Economic Growth Archives – Page 6 of 36 – Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

True Conservation: A 21st Century Vision for the Next Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

January 13, 2022/4 Comments/in Animal Welfare, Biodiversity, Brian Czech, Climate Change, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Endangered Species, Energy, Environment, Governance, Jobs and Employment, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech

The 21st century challenges to wildlife conservation are unprecedented. The ecological integrity of the nation and planet is unravelling before our eyes. Species and ecosystems are disappearing, if not immediately off the face of the planet, then via slow, dead-end emigrations as they respond to climate change.

It’s not as if climate change was needed to imperil fish and wildlife. Climate change is actually the fourth major crisis in the past 150 years.

A Place for a Steady State in the EU Green Deal

January 6, 2022/2 Comments/in Biodiversity, Climate Change, Consumption, Degrowth, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Energy, Environment, Governance, Jobs and Employment, Politics, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Adel Ramdani

The European Green Deal, the EU’s flagship environmental program, aims to profoundly transform the EU’s 27 member states into low-carbon economies. The deal was rolled out in December 2019 by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. It’s supposed to be a roadmap toward a “fair and prosperous society” with an economy that is modern, resource-efficient, and competitive. So far, so good? Let’s take a deeper dive.

A Steady State Economy is for the Birds

December 16, 2021/22 Comments/in Animal Welfare, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Consumption, Degrowth, Economic Growth, Endangered Species, Energy, Environment, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Kate McFarland

Wind turbines kill birds.

This is not a fiction devised by the fossil fuel industry. It is an observable fact.

Ask, for instance, the dozens of birders who ventured to Scotland’s Outer Hebrides for a glimpse of a white-throated needletail, the first sighting of the species in Britain in 22 years. Like other swifts, the white-throated needletail is an adroit flier, catching insects on the wing and even mating during flight.

Biden’s Black Swan: New Oil Leasing is Bound to End in Disaster

December 9, 2021/2 Comments/in Animal Welfare, Climate Change, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Energy, Environment, Governance, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Taylor Lange

The USA is well acquainted with disastrous crude oil accidents. Eleven years ago an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform killed 11 workers, injured 17 more, and discharged roughly 4.6 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The incident cost BP more than $65 billion to clean up, destroyed thousands of acres of ocean reefs, and killed thousands of marine animals. Just over two decades prior,

Resisting the Temptation of Growth at the County Level

November 19, 2021/1 Comment/in Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Governance, Jobs and Employment, Monetary Policy, Politics, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Daniel Giles

Across the USA, a battle for the souls of rural counties is being waged. The battle is fought not in major news outlets, but in local government meetings and the opinion columns of local newspapers. Despite the lack of national coverage, the cumulative outcome of these localized conflicts will change the American landscape for generations to come.

This monumental battle is between those fighting for growth—or “development” as some use interchangeably—and those who strive to conserve the current character of counties.

Pope Francis and the Steady State Economy

October 28, 2021/4 Comments/in Consumption, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Governance, Politics, Poverty, Religion, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Brian Snyder

Let’s play a game of “who said it.” I’ll give you quotes from either For the Common Good (by Herman Daly and John Cobb), or Let Us Dream (by Pope Francis). You guess who wrote it:

“…in the wealthier parts of the world, the fixation with constant economic growth has become destabilizing, producing vast inequalities and putting the natural world out of balance.”
“Then ‘God’ became redundant and disappeared.

Housing Policy: An Agent for Growth

October 7, 2021/5 Comments/in Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Governance, Politics, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by John Mirisch

In the ongoing and increasingly heated discussions about housing, urban planning, and zoning, I often return to Greta Thunberg’s seething indictment of our world’s decision-makers: “Here we are at the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can do is talk about money and fairytales of eternal economic growth.”

Greta may have been directing her remarks to politicians at the highest levels of government; but, neither should we forget as former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill once famously remarked,

The Parliamentary Prospects of Steady-State Politics

September 23, 2021/6 Comments/in Climate Change, Economic Growth, Environment, Governance, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by James Lamont

In August steady staters enjoyed a victory worthy of reflection. Following May elections, the Scottish Greens struck a power-sharing deal with the Scottish National Party (SNP), bringing the Greens into a national UK government for the first time.

Buried beneath the media chatter about what this partnership could mean for Scottish independence (both parties are in favor) is the fact that a party explicitly against infinite growth is now in power in the UK.

Next Big Thing or Next Big Mistake?

September 16, 2021/5 Comments/in Economic Growth, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Technology /by Brian Czech

by Brian Snyder

In a 2021 landmark of ludicrousness, Jeff Bezos launched himself, cowboy hat and all, into space aboard a phallus-shaped rocket. But Bezos’ fruitless attempt to fill that gaping hole in his life was only the latest stupid reason to send something to space. Spaceship stupidity goes back to the SNAPSHOT program which, in 1965, sent a working nuclear reactor into space. Not surprisingly,

Labor Day Reflections: Growth Doesn’t Solve Inequality

September 10, 2021/6 Comments/in Consumption, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Governance, Jobs and Employment, Monetary Policy, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

by Taylor Lange

Labor Day, like other holidays of remembrance, is an opportunity to reflect on the past and critically consider the future. Our memory ought to include the foot soldiers of the labor movement, from the 10,000 coal miners who fought in the Battle of Blair Mountain to the steel workers who duked it out with the Pinkertons at Homestead mill. We owe our rights as workers to the bitter struggles of many who preceded us.