FarewelltoGrowth

MostofuswholiveintheNorthandtheWestconsumefartoomuch–toomuchmeat,toomuchfat,toomuchsugar,toomuchsalt.Wearemorelikelytoputontoomuchweightthantogohungry.Weliveinasocietythatisheadingforacrash.Weareawareofwhatishappeningandyetwerefusetotakeitfullyintoaccount.Aboveallwerefusetoaddresstheissuethatliesattheheartofourproblems–namely,thefactthatoursocietiesarebasedonaneconomywhoseonlygoalisgrowthforgrowth’ssake.SergeLatouchearguesthatweneedtorethinkfromtheveryfoundationstheideathatoursocietiesshouldbebasedongrowth.Heoffersaradicalalternative–asocietyof‘de–growth’.De–growthisnotthesamethingasnegativegrowth.Weshouldbetalkingabout‘a–growth’,inthesenseinwhichwespeakof‘a–theism’.Andwedoindeedhavetoabandonafaithorreligion–thatoftheeconomy,progressanddevelopment—andrejecttheirrationalandquasi–idolatrouscultofgrowthforgrowth’ssake.Whilemanyrealizethatthatthenever–endingpursuitofgrowthisincompatiblewithafiniteplanet,wehaveyettocometotermswiththeimplicationsofthis–theneedtoproducelessandconsumeless.Butifwedonotchangecourse,weareheadingforanecologicalandhumandisaster.Thereisstilltimetoimagine,quitecalmly,asystembaseduponadifferentlogic,andtoplanfora‘de–growthsociety’.