THE FIVE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS

ABOUT GROWTH

LEARNED OVER THE COURSE OF MY CAREER

Most people are captives of a cultural story that equates growth with

progress.

A cultural story that asserts growth as inevitable, necessary, desirable, and

possible.

#1

Daniel Quinn’s 1995 novel Ishmael:

A culture is a people enacting a story.

We are currently enacting a story that compels us to destroy the world in order to live.

Growth is inherently unsustainable

• Growth cannot be continued indefinitely.

• The term “sustainable growth” represents a moronic oxymoron

#2

“It is development that can have the attribute of sustainability, not growth.” Herman E. Daly

CASSA: Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

Position statement: There is an inherent conflict between economic growth and environmental protection based on the ecological principle of competitive exclusion

US Society for Ecological Economics The Wildlife Society North American Section of the Society

for Conservation Biology

More than two decades of mounting evidence confirms existent ecological limits to growth.

#3

The current level of human demands on earth’s ecosystems represents unsustainable behavior that

can only be maintained over the short term.

The collective ecological footprint of humans is degrading and destroying global ecosystems and

their essential life-support services.

Existent Ecological Limitsto Growth

1991: Ecological Society of America

Declared the existing scale of the human enterprise was “threatening the sustainability

of Earth’s life-support systems”

Ecological life-support services: Maintain a benign mix of atmospheric gases Control climate Regulate the hydrologic cycle Purify air and water Decompose wastes Regenerate soil nutrients Provide pest control and pollination Create and maintain biodiversity

1991 & 1992: Paul Ehrlich & Edward O. Wilson

Warned that under current trends fully 50 percent of species on the planet could be

eliminated by 2050

1997: Research on per capita ecological footprints

Revealed the footprint of humanity already exceeded the planet’s ecological capacity

to sustain the human enterprise

2005: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Reported some 60 percent of the ecosystems that support life on Earth are being degraded

or used unsustainably

2007:Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Called for a reduction of 80 percent in global emissions from 1990 levels to avert

“dangerous anthropogenic climate change”

IPCC Conclusions: A “safe” level of warming lies at 2° C (3.6° F) Even the 1° C (1.8° F) warming to date

represents significant risks Most models suggest doubling carbon dioxide

will lead to a temperature rise of 3° C (5.4° F) With feedback processes a 2010 study suggests

a doubling would produce an increase of 9.6° C (17.3° F) with disastrous consequences

2009: Exceeded “planetary boundaries”

Humanity has already pushed 3 of Earth’s 9 biophysical processes beyond the planet’s ability

to self-regulate, with current trends leading to “catastrophic consequences”

Planetary Boundaries: Boundaries for the rate of biodiversity loss,

climate change, and human interference with the nitrogen cycle have already been exceeded

Boundaries for the phosphorus cycle, stratospheric ozone depletion, ocean acidification, global freshwater use, change in land use, atmospheric aerosol loading, and chemical pollution are rapidly approaching

2010: 8th Living Planet Report

Declared the collective ecological footprint of humankind exceeds Earth’s biocapacity by

50 percent

2012: Threat of a “state shift” in global ecosystem

Global ecosystem rapidly approaching a planetary-scale critical transition or “state shift” as a result of

human interference, with threats to the planet’s ability to sustain us and other species

The pro-growth stance of the planning profession impedes the necessary paradigm shift to a no-growth and

degrowth future.

Growth-management supports the growth imperative.

The smart-growth movement represents continued professional planning support for growth.

#4

Current growth-management programs

Growth management represents an institutionalized form of support for the growth imperative

Management programs endorse inevitable, normal, realistic, reasonable, responsible, proper, sensible, legitimate, balanced, and smart growth

Members of the management movement condemn no-growth initiatives as inefficient, unjust, and irresponsible responses to growth

Adoption of no-growth and degrowth strategies

Reject current growth-management programs due to their growth-accommodation orientation

Implement political, economic, and planning and regulatory strategies to stop growth

Devise a sustainable no-growth future, i.e., likely social, political, economic, and physical features of no-growth communities

Strategies to stop growth Political: eliminate the pro-growth focus

of local government by election or initiative Economic: stop public subsidies

for infrastructure Planning & regulatory: modify

community comprehensive plans and land-use regulations in ways that close out options for further growth

A sustainable no-growth future would be possible under community economics

and new urbanism lifestyles.

Features of community economics: needs-based economies directed at self-sufficiency through a diverse

set of import-substitution businessesFeatures of new urbanism: urban places downsized and

redesigned to levels that are ecologically sustainable within the capabilities of their bioregions

#5

Prospects for realizing no-growth communities

Bioregionalism Voluntary Simplicity Slow Food Ecovillages Take Back Your Time Transition Town Degrowth