Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Hundreds of thousands of farmers have been rallying against three new laws that have thrown open the agriculture sector to private players.
At its most distilled, “degrowth” refers to a process of reducing the material impact of the economy on the world’s many imperiled ecologies, abandoning GDP as a measurement of well-being, and forging an equitable steady-state economy.
What is the nub of my case for how we can tackle this? We need to become parents of the future. How do we do that? By taking the metaphor literally.
In this perspective, what must be assessed is how much the 4T government is making its mark by advancing the forces of global emancipation, the forces of those carrying out a great war for the survival of the human species and the rest of the living world.
Catabolic capitalism is an energy depleted, self-cannibalizing economy whose insatiable hunger for profit can only be fed by breaking down the society that sustains it.
In our new study – published in the journal World Development – we come to the unsettling conclusion that many adaptation projects can make people more, rather than less, vulnerable to climate change. This is known as “maladaptation”.
On a European and global level, it can be observed that not only corporations but also decision-makers repeatedly resort to terms such as “regenerative” or “agroecological” if they want to avoid verifiable changes to the system and therefore want to avoid the explicit naming of organic farming, because it is clearly defined and leaves no room for interpretation.
Examples of degrowth provide a starting point for considering concrete steps toward tackling structural violence, fostering climate resilience, and advancing peace.
Last year will be remembered for many things, and let’s be honest: most of them will be bad. But amidst the hardship and suffering, there is a positive story to be told.
What organic farming and agroecology have in common is that they reject synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, use organic fertilizers and stabilize their farming systems through diversity.
There will be social, cultural and relational repercussions that must be accounted for in order to uphold the central tenet of just transition: to leave none behind.
And this simple principle proves true in nature in a broader sense. Rest is necessary. The dying leaves in autumn, the cutting back of branches, the ushering peace of winter, the times of restfulness: all of these are necessary to eventually come back to life again.
