with critique. – Janet Newbury

Anthill by E O Wilson

The great biologist turns his hand to fiction, and it transpires that there’s a growth angle here, albeit a very subtle one. It’s a story about an Alabama childhood, but also a parable about human development versus the natural world, and it contrasts our own species’ infinite growth project with the ebbs and flows that occur in the natural world. With ants (Wilson is an ant expert, and a whole section of the book is gleefully told from the perspective of an anthill), exponential growth is a genetic anomaly that leads to the destruction of the colony. We might want to learn from this, Wilson gently and indirectly hints in his winsome novel. - Jeremy Williams

The Bridge at the End of the World by James G. Speth

This is one of the most useful post growth books I’ve read as it paints a particularly clear relationship between the economy and the environment. Written by James G. Speth, an environmental lawyer, Professor at the Vermont Law School, and former dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the text compiles evidence, showing how as economic growth continues, the environment suffers. The book’s straightforward graphs showing this relationship – exponential economic growth = exponential environmental destruction and pollution – are perhaps one of its most powerful features. As one reviewer comments, Speth’s book shows that if we “if we do not learn to consume less, we will consume the biosphere itself in our binge.” That is, concern about how human actions are impacting the environment isn’t an idealistic past time, but rather an issue in need of critical attention and significant action – if we want to maintain livable conditions on the planet. – Amelia Bryne

What We’re Reading: June 2011 - Peoplequake, Yucca Mountain, and a Subsistence Perspective

Joshua Nelson — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:00:39 +0000

This post is the first in an on-going series we will be doing at Post Growth highlighting what our members are currently reading in the Post Growth and sustainability realms.

Smart Growth, by Jon Reeds, is a book about urban sprawl, and the future of unsustainable suburbs. Reeds has written a passionate and sometimes angry history of the suburbs, and how low-density, car dependent development became the standard. More importantly, he explores the Smart Growth movement and how it is re-imagining cities for a new century. This book is a must-read for planners, and an interesting introduction to the interplay between land use and growth.

Also check out Fred Pearce’s Peoplequake: the world is undergoing a massive demographic transition, says Pearce, and it begins with a baby boom, moves into a youth bulge, and ends with an aging population. Different countries are at different points, and each has its own challenges. Pearce overplays the population crash a little, but this broad perspective is a great contribution to the debate, and it is likely to provoke population optimists and pessimists equally.

— Jeremy Williams

If you don’t do much else, it’s possible to blow through John D’Agata’s About a Mountain in a weekend. The book, or book-length essay, winds three stories around each other: the story of Las Vegas, maybe the most undeservedly optimistic city in America; the story of Yucca Mountain, the proposed burial ground for American nuclear waste; and the story of a teenager’s suicide leap from a Vegas hotel. Can Yucca keep radioactivity buried for 10,000 years? Probably not—but it seems that we’re going to try anyway. In all of this, and in different ways, the forever-inscrutable notion of suicide reverberates.

— Scott Gast

I first read The Subsistence Perspective, by Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen and Maria Mies, as a university student studying globalization. At the time, I was both excited and disturbed by some of the questions it raises: What do we consider success to be, and why? Why is farming considered “dirty” and “unpleasant” or incompatible with intellectual work? How has society changed in the West since World War II in terms of our relationship to the land? Not for the faint-hearted, its language is sometimes dense with theory—but it is also interspersed with stories and interview excerpts spanning both the Global North and South. This big-ideas book asks its readers to consider core assumptions about the ways we live and what we value.

—Amelia Bryne

Paul Gilding Great Disruption Book Tour - 7:30pm May 6th at Town Hall Seattle

Joshua Nelson — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 21:28:43 +0000

In a two short weeks Town Hall Seattle will be hosting Paul Gilding, author of The Great Disruption. Paul will be discussing the now unavoidable consequences of climate change and the challenges humanity will face. But in the face of such great challenges Paul envisions it will bring out the best of us: compassion, innovation, resilience and adaptability.

