Governance Archives – Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

Hacking the Business Growth Imperative

April 25, 2025/2 Comments/in Corporate Reform, Corruption, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Governance, Money and Investments, Postgrowth, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Alix Underwood

by Kali Young

“Despite its immensity, the Earth’s resources are not infinite, and it’s clear we’ve exceeded its limits. But it’s also resilient. We can save our planet if we commit to it.” – Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia

In 2022, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard took a bold step to make the Earth, in essence, the company’s only shareholder. Chouinard explained that he doesn’t respect the stock market and believes that companies become irresponsible after going public.

Introducing the Sustainable Housing Act: Shelter for All in a Steady State

April 17, 2025/2 Comments/in Economic Policy, Governance, Inequality, Inflation, Limits to Growth, Materials use, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Alix Underwood

by David Shreve

Housing in the United States (and in many other nations) is plagued by many problems and shortcomings. Among the most critical are increasingly unaffordable prices and bewildering geographic cost variations. Connected to these are additional problems associated with forced sprawl, the needless destruction of vital ecosystems, and labor market rigidity.

The residential cost problem is paramount and can no longer be dismissed as a predicament limited to isolated markets.

Saving Sledge Forest

March 27, 2025/7 Comments/in Conservation, Dave Rollo, Economic Growth, Governance, Limits to Growth, Population, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Alix Underwood

by Dave Rollo

Like many coastal communities, the county of New Hanover, North Carolina, is rich in habitat diversity. Its coastal plain is dominated by estuaries, marshes, and swamp forests and is considered a global biodiversity hotspot. The county is home to a number of threatened and endangered species, with mounting human pressures of a growing population and economy.

The county’s growth has accelerated over the past twenty years.

Introducing the Sustainable Budgets Act (Steady-State Style)

March 5, 2025/5 Comments/in Brian Czech, Democracy, Economic Policy, Governance, Money and Investments, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Alix Underwood

by Brian Czech

Let’s forget about the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its questionably qualified quant for a moment. Regardless of their recklessness, getting to a sustainable budget is long overdue. Deficit spending adds to the public debt, a threat to the solvency of the United States. That’s why steady staters have long advocated for balanced budgets.

Furthermore, more spending requires a heavier ecological footprint.

Unlearning Growth: Reclaiming Higher Education for Sustainability

February 6, 2025/1 Comment/in Corporate Reform, Economic Growth, GDP, Governance, Jobs and Employment, Limits to Growth, Postgrowth, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Alix Underwood

by Zachary Czuprynski

At the bottom of McGill University’s coat of arms, beneath the red shield, a scroll reads Grandescunt Aucta Labore— “By work, all things increase and grow.” Historically, mottos of higher education institutions (HEIs) symbolize the cultivation of virtues and moral excellence, often rooted in religion. Over time, however, this idea of growth in personal and moral development became tainted by the paradigm of economic growth.

Today,

Will DC Break Free of Its Methane-Gas—and Economic-Growth—Shackles?

January 9, 2025/7 Comments/in Alix Underwood, Climate Change, Corporate Reform, Energy, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Politics, Pollution, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Alix Underwood

by Alix Underwood

How do we stop climate change? One decommissioned fossil-fuel pipe at a time, via hard-fought local battles to change energy infrastructure and decrease energy consumption. Who do we fight these battles against? Profit-hungry corporations that monopolize energy markets and back-pocket politicians that help them guard the fossil façade.

In the U.S. capital, the climate-change rubber hits the road as activists pressure an obscure and unelected decision-making body,

Defending the Last Green Valley

November 26, 2024/3 Comments/in Conservation, Dave Rollo, Economic Growth, Environment, Governance, Limits to Growth, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Alix Underwood

by Dave Rollo

The Northeast Megaregion, also referred to as BosWash, extends from Boston to Washington, DC, and is populated by more than 55 million people. It is the largest contiguous urban area in the United States. BosWash has the largest population of the eleven U.S. megaregions, which together hold over 76 percent of the nation’s population. BosWash has the highest GDP of any megaregion in the world at some $3.75 trillion.

The Economic Priority of the Seven Wealthiest Countries: More Wealth

November 14, 2024/5 Comments/in Alix Underwood, Consumption, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, GDP, Governance, Inequality, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Wealth /by Alix Underwood

by Alix Underwood

Almost half of humanity lives below $6.85 per day. This population does not consume goods and services at a rate exceeding Earth’s capacity. Yet here we sit, on the wrong side of six of the nine planetary boundaries identified by the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

How did we get here? Via the economic activity of the other half of humanity. The planet, and all its inhabitants,

Challenging Land Use and Abuse in Allamakee County

October 31, 2024/0 Comments/in Conservation, Dave Rollo, Food and Agriculture, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Pollution, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Water /by Helene Langlamet

by Dave Rollo

Allamakee County lies in the northeast corner of Iowa, bordering Minnesota and Wisconsin. It is part of a three-state region that, unlike most of the upper United States and Canada, escaped glaciation during past ice ages. This geological oddity is immediately obvious to visitors by the dramatic terrain of bluffs, hills, and valleys. Expansive plains characterize most of the rest of Iowa, where miles-thick glaciers moved over the land like a bulldozer,

A Primer on Economic Growth and Biodiversity for COP16

October 17, 2024/11 Comments/in Biodiversity, Brian Czech, Conservation, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Governance, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Trophic Theory of Money /by Helene Langlamet

by Brian Czech

With the core meetings of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16) starting next week, it’s time for a primer on the relationship between economic growth and biodiversity conservation. The last thing we want is a COP16 devoid of discussion about the conflict between growing the economy and conserving biodiversity. In fact, the “800-pound gorilla”—GDP growth—ought to be front and center.

Devoted Herald readers may feel a tinge of déjà vu,