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this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2023
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I support degrowth, but only after the revolution. Any degrowth within capitalism is just going to be austerity.
I don't think degrowth is the answer, but it depends on your definition of degrowth. Growth using green technology and renewable energy backed by socialist economic planning should be the solution.
My degrowth position is basically: you can’t have infinite growth on a finite planet. We use way more resources than we actually have. Under socialism we can make far fewer products, but make them higher quality, so fewer resources are wasted. We also need a circular and library economy where things are used as much and by as many people as possible within a closed system rather than producing things for profit.
Really I can't wait to see what a modern, technologically advanced socialist economy comes up with in the field of technology. Just hope we live to see it
But wouldn't we be able to grow into space? Asteroid mining especially seems very promising, and we're pretty much capable of it.
Degrowth is not “we can’t do anything new or better” it is: “the goal of an economy should be meeting people’s needs, not increasing GDP.” In addition: “there is too much production and exploitation of the earth. Capitalism and market ineficientes produce far more than we need, and distribute it terribly. If we are going to live in harmony with nature we will need to foster “quality over quantity” in terms of production.” No one said we can’t astroid mine or make green energy.
I see.
There will be growth temporarily as we transition our farms to more sustainable methods of agriculture, lots of work is to be done. There will be growth in chaning our energy infrastructure, for lots of work is to be done there. There will be growth in building durable electronics and infrastructure for us to depend on built with free and open source software managed by communities. We'll also need to build recycling facilities to recycle all non organic matter to build replacement parts to maintain our infrastructure. Things like that.
However after that, we won't be buying new things so frequently. We'll consume less, but enjoy more.
Yes, growth in some positive sectors, but if you would agree that advertising, fossil fuels, fast fashion, car dependence, planned obsolescence, etc. all need to be severely downsized or gotten rid of, it seems like you'd agree more than disagree with the changes degrowthers want to make; that is to say nothing of their ideas of transition, which may very well be utopian. I have yet to get to that chapter in my book to make a proper investigation.