Paul will be in Seattle giving a talk about his new book and I will be introducing him as the Washington State Chapter Director of CASSE. The event will be at 7:30pm on Friday, May 6th at Town Hall Seattle. I hope you can make it!

Here’s a short description of his work:

“It’s time to stop just worrying about climate change, says Paul Gilding. We need instead to brace for impact because global crisis is no longer avoidable. This Great Disruption started in 2008, with spiking food and oil prices and dramatic ecological changes, such as the melting ice caps. It is not simply about fossil fuels and carbon footprints. We have come to the end of Economic Growth, Version 1.0, a world economy based on consumption and waste, where we lived beyond the means of our planet’s ecosystems and resources.

“The Great Disruption offers a stark and unflinching look at the challenge humanity faces-yet also a deeply optimistic message. The coming decades will see loss, suffering, and conflict as our planetary overdraft is paid; however, they will also bring out the best humanity can offer: compassion, innovation, resilience, and adaptability. Gilding tells us how to fight-and win-what he calls The One Degree War to prevent catastrophic warming of the earth, and how to start today.

“The crisis represents a rare chance to replace our addiction to growth with an ethic of sustainability, and it’s already happening. It’s also an unmatched business opportunity: Old industries will collapse while new companies will literally reshape our economy. In the aftermath of the Great Disruption, we will measure “growth” in a new way. It will mean not quantity of stuff but quality and happiness of life. Yes, there is life after shopping.”

Get your tickets here and check out Paul’s site for more locations on his tour.

Enough Is Enough

Joshua Nelson — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:56:48 +0000

Ideas for a Sustainable Economy

Today is the release of a seminal paper, Enough Is Enough: Ideas for a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources. The result of the first Steady State Economy Conference held in Leeds, UK, this 130 page report not only addresses why we need an alternative to growth, but outlines policies to achieve such an alternative: a steady state economy.

Part One of the report covers the problems with growth, and the concept of and economy based on enough. Part Two of the report contains the real guts of the report, outlining the most complete collection of policy ideas, tools and reforms on this subject in one place. This section has the most weight to it and will make the biggest splash, but Part Three helps to combine these policies with the reality present in Part One: how to get the economy functioning and transitioning to a steady state economy.

The problems are real, the studies numerous, and the evidence richly points to the need for an alternative to growth. A steady state economy represents the best of many solutions: providing a sustainable scale to the economy, as well as providing more prosperity for everyone. This report states the facts, outlining the way out of our economy of “more” and into an economy of “enough.”

Check out the Enough Is Enough page, download the report pdf or the report summary, and watch the many videos also available from the conference.

Tim Jackson: Prosperity Without Growth

Joshua Nelson — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:20:39 +0000

Tim Jackson is a rock-star. At least in the post growth community, in my opinion. He has helped to further an intelligent, deliberate conversation about what we need as people on this planet: a healthy, sustainable, people and planet friendly economy. His book, Prosperity Without Growth, is by far one of the best reads on the subject of a post-growth society.

Here is a great lecture he gave on the topic:

I was lucky enough to meet Tim at the New Green Economy conference in January. Not only is he well spoken and well-written, but he’s an overall nice guy. Spread the word: we can have a prosperous, sustainable economy without economic growth!

Million Dollars To A Post Growther

Joshua Nelson — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:00:43 +0000

The community of post growth thinkers around the world is abuzz with the prospect of Dick Smith’s Wilberforce Award. Announced a couple of weeks ago, the $1 million dollars will be awarded “to anyone under 30 who can impress Dick by becoming famous through his or her ability to show leadership in communicating an alternative to our population and consumption growth-obsessed economy.”

Check out Dick’s You Tube videos here:

Nature’s Overdraft Notice: Earth Overshoot Day

Joshua Nelson — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 07:01:02 +0000

At its core sustainability revolves around renewability. It can only be found in something that is renewable each year. For the human enterprise, sustainability requires us to use only renewable resources and energy, but not just use them, use them within their limits.

