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

Influenced to Overconsume: How Social Media Hijacks Sustainability

June 12, 2025/3 Comments/in Consumption, Ideology, Materials use, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Technology, Wellbeing /by Alix Underwood

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.

Introducing the Sustainable Transportation Act

May 29, 2025/7 Comments/in Economic Policy, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Wellbeing /by Alix Underwood

by David Shreve

While transportation is vital to American prosperity, the transportation sector is the largest direct contributor of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions among all economic sectors. Even though passenger-car efficiency has steadily increased in recent years, the sector’s contribution to environmental degradation has continued to rise. Since 1995, U.S. transportation sector emissions have risen by almost 20 percent.

We cannot ignore the principal problems in the U.S.

City Limits in the Hoosier State (Keeping Monroe County Great)

May 1, 2025/1 Comment/in Dave Rollo, Economic Growth, Governance, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Wellbeing /by Alix Underwood

by Dave Rollo

Monroe County, Indiana, lies just an hour south of the state capital (Indianapolis), yet it retains a rural character. The gently rolling hills and farmland of the Mitchell Plain characterize the central and western portions of the county. Porous limestone bedrock (known as karst) imposed limits on municipal water resources until the late 20th century, when the Army Corps of Engineers created Monroe Reservoir.

Whose Behavior Needs to Change? The Other Side of the International Development Coin

October 10, 2024/10 Comments/in Alix Underwood, Consumption, Economic Policy, Governance, Inequality, Limits to Growth, Postgrowth, Poverty, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Wealth, Wellbeing /by Alix Underwood

by Alix Underwood

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” The Western-led international development sector, born in the aftermath of World War II, has evolved according to this (ironically) Chinese proverb. To better reflect the status of international development, I would append the following sentences to the worn-out proverb: “Use advanced extractive technology to harvest all the fish from the man’s ocean,

The Olympic Spirit: Friendly Competition or Unsustainable Growth?

August 15, 2024/0 Comments/in Consumption, Economic Growth, Pollution, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Wellbeing /by Alix Underwood

by Mark Cramer

Every four years, the Summer Olympics present a rare opportunity for friendly competition and collaboration among nations. The public has an opportunity to witness a myriad of sports that otherwise never make the headlines. Talented athletes get a rare chance to display their skills before an international audience.

The Olympics offer a venue for peaceful, international solidarity. Yet they also present a seemingly insurmountable ecological challenge. To begin with,

Rendering the Economic Fat for a Steady State Economy

June 27, 2024/8 Comments/in Economic Policy, Food and Agriculture, Gary Gardner, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Wellbeing /by Gary Gardner

by Gary Gardner

Mention the steady state economy at a gathering of friends and a predictable concern is sure to arise. “I couldn’t possibly manage on a flat income, much less a reduced one. I can barely make ends meet now!” Heads will nod all around. The idea of a nongrowing economy—not to mention degrowth—quickly sours the party mood.

The objection is understandable from people long accustomed to ever-greater levels of consumption.

Befriending Boundaries

March 1, 2024/4 Comments/in Gary Gardner, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Wellbeing /by Gary Gardner

by Gary Gardner

One of the most difficult adjustments industrial-country citizens will make in the steady state economy is accepting limits on our activities. Steady state economies will not be the Wild West, beyond the frontier where anything goes. We will learn to live within limits, a difficult reality for peoples accustomed to an open-ended understanding of freedom. In a “full world” where we bump up against the limits of our planet’s resources,

Envisioning a Steady-State Comprehensive Plan

February 22, 2024/6 Comments/in Dave Rollo, Economic Growth, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Wellbeing /by Gary Gardner

by Dave Rollo

”Economic growth” is commonplace in the daily news. We assume it’s a good thing, that a 2–4 percent increase in GDP is beneficial to all. Likewise, we hear that our communities are growing, and we see a 2–4 percent increase in population as reasonable and benign. Meanwhile, visionary community leaders are busy planning for a steady feed of single-digit annual growth. So we’re in good hands, right?

But what the news reports miss is that any steady rate of growth is an exponential function that contains within it a knowable doubling time.

Work Less, Study More, and Forget About GDP

August 24, 2023/8 Comments/in Economic Growth, Greg Mikkelson, Pollution, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Wellbeing /by Gary Gardner

by Gregory M. Mikkelson

Trends in human health have recently decoupled from GDP growth throughout the world. In other words, health improvement no longer tracks economic expansion. Meanwhile, environmental degradation remains firmly coupled to economic growth. As damages from economic growth mount globally, and as benefits fade, the case against further growth is stronger every day.

Within the USA, the case against economic growth is especially compelling, and not just because of the country’s massively disproportionate contribution to global ecological breakdown.

Which Future?

August 10, 2023/21 Comments/in Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Gary Gardner, Materials use, Pollution, Postgrowth, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Technology, Wellbeing /by Gary Gardner

by Gary Gardner

One of the more puzzling features of modern life is the starkly contrasting visions of humanity’s near-term future. Watch thirty minutes of commercial-filled TV and you get a cheery sense that all is well in the world. A BMW, an anti-depressant, or a Caribbean vacation—these will ensure ever greater happiness.

At the same time, a 2021 poll in ten countries found that four in ten young people are hesitant to have children because of the climate crisis.