Steady State Herald – Page 2 of 31 – Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

Blinded by the Light: Techno-Optimism in Overshoot

April 9, 2026/7 Comments/in David Shreve, Economic Policy, Energy, Fossil Fuels, Ideology, Limits to Growth, Population, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Technology /by Alix Underwood

by David Shreve

Lovers of technology tend to love quantitative analysis. But when it comes to the accounting of Earth’s biocapacity and our ecological footprint, these same technophiles are often happy to ignore simple arithmetic. While increasingly rigorous and reliable, the “overshoot” accounting they dismiss does include some difficult-to-measure variables. It will always be imperfect.

But for many nearsighted techno-optimists, this is beside the point. They argue that modern scientists have engineered such technological marvels that we should only expect more,

Nuclear Safety Now Optional Under Trump

April 2, 2026/4 Comments/in Economic Growth, Energy, Environment, Governance, Kirsten Stade, Limits to Growth, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Technology /by Alix Underwood

by Kirsten Stade

At the beginning of his second term, President Trump pledged a regime of aggressive deregulation to stimulate economic growth. Unfortunately he has followed through on that promise, claiming 646 deregulatory actions over the past year. These have aided industries ranging from slaughterhouses to automakers no longer bound by emissions standards under the Obama-era Endangerment Finding, which has now been reversed.

The energy sector has been among the foremost beneficiaries.

Albemarle County, Virginia: Green Leader No More

March 26, 2026/3 Comments/in Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Governance, Jobs and Employment, KEEP Our Counties Great, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Alix Underwood

by Tom Olivier

I’ve lived in Albemarle County, Virginia, for over forty years. Albemarle is a mostly rural county in the Piedmont region. It surrounds the city of Charlottesville.

For decades, the county valued its open spaces and created many policies to ensure their protection. Recently, leadership has taken a pro-development turn, jeopardizing citizens’ quality of life and many of our community’s natural features.

In the 1990s and 2000s,

The Strait of Hormuz: Trump’s Waterloo?

March 19, 2026/6 Comments/in Brian Czech, Consumption, Economic Growth, Food and Agriculture, Fossil Fuels, GDP, Inflation, Peace, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Trophic Theory of Money /by Alix Underwood

by Brian Czech

Given his long-running obsession with GDP growth, an obsession punctuated with mid-terms in mind, President Trump has made some peculiar moves. Just this week, his stripping of immigrant truckers’ licenses took effect, as part of a broader crackdown on immigrant labor, a key source of economic growth. His hyperactive imposing of tariffs has undermined comparative advantage, a condition relied upon for global GDP growth.

The Vicious Fertilizer Cycle and the Growth Economy

March 12, 2026/9 Comments/in Alix Underwood, Consumption, Economic Growth, Food and Agriculture, Fossil Fuels, GDP, Pollution, Population, Steady State Herald, Trophic Theory of Money, Water /by Alix Underwood

by Alix Underwood and Marwa Ebrahem

The size of our economy, measured by gross domestic product (GDP), is intimately linked to our use of artificial fertilizer. So is the ecological havoc we are wreaking on the planet and its inhabitants.

Between 2002 and 2018, while the population increased by 22 percent, the per-hectare use of synthetic nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers—the three most common types—increased by about 23,

Selling Off Public Lands: The Push to Privatize a Public Treasure

March 5, 2026/0 Comments/in Conservation, Corruption, Democracy, Economic Growth, Kirsten Stade, Politics, Steady State Herald /by Alix Underwood

by Kirsten Stade

The Trump Administration, in its dedication to self- and industry enrichment, is hoping to sell a sacred cow: public lands. And while many such efforts have been defeated in the past, the current no-holds-barred growth regime elevates their chances of success.

Federal lands are set aside in all 50 U.S. states for the benefit of all Americans. Primarily in the American West, these lands span 640 million acres of natural resources,

Struggling Against Sprawl in Rutherford County

February 26, 2026/1 Comment/in Dave Rollo, Economic Growth, Governance, KEEP Our Counties Great, Limits to Growth, Politics, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Wellbeing /by Alix Underwood

By Dave Rollo

Rutherford County is located in the central Tennessee farm belt. Its county seat, Murfreesboro, is precisely in the state’s geographic center, and it briefly served as Tennessee’s capital. But, because of greater commerce and superior roads, the legislature chose Nashville as the seat of power only a few years after statehood was granted in 1796. Decades later, Murfreesboro became a grim center of the Civil War. It was the site of the Battle of Stones River—a pivotal Union victory bought at the cost of immense casualties.

The Youth Movement in a Post-Growth World

February 19, 2026/10 Comments/in Climate Change, Economic Growth, Ideology, Politics, Postgrowth, Steady State Herald /by Alix Underwood

by Adel Ramdani

Bringing about alternatives to our capitalist growth system at the speed and scale needed is no easy task. The herculean work to develop transformative worldviews, including theories toward a steady state economy, is ongoing and increasingly cross-sectoral. At the core of this endeavor is the recognition that we cannot implement alternatives to growth capitalism without first addressing cultural and social dynamics deeply rooted in colonialism and cultural appropriation.

Taxes, Economic “Development,” and Growth Fetishism — State of the States

February 12, 2026/8 Comments/in David Shreve, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Governance, Ideology, Inequality, Jobs and Employment, Limits to Growth, Poverty, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Wealth, Wellbeing /by Alix Underwood

by David Shreve

Many are beginning to sense that there is a diminishing relationship between increasing gross domestic product (GDP) and broad prosperity or “quality of life.” Environmental perils are a big part of this—from dying oceans and freshwater shortages to extreme weather events and epidemics. People readily feel these changes, even without knowing their true extent. Technological advances notwithstanding, there is little doubt that ongoing “growth” only perpetuates and amplifies such perils.

On Public Lands, a Feeding Frenzy for Growth

February 5, 2026/5 Comments/in Conservation, Corruption, Economic Growth, Endangered Species, Energy, Fossil Fuels, GDP, Kirsten Stade, Limits to Growth, Politics, Steady State Herald, Water /by Alix Underwood

by Kirsten Stade

American public lands management has always embodied a tense balancing act between conservation and exploitation. Too often the balance has tipped in an unsustainable direction. But the Trump Administration appears determined to break the scale, with unprecedented efforts to sell out public lands to extractive industries.

Four agencies manage most federal lands. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the National Park Service (NPS) within the Department of the Interior,