The world’s forests, for instance, can regenerate over the course of a year only so much. This amount is what we can harvest in a year. When we harvest more than this magical number, we begin to eat into the natural capital savings account. The more we take out of our savings this year, the less interest it will bear into our account next year – the less that can be renewed for next year’s harvest.

Today is Earth Overshoot Day, the ultimate anti-holiday. It highlights when we, as a species on this planet, have depleted a year’s worth of resources. It is the day we start running on red, consuming more than our fair share, taking out of our natural savings account, and eating away at next year’s supply.

Ecological Footprints Through History

Running On Way Below Empty

As our economy has grown through history we have required more and more resources each year. We started eating away the planet’s able to sustain us on December 19, 1987 – the first Earth Overshoot Day. Since then our economy has been eating away at our future and our children’s future. Today we’re using 150% of the Earth’s capacity.

Since that fateful day in 1987 we’ve been pushing our natural accounts further and further into the red. It’s one thing for us to worry about our nation’s fiscal deficit, but that pales in comparison to our ecological deficit – every year we’re increasing the one deficit that truly matters to human survival. If we continue on this path it is project that we will use an entire planet’s worth of resources for a year in only 6 months by 2050. Of course, that’s assuming we still have a stable enough climate to maintain our consumption and production growth.

Your Ecological Footprint

I’m not a fan of debt. At its core debt is a wager on your potential to make money in the future – a bet that you’ll be doing better down the road and can pay off your excess now. Too often it simply builds up, because as our wages increase so does our excess. But financial prudence can reign in that excess. The problem with ecological debt? You’re wagering against the very future wealth that you’re depleting. It’s the only bank in town and it only has so much money.

If we can’t take out loans from our natural bank and we’re deep in the red, what do we do to get back in the green? (not black, green!) To ensure that humanity has a chance to maintain a stable, progressive, secure and just society on this planet we must recognize the conflicts of economic growth and ecological resilience. Money is worthless if we’ve wiped out all the crops. Increasing GDP doesn’t account for much if everyone is miserable and half the world is a desert.

Learn more about your ecological footprint at the Global Footprint Network.

See my cross-post on Steady State Revolution and out my guest post on Green Growth Cascadia about Earth Overshoot Day. Image Credits: Global Footprint Network.

The Fallacy Of Growth

Joshua Nelson — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 23:46:39 +0000

Growth Has Limits, Says Oregonian

Oregon is an interesting state. It is one of the three states on the pacific coast, equally mixed with both liberal and conservative thought, and full of beautiful landscape. I spent my early years in Oregon, both Northern and Southern. There are some serious, progressive discussions going on in Oregon. A recent article on Oregon Live is probably one of the best I’ve read of the fallacy of growth.

Here’s a bit:

“In the short term, growth supports families, relieves social pressures that produce conflict and crime, pays for amenities such as the arts, offers opportunities for entrepreneurs and makes some of us exceedingly wealthy.

But growth is also an addiction. And, like most addictions, it threatens to destroy us. Not only does it clog our freeways, but it also paves farmland, wipes out open spaces, saddles taxpayers with ruinous development costs and crushes the quality of life that attracted us to our communities in the first place. Growth sucks irreplaceable resources out of the earth. It dumps poisonous pollution into our environment. It crowds out the planet’s other species and utterly fails to deliver the human happiness it promises…

It’s not as if nobody saw this coming. ‘The increase of wealth is not boundless,’ wrote John Stuart Mill in the mid-19th century. ‘The end of growth leads to a stationary state’…

Maybe it’s possible to get growth under control while keeping families fed and communities intact. The goal of steady-state economics is, after all, reasonable incomes for all human beings in a more humane society that preserves the planet and promotes human happiness. That’s a tall order. But we’ve satisfied tall orders before.

We can start on this one by questioning our near-universal assumption that growth is always good. And the next time a candidate promises unending growth, it wouldn’t hurt if somebody in the audience asked, ‘What for?’

After all, as Edward Abbey long ago pointed out, ‘Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.’”

Read the full article here.