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

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,

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

January 2, 2025/11 Comments/in Complexity, Conservation, Degrowth, Ideology, Politics, Postgrowth, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Alix Underwood

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,

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,

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

November 7, 2024/10 Comments/in Autocracy, Brian Czech, Conservation, Democracy, Economic Growth, Ideology, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Alix Underwood

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,

Is the Election a Civilizational Turning Point? Why Musk is Really Backing Trump

October 24, 2024/10 Comments/in Autocracy, Democracy, Ideology, Michael Harvey, Politics, Populism, Steady State Herald, Technology /by Helene Langlamet

by Michael DB Harvey

Has Elon Musk finally lost his mind? Seeing him cavorting on stage with Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, pouring tens of millions of dollars into the convicted felon’s presidential campaign and declaring that the upcoming election could be the last one ever, one might think so. But Musk’s political drift rightwards has long had an air of inevitability about it. And there is much more behind his new support for MAGA politics than meets the eye.

A Steady Stater’s Response to the Harris-Trump Debate

September 12, 2024/15 Comments/in Brian Czech, Climate Change, Democracy, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Governance, Limits to Growth, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Alix Underwood

by Brian Czech

“Harris wiped the floor with Trump.” At least that’s how today’s Washington Post kicked off a discussion among in-house columnists. But for voters who prioritize Planet Earth for present and future generations, the 2024 presidential election is a classic example of seeking the lesser of two evils. Neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump is a student—much less a champion—of sustainability. They probably think “limits to growth” pertains to poll results or crowd size.

Democracy Trumped at the Limits to Growth

July 3, 2024/11 Comments/in Autocracy, Brian Czech, Complexity, Democracy, GDP, Governance, Limits to Growth, Politics, Populism, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Brian Czech

Perhaps you’ve heard: Autocracy is on the march. Not just in the obvious places like Russia, China, and North Korea. Democracy has been declining throughout the world for decades, sometimes gradually, sometimes suddenly, but invariably replaced by autocratic tendencies, politicians, and states.

What’s going on in places as far-flung as Hungary, Myanmar, and Nicaragua? Why, after the lessons of world wars, the Cold War,

Sortition for a Steady State Economy?

April 18, 2024/6 Comments/in Gary Gardner, Governance, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Gary Gardner

In my frustration over humanity’s sluggish response to the urgent issues of our time, I find a bit of hope in an idea championed by the philosopher John Rawls. He had a simple and appealing suggestion for shifting people’s preferences in the direction of the common good.

Rawls proposed that anyone deliberating about public matters–legislators, officials, citizens, and others–start from behind a “veil of ignorance,” that hides from them their place in society.

Learning from Las Vegas: The Costs of Growth

December 1, 2023/2 Comments/in Daniel Wortel-London, Economic Growth, Governance, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Water /by Gary Gardner

by Daniel Wortel-London

Since 1998, the City of Las Vegas and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have been gambling with nature. By auctioning off public land from the BLM for development and using the proceeds to preserve natural areas, policymakers and federal officials have bet that development and conservation can go hand-in-hand.

But it hasn’t worked out that way.

As the Las Vegas region has grown from 1.3 to 2.7 million people since 1998,

How to Take out a Pipeline

September 21, 2023/2 Comments/in Economic Growth, Energy, Environment, Governance, Greg Mikkelson, Politics, Pollution, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

Gregory M. Mikkelson

The speed of economic growth hinges to a large extent on the supply of fossil fuel, especially of oil and gas, which depends in turn on pipeline capacity. Thus, if we are to turn the tide against economic growth, pipelines are a good strategic place to start. In what follows I focus on the fight against one pipeline in particular.

Spiderwebs of pipelines hold six continents in thrall to climate-wrecking,