Radical Post-Growth Gratitude

by Alix Underwood

In our paradoxical society of excess and dissatisfaction, dedicating a day to gratitude is a powerful gesture.

There is abundant evidence of the importance of gratitude for well-being. A dearth of gratitude is a critical component of Western society’s epidemic of dissatisfaction and mental illness.

It’s no coincidence that this epidemic has been accompanied by economic growth beyond planetary boundaries.


Dear AI, It Never Wasn’t an “Intelligence Economy”

by Brian Czech

(With apologies to Johnny Cash and Ira Hayes.)

Once upon a Pleistocene evening, AI, just below the ridgeline, tracks were everywhere. So was the scent. Mammoth! Cupping hands behind ears, the hunter pointed them like parabolic amplifiers. The mammoths were close; he could hear them tearing grass with their massive molars.

But there was a problem, AI. The horizon was reddening,


Remembering Peter Seidel: Philanthropist, Futurist, and Good Soul

by Brian Czech

On July 20, at the age of 98, a giant in steady-state philanthropy left the world he worked so hard to help. Frederick George Peter Seidel (1928–2025) played a huge part for small organizations like the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE). Peter was CASSE’s best friend, biggest benefactor, and broadest champion. His contributions ranged from academic and editorial to strategic and financial.

Without Peter,


Greenwashing in the Amazon: Debunking False Green Solutions

by Mauricio López

The concept of greenwashing has gained unfortunate relevance, especially regarding the energy transition. Greenwashing occurs when companies, governments, or institutions promote products, services, or projects as ecologically responsible, while minimizing or hiding their negative impacts. The inhabitants of the Amazon, particularly Indigenous peoples, are witnessing how greenwashing is not only problematic from an environmental perspective. It is also detrimental to human rights and social justice.

Renewable energies, such as solar,


Bottom-Up or Top-Down: How to Degrow the Economy

by Vlad Bunea

To stop global warming, the 6th mass extinction, and ecological unravelling in general, humanity must degrow its ecological footprint very fast. We must degrow by 2–3 percent per year until our footprint falls under the planet’s biocapacity to regenerate itself. The only way to do this is to completely overhaul our growth-oriented, capitalist economic system.

There is a passionate ongoing debate in degrowthUK’s Prospects for Degrowth series about how to achieve this.


Influenced to Overconsume: How Social Media Hijacks Sustainability

by Priya Thompson

We live in an age defined by contradiction. On one hand, the climate crisis demands urgent and systemic action. On the other hand, we are more connected to a digital world that profits—at great ecological cost—from our distraction, desires, and deeply human need to belong.

This tension is constant and personal for many Gen Z users, who overwhelmingly identify with sustainability as a lifestyle and a moral imperative.


Israel: A Blind Spot for Steady Staters?

by John Mirisch

For some reason, recognizing planetary boundaries, including support for a steady state economy, is seen by some as a “progressive” cause. And granted, some steady staters and degrowthers seem to have a checklist of “progressive” causes they identify with. Perhaps adhering to these checklists helps them avoid unwanted labels.

This is a big mistake. Support for a steady state economy is no more “woke” than the laws of thermodynamics.


Unsafe at Top Speed: “SAFE” Summit Shoots Off the Rails

by Brian Czech

The 2025 SAFE Summit in Washington, DC, was anything but. Sure, the hallways of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center were free of hooligans, and the attentive staff kept the floors cleared of banana peels. Yet if your idea of safety is big-picture, long-term—as expected at an energy-security conference—you could have left the summit fearing for your children’s future.

The three main themes percolating on stage were “energy dominance,” “all of the above” (as in all forms of energy),


Beyond the Ideological Echo Chamber: A Call for Intellectual Adaptability in Times of Transformation

by James Magnus-Johnston

From left-wing utopianism to right-wing denialism, ideological echo chambers across the world are eroding the capacity for original, reasoned, and systemic thinking. The United States’ drawn-out electoral process has once again brought out the worst in political tribalism. However, it has also provided an unexpected opportunity: a laboratory for intellectual rebellion and the formation of new, potentially enduring coalitions. Rather than fuel the fevered shouting matches across alternate-reality filter bubbles,


Hard-Hit Democratic Party Must Broaden Its Niche, in the Right Direction

by Brian Czech

We are in a brave new world, with an authoritarian as American president, a Senate ruled by his party, and a Supreme Court sidled up to them. This is a crushing defeat for the Democratic Party, immigrants, environmentalists, and women knocking on the glass ceiling. And it is truly bad for anyone concerned about their kids and grandkids, whether they know it or not.

The problem is not so much that our political leadership is Republican,