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

The Crisis in the Middle East is a Crisis of Growth

October 19, 2023/11 Comments/in Daniel Wortel-London, Economic Growth, Energy, Peace, Steady State Herald, Water /by Gary Gardner

by Daniel Wortel-London

The catastrophe unfolding in Israel and the Gaza Strip is the product of many factors, including colonialism and religious fanaticism. But another impulse driving this disaster deserves discussion: competition over growth and the natural capital—particularly energy, water, and land—that ensures it. These resources provide the basis for economic and population expansion in the Middle East and elsewhere. As nations continue to recklessly pursue this expansion in a finite world we will see more and more struggles over fewer and fewer resources.

Steering Away from a Car-Centric Society

May 19, 2022/4 Comments/in Climate Change, Consumption, Economic Growth, Energy, Environment, Money and Investments, Politics, Poverty, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Technology /by Brian Czech

by Mai Nguyen

Learning to drive scared me as a teenager. There was something terrifying about controlling a two-ton hunk of metal, and my drivers’ education teacher didn’t help by showing a graphic slideshow of injuries we could expect from a brutal car accident. This didn’t bother me much once I moved to the city; with buses, the metro, and bike or scooter shares, there are plenty of other ways to get around.

The Future History of Political Economy – Part 1

June 3, 2015/2 Comments/in Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Steady State Economy, The Daly News /by Brian Czech

by Eric Zencey

Ecological Economics and its corollary, steady-state economic thinking, represent a step forward for the discipline of economics and also a return to how it was practiced in the past. In the nineteenth century, economics was a part of a larger enterprise: political economy, the integrated treatment of morals and economics, ultimate ends and efficient means. Late in that century economics calved off from political economy, leaving behind political science and political philosophy as the residuum.

Seismic Political Shifts Reveal Desire for Serious Change

May 28, 2015/0 Comments/in Corporate Reform, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Energy, Environment, Steady State Economy, The Daly News /by Brian Czech

by James Magnus-Johnston

If you demonstrate to people that the NDP [New Democratic Party] can win in Alberta, suddenly anything seems possible. —Paul Fairie, University of Calgary political scientist

On the problematic political spectrum, neither the right nor the left have become wholesale champions of the steady state economy. Then again, embracing something perceived as ‘new’ has never been the strong suit of the politician. It takes years of ideological evolution among the grassroots before seemingly new and different ideas become politically palatable.

When Growth Trumps Freedom: the Chill in Canada Comes from our Government, not the Weather

February 26, 2015/8 Comments/in Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Steady State Economy, The Daly News /by Brian Czech

Some politicians will go quite far to cling to an aging growth-at-all-costs narrative.

Oil and Real Estate Bubbles in Canada: What Goes up Won’t so Smoothly Come Down

January 22, 2015/7 Comments/in Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Money and Investments, Steady State Economy, The Daly News /by Brian Czech

Magnus-Johnston explains how these investments are funded, and how it exacerbates our economy’s growth imperative.

A Stick in the Stocking: Santa’s Supply Shock

January 2, 2015/5 Comments/in Brian Czech, Economic Growth, Environment, Sustainability, The Daly News /by Brian Czech

A drop in fuel prices may seem great now, but what happens after the party is over?

Spending on Preventing Climate Wars versus Spending to Secure Sources of Oil

September 18, 2014/1 Comment/in Environment, Population, Steady State Economy, The Daly News /by Brian Czech

To avoid a fate like the Mayans in Central America and the Polynesians on Easter Island, we will need to move toward a steady state economy–with the help of social scientists and natural scientists.