The Steady Stater

volume 15 number 4

Dear Friend,

As we approach the end of our most successful year yet, I’ve recorded a short video for you (below).

At CASSE, we’ve been busy tackling the hard truths: economic growth is fueling crises like climate change, biodiversity collapse, and ecological overshoot. As the growth obsession remains entrenched across the political spectrum, it’s clear we need a new direction; one that CASSE is uniquely positioned to champion.

Your support through sustaining memberships and dona-tions makes our work possible. With our federal Steady State Economy Act, grassroots Keep Our Counties Great campaign, Steady State Press publications, and weekly Steady State Herald deep-dive articles, CASSE is advocat-ing for economic systems change. We are speaking truth to power and inspiring hope for a sustainable future.

I hope you’ll take a couple of minutes to watch the video. Your contributions enable us to keep fighting for a safer, saner world for present and future generations.

Thank you for standing with us,

Brian Czech, Executive Director

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Signatory Spotlight

Susana Muhamad, Colombia's Minister of Environment and Sustainable Devel-opment, signed the CASSE position on economic growth at the 2024 UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16). Mu-hamad served as president of COP16 in Cali, Colombia.

She has used her position as Minister and, before that, as Director for Climate Action Planning for Latin America in the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, to push her country to honor international agreements and phase out fossil fuels.

Cherished Endorsements

At The Wildlife Society 2024 conference in Batimore, Maryland, the CASSE position on economic growth was endorsed by the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative. CASSE and the Buffalo Initiative recognize the destructive effects of American economic growth on tribal cultures, ecosystems, and keystone species like the American bison, or “Boy-zhan Bi-den” in the Shoshone language.

Hot on the Press

The Age of Humachines ships this week! In this long-awaited tour de force, Michael D.B. Harvey argues that technological capitalism has entered a reckless new phase, the fusion of humans and machines. This fusion—“humachination”—is enabled by arti-ficial intelligence and a cultish belief in perpetual economic growth.

Yet Humachines is decidedly a book about hope. Harvey counters the Big Tech assault on prudence by demon-strating how steady-state economics, the degrowth movement, participatory democracy, life sciences, and radical psychology can inspire us to make the best possible choices. Limits to growth, it turns out, has a substantial upside, as it may be the last defense against unbridled humachination.

You can order a Humachines book free when you become a member.

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Featured Video

On October 2, CASSE Executive Director Brian Czech presented CASSE’s vision for the Steady State Economy Act. The well-attended talk was hosted by the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome (CACOR). Too soon for steady-state legislation? Watch the talk and then decide!

Chapter News

CASSE Paris Chapter Director Mark Cramer presented the CASSE position on economic growth to the Hauts-de-Seine chapter of ATTAC (Association for the Taxation of Financial Transac-tions and Citizen Action).

Cramer's presentation sparked an hour-long discussion, including a debate on the French translation of "steady state economy." Attendees found CASSE's position well-aligned with ATTAC's goal to help citizens regain the power that the financial sphere currently wields. Participants were enthusi-astic about potential collaborations.

County Corner

In 2024, CASSE Policy Specialist Dave Rollo co-developed County Comprehensive Plans with local legislators and nonprofits to codify limits to growth for long-term sustainability. He created a template counties can use independently to develop steady-state policies. In 2025, with your support, CASSE will expand the Keep Our Counties Great campaign to fend off the GDP bulldozer from forward-thinking counties, towns, parishes, and boroughs.

Tompkins County Legislature discusses comprehensive plan

Featured Events

SNAP (Society for Nature and Parks) Québec invited CASSE Executive Director Brian Czech to speak at COP16 on the panel, From Montreal to Cali: Building Bridges to Operate Transformative Change. Czech connected with politicians, diplomats, NGOs, scholars, and students, many of whom signed the CASSE position on economic growth.

Czech speaks during the SNAP event at COP16 in Cali, Colombia

CASSE Research Associate Alix Underwood attended The Wildlife Society's 31st Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. Underwood learned strategies for policy impact, met with legislative staff, and represented CASSE to an allied network of professionals from government agencies, NGOs, and the private sector, along with scholars and students from colleges and universities.