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Summary of Degrowth
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Summary of 18 pages for the course Degrowth at UvA (Summary of Degrowth)
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1. Comment2 July 2022 at 21:00:04
Gross world product (sum of
world’s GDPs)
2. Comment
2 July 2022 at 21:04:57
GDP - social costs - environmental
costs + unaccounted benefits
Part 1 - Introduction
Overview:
1 • GWP has risen since 1960
• Planetary boundaries
• Biophysical growth will eventually reach ecological limits
• Resistance to growth economy:
• Indvidual: anti-consumerism
• Interpersonal: strengthening networks
• Institutional: more formalized (e.g. cooperatives)
• Structural: policy-making
• Cultural: chaining paradigms
Degrowth: deliberate downscaling of overproduction/consumption to increase wellbeing
while enhancing social justice and respecting planetary boundaries
2 • Alternative measurements: Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)
• Limits to growth model:
• Close empirical fit
• Reinforcing loop:
Literature:
• (Not included) Muraca, B., & Schmelzer, M. (2018). Stustainable degrowth: Hisotrical roots of the search
for alternatives to growth in three regions. In I. Borowy & M. Schmelzer (Eds.), History of the Future of
Economic Growth: Historical Roots of Current Debates on Sustainable Degrowth. Routledge.
,• (Not included) Cerasuolo, E. (Director). (2013). Last Call [Film]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=kz9wjJjmkmc
• Optional (NOT INCLUDED):
• Kallis, G., Demaria, F., & D’alisa, G. (2014). Introduction - Degrowth. In Degrowth: a vocabulary for a
new era (pp. 1-17). Routledge.
• Research & Degrowth. (2010). Degrowth Declaration of the Paris 2008 conference. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 18(6), 523-524.
• Paulson et al (2020) FAQ
, 3. Comment
2 July 2022 at 21:09:45
- Non-renewables (e.g. oil, rare
earth minerals, irons)
- Living renewables (e.g. animals,
soil nutrients, trees)
- Non-living renewables (e.g.
wind, solar, gravity)
4. Comment
2 July 2022 at 21:10:14
- Short-lived (e.g. food, fuel,
paper)
- Long-term (e.g. roads,
buildings)
Part 2: Ecological Perspectives on Growth
5. Comment
2 July 2022 at 21:10:23
Economy:
- Non-biodegradable wastes (e.g.
metals, medical, most plastic) 3 5 • Hosts throughputs: sources → stocks/funds → sinks
- Biodegradable wastes (e.g.
food, paper, sewage) • Green growth: decoupling GDP growth from environmental impact
- Toxic wastes (e.g. heavy metals, 6 8 • Types pf decoupling: relative (current), absolute, resource/impact
nuclear)
- Air pollutants (e.g. CO2, 9 11 • Absolute requires decoupling of emissions, resources, and throughput
particulate matter)
• IPCC recommend 5% emission decoupling per year, but best is 1.15%
6. Comment • Measurement problem: omits imported consumption and accumulated emissions
2 July 2022 at 21:12:04
Incrementally over time • Degrowth: decoupling impossible (in limited time period)
12 • Path dependency: difficult to phase out current methods + fear of stranded assets
7. Comment
2 July 2022 at 21:20:29 13 • Jevon’s paradox: increased resource efficiency → increased consumption
Sudden reversal (negative)
• Practical: UN most ideal scenario still yields 40% increase in extraction + not even
8. Comment
relative decoupling current occuring
2 July 2022 at 21:20:40
Resource use changes 14 • Max possible circularity (100% circularity impossible in thermodynamics)
incrementally, impact changes
suddenly
15 Steady-state economy:
9. Comment
2 July 2022 at 21:21:25 16 • Desired economy size: environmental/social/political costs < product benefits
Rate of decarbonization > rate of
economic growth • Should avoid maximum carrying capacity (allow margin of tolerance for errors)
• Anti-globalization (membranes (borders) filter out bad things)
10. Comment
2 July 2022 at 21:21:39 • Diets:
Rate of dematerialization > rate
of economic growth • Physical:
• Taxation → resource prices ↑ → incentivizes resource—saving technologies
11. Comment
2 July 2022 at 21:21:47 • Tax revenues → able to shift taxation toward externalities (vs labor/capital)
Rate of circulation > rate of
economic growth 17 • Cap & trade → halts Jevon’s paradox
• Monetary:
12. Comment
2 July 2022 at 21:24:45 • Shift: fractional reserve banking → system of 100% reserve requirements
Lack of return on investments
(~$185 trillion) 18 • Banks cannot create money, must be taken from savings → abstinence/
19 investment balance → quality of growth ↑
13. Comment
2 July 2022 at 21:26:20 • Tobin tax → speculative/destabilizing short-term trading ↓ → revenue ↑
Since underlying system always
encourages growth
14. Comment
2 July 2022 at 21:29:57
- Energy is lost between trophic
levels
- Laws:
- Energy can neither be
created/destroyed, can only
change
- Energy tends toward
dispersion (higher entropy)
- Reversal
requires energy input
- No energy transfer is
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