Limits to Growth Archives – Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

Growth of an Economy, Death of a River

October 2, 2025/1 Comment/in Amelia Jaycen, Climate Change, Consumption, Economic Growth, Environment, Governance, Limits to Growth, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Water /by Alix Underwood

by Amelia Jaycen

The Colorado River has a simple math problem: More water is taken out than nature refills every year. The gap between the two is also widening. Every year, an increasing amount of water is taken out of the Colorado River, as demand for water increases across the arid American West. Meanwhile, every year less water is available in the river and its tributaries as climate change and other manmade stressors cause imbalances in natural systems.

Has the Hunger-GDP Relationship Crossed a Threshold?

September 25, 2025/6 Comments/in Alix Underwood, Climate Change, Degrowth, Economic Growth, Food and Agriculture, GDP, Inequality, Limits to Growth, Poverty, Steady State Herald, Trophic Theory of Money, Wellbeing /by Alix Underwood

by Alix Underwood

The world looked poised to end hunger in the mid-2010s, after decades of decline in the percentage of the population that is undernourished. People often attribute progress in the late 20th century to the technological advances of the “Green Revolution.” However, the revolution’s costs and benefits, and their distribution, are hotly contested. Many experts instead point simply to economic growth as the primary factor responsible for poverty reduction and,

Introducing the Sustainable Population and Immigration Act

September 18, 2025/24 Comments/in Brian Czech, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Governance, Immigration, Limits to Growth, Politics, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Economy Act, Steady State Herald /by Alix Underwood

by Brian Czech

A steady state economy requires, by definition, a stabilized population. If population is not stabilized, it won’t matter how much we try to conserve. Our consumption as individuals—“per capita consumption”—can only go so low before we hit the lower limits of mere survival.

Mere survival isn’t comfortable, much less fun. It precludes any political viability for keeping consumption at minimal levels. So, as a society concerned about sustainability,

Remembering Peter Seidel: Philanthropist, Futurist, and Good Soul

September 4, 2025/10 Comments/in Brian Czech, Ideology, Limits to Growth, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Alix Underwood

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,

Carbon and Canada’s Cars: “Business As Usual, Electrified”

August 28, 2025/3 Comments/in Climate Change, Economic Growth, Energy, Limits to Growth, Materials use, Steady State Herald /by Alix Underwood

by Bart Hawkins Kreps

Auto industry voices in Canada have made headlines recently by urging a longer timeline for the transition to electric cars. We should hope that Prime Minister Mark Carney does not give in to this demand.

Yet even if Canada’s federal government sticks to the current policy, and Canadian new car sales are 100 percent zero-emission by 2035, carbon emissions will decline much more slowly than the world needs.

Technocene Ground Zero: Counties Face Off with Data Centers

July 24, 2025/5 Comments/in Climate Change, Consumption, Energy, Fossil Fuels, Limits to Growth, Materials use, Steady State Herald, Technology, Water /by Alix Underwood

by Amelia Jaycen

In counties across the U.S.—rural and urban, democrat and republican—communities are living up close and personal with data centers. And the new neighbor is a real nightmare.

The number of data centers in the U.S., whether planned, under construction, or operating, is 3,897. This is by far the most anywhere in the world, and the number is increasing weekly.

We are hitting our heads on the ceiling of limits to growth.

Israel: A Blind Spot for Steady Staters?

May 15, 2025/29 Comments/in Corruption, Ideology, Limits to Growth, Peace, Politics, Population, Religion, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Alix Underwood

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.

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

April 17, 2025/4 Comments/in Economic Policy, Governance, Inequality, Inflation, Limits to Growth, Materials use, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Economy Act, 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.

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

April 10, 2025/1 Comment/in Brian Czech, Climate Change, Energy, Fossil Fuels, Ideology, Limits to Growth, Politics, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Technology /by Alix Underwood

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),

Peruvian Gold: Producers, Consumers, Lands, and Livelihoods

April 3, 2025/3 Comments/in Alix Underwood, Consumption, Degrowth, Environment, Jobs and Employment, Limits to Growth, Materials use, Pollution, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Alix Underwood

by Alix Underwood

When I say “gold mining,” what comes to mind? Perhaps you think of the 19th-century gold rush, with prospectors in suspenders swinging pickaxes and panning for gold in rivers. Maybe you envision industrialized mining, with terraced pits and heavy machinery. A visit to the Peruvian Amazon, where gold mining has surged in recent decades, transformed my perception of gold mining and miners.

I have the privilege of advising a team of Notre Dame master’s students—diverse in origins and expertise—as they work alongside a Peruvian NGO,