The IPCC report, issued on 20 March 2023, is an invaluable synthesis of climate science; however, there is a fundamental issue with IPCC reports in general. They communicate climate science using language that is also used by mainstream economists, such as modelling, equilibrium, financial flows, market barriers, leverage, costs and budgets. This shared lexicon unfortunately … Continue reading IPCC Gives Mainstream Economics A Free Pass
If only our politicians and media were as fixated with wellbeing and environmental growth on a quarterly basis as they are with financial growth. If only we had an environment governor who could intervene to "cool the jets" on materials extraction, waste and pollution in the way our Reserve Bank governor does with interest rate … Continue reading Cool the Extraction Jets
Ever wondered how degrowth differs from conventional sustainability? The goal of degrowth is universal wellbeing, to be delivered through global and local provisioning systems that are distributive and regenerative. This demands a reprioritisation of social values and behaviours toward sufficiency and sharing; it is driving development of innovative post-growth business models that focus on meeting … Continue reading How Is Degrowth Different To ‘Sustainability’?
An important new paper on degrowth-oriented business value creation has just been published. We all understand how businesses create value in the growth paradigm - business models organise activities to enable strategies of efficiency, expansion and innovation to create products and services that increase material and financial wealth for stakeholders. Degrowth paradigm value creation and … Continue reading Degrowth-Oriented Value Creation
New Zealanders’ enduring relationship with GDP growth as an economic goal is nostalgic, traceable to the 1960s and a fall in the price of wool. Growth goals have reflected who we are as a nation. We are strivers through thick and thin. Looking forward, however, GDP growth would be misplaced as an economic goal given … Continue reading New Zealand’s Growth Nostalgia
Having access to adequate housing is a human need and human right. Everyone deserves to have a home. In Australia, residential buildings are provided either by the market as private housing or by the state as social housing. Yet, modest income households are falling into a gap between them. Furthermore, housing stock does not meet … Continue reading If the Market and the State Cannot Provide Affordable, Sustainable Housing in Australia, Perhaps ‘Housing for Degrowth’ Can.
Heliocene 