Less is More: How Degrowth will Save the World by Jason Hickel
(William Heinemann Publishing, 2020)
How we shall not reduce CO2 emissions without degrowth of our economic. How material use, emissions, and other forms of environmental detruction have not been decoupled from growth. Growth is the centrepiece of capitalism. Without growth, capitalism cannot exist. It has historically relied on "fixes" such as enclosures, colonialisation, the destruction of nature, neoliberalism and the exploitation of the global South. Developed Northern economies have a historical debt to Southern ones.
Degrowth will not make our living standards worse. Actually, it will make it better. By forcing us to refocus from growth to distribution, we will realise that it has not been growth that has given us higher living standards. In fact it has been capitalism that has created artificial shortages, to force us to partake. Degrowth will free us make the lives of the many better.