Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World

Product Information

The ideas it proposes run so contrary to some of the basic assumptions we are taught that I decided to let my thoughts stew for a bit before I wrote this review. In particular, Commons have intrinsic value despite abundance, whereas capitalist exchange-value requires artificial scarcity (central in the commodification market-creation of the Enclosures/colonialism/Neoliberal globalization). timp ce scriu asta, pe fundal se aude piesa Civil War, a celor de la Guns N’ Roses (au mai scos un Greatest Hits anul ăsta, 15 piese). Hunger will tame the fiercest animals, it will teach decency and civility, obedience and subjugation to the most brutish, the most obstinate, and the most perverse. He discusses that investments in clean energy have not replaced use of coal and oil but have simply added to our net energy demands.

so we can spend our precious time on earth with loved ones and rebuilding communities/ecologies; this is a crucial framing that Hickel should emphasize more. Soil erosion is even more serious; soil is eroding 10 to 20 times faster than it is being naturally formed. The first book that successfully challenged my economical views was "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond.The point is that it describes in a clear, straight to the point manner the expected effects in the short, medium and long term of climate change, without being alarmistic, but rather more to raise awareness. These books did not prepare me for exactly how searing Jason Hickel's assessment of capitalism and ecological destruction would be. Even if you are instinctively opposed to the idea, this book will go a long way towards convincing you. a. We have enough global GDP to achieve a wide range of key social indicators – health, education, employment, nutrition, social support, democracy, and life satisfaction.

Finally, Hickel goes on to describe the components of an economy that will be truly democratic and sustainable. Nearly half of the book is spent looking at the origins of capitalism in Western thought, and praising primitive cultures and their animistic, nature-oriented beliefs. Cities like New York and Amsterdam will be permanently flooded, as will Jakarta, Miami, Rio and Osaka.By extracting less we leave more for other species, other people and future generations, thus creating well-being for all. In Eastern philosophy, the Axial Age produced the Buddha whose “Son’s Flesh Sutra” Hickel quotes with approval in his Acknowledgments.