90: Degrowth – by Design or Disaster
GrowthBusters
Learn about a new think tank that’s doing some of the most important thinking on the planet. Matt Orsagh is co-founder of the Arketa Institute for Post-Growth Finance and co-author of a just-published white paper, By Disaster Or Design: How Finance Can Evolve to Avoid the Worst of the Ecological Challenges We Face and Enable the Transition to a Better Economic Model. That paper, and this episode, offer an introduction to degrowth, the rational response for a society in ecological overshoot. Degrowth is “an equitable downscaling of production and consumption that increases human well-being...
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89: Bezos - We’re Going to Need Another Planet
GrowthBusters
Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos thinks the U.S. can grow its way out of a massive deficit. He says we need a “growth mindset.” Stephanie and Dave call it a “suicide economic model,” and note that growth addiction is exactly what afflicts most policymakers around the world. The dynamic duo discuss the little-understood fact that a shrinking economy can be healthy – when it accompanies a contracting population. Bezos also proposes that we plunder the universe in order to protect Earth “we've sent robotic probes to all of the planets in this solar system. This is the good one.”) Also:...
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88: Shutdown315: Start Post-Growth Living Saturday
GrowthBusters
Unplug from an overshoot economy serving a growth-obsessed oligarchy. On March 15, the multitudes will begin a general strike across the U.S. – starving our profit and growth obsessed system. The commoners will reclaim power taken by the elite. Learn about Shutdown315 as Stephanie and Dave discuss, and chat with two Shutdown315 movement organizers, Chet and Bones. We’re excited to share this with you, because Shutdown315 may be a great on-ramp to post-growth living. It starts March 15, 2025, and continues. We also launch the GrowthBusters book club – listen to learn our first book...
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87: The Shit Hits the Fan
GrowthBusters
In the face of accelerated global warming and increasingly severe consequences of climate disruption, UN projections are outdated and understating the problem, and the U.S. is going to produce and burn fossil fuels like they’re going out of business. Meanwhile Trump wants to be sure Gazans aren’t using condoms to float bombs over the border, and to be sure condoms and other family planning resources are not available the world over. On a positive note, a small town in Canada has adopted a “Limits to Growth” policy. Learn more about it in this episode. Please take a short survey to help...
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86: Projecting Optimism in the Time of Overshoot
GrowthBusters
Is optimism required in order to alert folks to our ecological overshoot emergency? Dave and Stephanie discuss the challenge of communicating the depth and urgency of overshoot without shutting people down. Also: Dave shares how he and a group of local growthbusters projected a guerilla “pop-up” billboard on New Year’s Eve – attempting to provide an honest reality check, but not put revelers off (or entice police or security personnel to stop them) The wisdom in U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech Congestion pricing results in kids walking, riding bikes, or taking...
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85: Election 2024 – Stephanie Attempts to Talk Dave Off the Ledge
GrowthBusters
Dave and Stephanie dig into what caused voters to ignore Donald Trump’s felony convictions, indecency, incompetence, narcissism, and dishonesty – and elect him president. This includes a review of the 50-year war waged by the mega-rich and corporations to undermine civility, compassion, equity and rule of law, to elevate the free enterprise system, rob the working class and enrich themselves. The Lewis Powell Memo kicked this into high gear 50 years ago. They also propose theories about why Dave’s campaign for president failed in its mission to alert the public, media and policymakers to...
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84: Strong Economy Begins With Shrinking Workforce
GrowthBusters
A new study debunks depopulation panic. For decades economists have perpetuated the false narrative, “If population growth reverses and begins to decline, the economy is doomed.” This belief has so frequently been repeated by economists, politicians, business people and the public, that it is generally taken as gospel. Psychologists have characterized the phenomenon as the illusory-truth effect, or believing something to be true if it’s repeated often enough, even if it is false. For the first time in modern history, a handful of countries are witnessing actual population declines. The...
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83: We Roasted Elon Musk, Raising the Curiosity of Thousands
GrowthBusters
We made it VERY clear that Musk’s worries about population collapse are ill-founded, and that attracted thousands more listeners than usual to our podcast. How did that happen? What kind of comments did we get? Find out in this episode. And get important truths about overshoot and overpopulation. Plus, learn how we’ll give YOU the mic for an episode of the GrowthBusters podcast. We explain the long wait for this episode, and share our offer to listeners to “adopt” a future episode to discuss an aspect of limits to growth important to you. If you do want to guest-host an...
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82: Governor Whitmer Unveils Ponzi Population Policy
GrowthBusters
The Michigan Governor is apparently unaware that the world, the U.S. and even Michigan are overpopulated. Michigan population has been growing a little too slowly for her taste, so Whitmer has appointed a Chief Growth Officer and formed the Growing Michigan Together Council. Not surprisingly, her bottom line is to “spur economic growth.” In an episode you should share with YOUR governor, you’ll get the details and find out why this news puts “a bee in Dave’s bonnet,” plus news about some outstanding new studies, a wonderful commentary in Newsweek, a crazy podcast you’ll like, and...
