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

Peruvian Gold: Producers, Consumers, Lands, and Livelihoods

April 3, 2025/1 Comment/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,

Introducing the Sustainable Taxes Act

March 20, 2025/5 Comments/in Economic Policy, Inequality, Money and Investments, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Wealth /by Alix Underwood

by David Shreve

In a world where GDP exceeds our planet’s biocapacity, we badly need new economic policy. In particular, we need to halt the process of unsustainable growth and move toward a steady state economy. The critical question is how to do this while ensuring sufficient economic opportunities, employment, and income for all.

Technological changes are insufficient, despite holding some promise. Neither the agricultural “Green Revolution” nor energy use efficiencies have markedly changed the ongoing overshoot.

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.

“Landman”: Hollywood Meets the Growth Dilemma

February 27, 2025/1 Comment/in Climate Change, Economic Growth, Energy, Fossil Fuels, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Alix Underwood

by Owen Cortner

The new TV series, Landman, offers a window into the rugged world of the oil industry in West Texas. Billy Bob Thornton plays Tommy Norris, a “fixer” for an oil company, who roams the high-stakes territory of “The Patch,” a.k.a. the Permian Basin. Norris navigates shady deals and dangerous gambles, most of them highly cinematic (if occasionally thinly written). Packed with tension and drama,

Winds of Change in Lincoln County

February 13, 2025/7 Comments/in Climate Change, Dave Rollo, Energy, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Technology /by Alix Underwood

by Dave Rollo

Rolling hills and wide-open plains typify eastern Oklahoma. Gulf Coast and Canadian air masses converge over these plains, creating a near-constant pressure gradient called the low-level jet (LLJ). The result is perpetual air currents in the central U.S. “wind corridor,” which make the region ideal for wind energy projects.

The United States’ top five wind-energy producers—Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Illinois—form a southwest to northeast diagonal through the center of the country.

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,

At CASSE, Two Decades of Advancing the Steady State Economy

January 30, 2025/1 Comment/in Brian Czech, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Alix Underwood

by Brian Czech

Penning a 20th anniversary tribute for CASSE, the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy, makes me at once proud, humble, and motivated. When you couple our iconoclastic mission with the fact that non-profits tend to fail within a few years, achieving the 20-year milestone is a proper matter of pride. Yet I am humbled by the immensity of the challenges before us and,

The Costs of Compounding: Exploitation and Collapse

January 23, 2025/12 Comments/in Banking, Corporate Reform, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Inequality, Limits to Growth, Money and Investments, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Wealth /by Alix Underwood

by Koenraad Priels

The global financial system operates like a cancer, metastasizing throughout our economy and society. Its malignant core is a simple yet devastating formula: PL – PR + I, principal loaned – principal repaid + interest = an escalating debt trap that necessitates economic growth. This equation is familiar to anyone who has taken out a loan. It demonstrates the fatal flaw in our financial architecture,

A Big Conservation Win for Benzie County

January 16, 2025/2 Comments/in Conservation, Dave Rollo, Economic Growth, Environment, Jobs and Employment, Money and Investments, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Alix Underwood

by Dave Rollo

Benzie County lies at the base of the pinky on the “Mitt,” as Michiganders say, referring to their left hand as a convenient “map” of their state. The county is blessed with one of the largest deepwater harbors on Lake Michigan, Betsie Bay. It has long provided mariners with safe refuge from the fierce gales of Lake Michigan. Jetties protect the bay’s inlet, where a historic lighthouse has guided ships for over a century.

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

January 2, 2025/12 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,