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The world is in the midst of multiple interconnected crises, including unprecedented biodiversity loss, deadly planetary heating, and ongoing economic and social inequality. What connects these various crises is an underlying capitalist economic model which prioritizes profit-making over wellbeing, and requires endless economic growth and material consumption simply to function.
Yet, decades of research in the earth sciences tells us that infinite growth on a finite planet is fundamentally untenable. Unchecked material extraction and relentless energy consumption will continue to devastate vital ecosystems, force communities to struggle over limited resources, and ultimately leave us with an unliveable planet.
We need to flip this standard model on its head.
Instead of following a path that seeks economic growth at all costs, we can withdraw from habits of overconsumption and waste, and pursue lifestyles that value people, animals and natural processes. We can embrace bold new visions of urban planning and localized, community-based economics. And, in doing so, we can begin to live more connected and engaged lives beyond the wastelands of consumer culture meaningless entertainment.
Degrowth offers an alternative vision to the standard model. Degrowth approaches ask us to design projects and movements that prioritize thriving communities, and transition from profit-centred motivations to focusing on well-being and genuine sustainability. Degrowth means transforming our lifestyles and politics to ensure environmental justice and a good life for all within known planetary boundaries.
For people raised in capitalist economies, the word ‘degrowth’ might seem to have a negative connotation. But the origin of the term is anything but that. It is to be found in Latin languages, where “la décroissance” in French or “la decrescita” in Italian refer to a river going back to its normal flow after a disastrous flood.
There are many changes that must be made by individuals and in the way we govern ourselves collectively. Such transitions require, at the very least, a reduction in the material size of the economy and a shift in common values towards care, solidarity and mutuality.
The rabbit embodies the archetype of the psychopomp: one who acts as a guide between worlds. Rabbit is a navigator of the underground, equally at home above ground as it is in subterranean tunnels and dark passage ways.
It is well past time to have honest conversations about our consumption-crazed culture. In The Story of Stuff, the author writes “we have a problem with Stuff: we have too much of it, too much of it is toxic, and we don’t share it very well. But that’s not the way things have to be.”
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