The Degrowth Issue

A small but vibrant movement that began in France in 2001, and has now crossed the ocean into Canada, challenges the hitherto unquestioned belief that endless economic growth is sustainable, that any and all constraints can be overcome, and that producing and buying more is the road to happiness.

As Andrea Levy writes in her introduction to our theme on degrowth, “all but the plain stupid or willfully blind by now recognize that, unfettered by concern for the survival needs of planetary ecosystems, economic growth and its symbiont, the consumer society, is suicidal for the human species and genocidal for countless others.”

Besides the articles by Derrick O’Keefe, Peter Victor, Arthur Schafer and Louis Marion written specially for this issue, Andrea Levy’s Ecoside column also focuses on this theme, as do the book reviews by Cy Gonick and Judy Deutsch.

De-Growth Vancouver entered candidates for city council in the November 2011 Vancouver civic elections. It is planning a conference on degrowth this June. Another degrowth conference, this one in Montreal, is scheduled for May 13-19.