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81 Overpopulation Think Tank – Part 2
GrowthBusters
Are many vegans self-righteous, overbearing and insufferable in their efforts to recruit us? Would you believe “overpopulation” is still a taboo word? Or that human population numbers are still an “off-limits” topic at some conferences? This episode continues the conversation we began in episode 79 with five smart people: Nandita Bajaj, executive director of Population Balance Sarah Bexell, director of humane education at the Institute for Human Animal Connection at University of Denver Paul Sutton, professor of geography & the environment at DU Stephanie Gardner, co-host of the...
info_outlineLearn about a new think tank that’s doing some of the most important thinking on the planet. Matt Orsagh is co-founder of the Arketa Institute for Post-Growth Finance and co-author of a just-published white paper, By Disaster Or Design: How Finance Can Evolve to Avoid the Worst of the Ecological Challenges We Face and Enable the Transition to a Better Economic Model.
That paper, and this episode, offer an introduction to degrowth, the rational response for a society in ecological overshoot. Degrowth is “an equitable downscaling of production and consumption that increases human well-being and enhances ecological conditions at the local and global level, in the short and long term.” We also explore how the financial industry needs to evolve as we transition to a post-growth economy.
Matt is also author of the Substack column, Degrowth is the Answer. The Arketa Institute is working to “normalize the conversation around ecological economics and degrowth in the financial world.” Steve Rocco and Anastasia Linn are co-founders with Matt Orsagh. The white paper was written by the three of them, and edited by Nicholas Harland.
Some upcoming events of note:
- April 29: Webinar to discuss the paper 'By Disaster or Design'. Register here: https://eu.bigin.online/org20104687142/forms/by-disaster-or-design-webinar
- May 7-9: Matt, Anastasia and Steve will attend and present at the in-person gathering of the Barcelona Action Circle of Financial Leaders. This is the culmination of a months-long engagement organized by the world-renowned team at Research & Degrowth: https://degrowth.org/
- May 13-15: Matt will attend the Finance Montreal Sustainable Finance Summit in Montreal, Canada: https://www.sommet-financedurable.com/en/home
- July 26-29: Matt will speak at the Degrowth Institute’s inaugural DeSchool event in Chicago: https://www.degrowthinstitute.org/events/deschool-2025
- Fall 2025: Arketa Institute will survey global financial professionals on their understanding of ecological economics and post-growth ideas to inform a report to be published by the end of 2025.
LINKS:
By Disaster or Design: How Finance Can Evolve to Avoid the Worst of the Ecological Challenges We Face and Enable the Transition to a Better Economic Model
https://www.arketa-institute.org/resources/by-disaster-or-design
What We're Doing Isn't Working: It's Time for a New Approach – Episode 9 of Dave the Planet podcast
https://davetheplanet.substack.com/p/what-were-doing-isnt-working
Behavior Change to Provide a Bright Future – Episode 15 of Dave the Planet podcast
https://davetheplanet.substack.com/p/behavior-change-to-provide-a-bright
Planetary Boundaries – Stockholm University
https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries.html
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World - by Robin Wall Kimmerer (author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants)
https://www.robinwallkimmerer.com/books
FURTHER READING:
Post-Growth: The Science of Wellbeing Within Planetary Boundaries
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(24)00310-3/fulltext
This Isn’t Capitalism — It’s Growthism, and It’s Bad for Us
by Umair Haque, Harbard Business Review, October 28, 2013
https://hbr.org/2013/10/this-isnt-capitalism-its-growthism-and-its-bad-for-us
Growthism: Its Ecological, Economic and Ethical Limits - by Herman Daly
https://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue87/Daly87.pdf
https://www.pelicanweb.org/solisustv15n04page15.html
Essays Against Growthism, by Herman Daly, published by World Economics Association Books. Pdf or ebook
https://www.worldeconomicsassociation.org/files/Essays-Against-Growthism-Herman-Daly-PDF.pdf
https://www.worldeconomicsassociation.org/library/essays-against-growthism/
The Entropy Law and the Economic Process
https://content.csbs.utah.edu/~lozada/Adv_Resource_Econ/En_Law_Econ_Proc_Cropped_Optimized_Clearscan.pdf
Quantity of Metals Required to Manufacture One Generation of Renewable Technology Units to Phase Out Fossil Fuels
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/367682085_Quantity_of_Metals_Required_to_Manufacture_One_Generation_of_Renewable_Technology_Units_to_Phase_Out_Fossil_Fuels
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On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
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