Welcome to our in-depth exploration of degrowth. In a world shaped by economic systems, our articles delve into the intersection of green politics, degrowth, and anti-capitalist principles, providing a unique perspective on reshaping economic paradigms.
Our articles offer a green perspective on degrowth, examining how it aims to redefine success beyond mere GDP growth and advocates for a sustainable, balanced approach to resource allocation.
Discover how anti-capitalist ideals align with the Green vision for an economic system that prioritizes people and the planet over profit. We explore the complexities of dismantling the current economic framework and replacing it with one that emphasizes social justice, environmental sustainability, and community well-being. Navigate through insightful articles that unpack the strategies proposed by green political movements to reduce the size of the military-industrial complex.
Together, let’s envision and advocate for a future where economic prosperity is intertwined with social and ecological well-being.
Capitalism: Why we should scrap it
T. Vijayendra
An understanding of the great extent to which we have overshot sustainability limits leaves no alternative to working for an eventual transition to mostly small, highly self-sufficient and self-governing cooperative communities controlling local economies and embracing materially simple lifestyles and systems. These can enable a higher quality of life than rich countries have now, without reduction in socially desirable institutions such as high-tech medicine.
It’s Time to Call It What It Is—A Capitalism-Induced Ecological Crisis
Erin McCarley
The same industries that benefit from ecological destruction- Big Oil, Big Agriculture, Tech Giants, the Military Industrial Complex– have for years tried to sell us a “greener capitalism” as a solution to the crisis. And they have been lying to us. Suggesting that individual consumption habits– light bulbs, electric cars, or the purchasing of carbon offsets– will somehow save us from disaster is a fairytale. It won’t. These attempts at tinkering around the edges of capitalism ignore the very nature of capitalism. Capitalism as an economic system requires constant growth, constant profit, and endless extraction in order to achieve profit.
“We’ll Meet Them Out in the Fields”: Challenging the Pipelines to Nowhere
Stan Cox
Recent polls suggest that the bonkers, even barbaric, rhetoric coming from far-right MAGA candidates could be undermining Republicans’ chances of capturing both chambers of Congress in November. Now, the greater danger may lie down-ballot. If extremists win key offices in swing-state governments in 2022, they might manage to award their states’ Electoral College votes to the MAGA presidential candidate, against the will of the voters, in 2024 and illegitimately capture the White House. With the prospect of such coup-plotting in state capitals, and with the Democrats’ much-hyped federal climate bill now passed into law, the focus of struggle on both […]
Life Expectancy: The US and Cuba in the Time of Covid
Don Fitz
R ecent data shows that between 2019 and 2021, life expectancy (LE) in the US plunged almost three years while for Cuba it edged up 0.2 years. Yet, in 1960, the year after its revolution, Cuba had a LE of 64.2 years, lower by 5.6 years than that in the US (69.8 years). As I document in Cuban Health Care, the island quickly caught up to the US and, from 1970 through 2016, the two countries were nip and tuck, with some years Cuba and other years the US, having a longer LE. But neither country was ever as much […]
“Water is dignity”: Residents in majority-Black Jackson, Mississippi left without drinkable water
Natalia Marques
Jackson is 82.5% Black, and has been hit with multiple water crises in recent months. As of September 2, the vast majority of the residents of the city of Jackson, Mississippi—over 150,000—still have no access to safe drinking water. The Jackson water crisis began on August 30 when flooding caused the pumps at the main water treatment facility to fail. This left most residents without clean water and many with no water at all due to low water pressure…. Water coming out of the pipes in Jackson is discolored and cloudy, if any water comes out at all… Many residents […]
Game Of Nuclear Chicken In Zaporozhye
Prabir Purkayastha
It defies logic why the Russians themselves would shell a plant which, by all accounts, is under their control. All the evidence so far supports Russia’s claim that Ukraine shelled the plant and the transmission lines. And if, as Ukraine claims, Russia has positioned heavy military equipment within the plant, it should be a simple matter for Ukraine or its NATO allies to make the evidence public in the age of satellite imagery. That they have not speaks volumes. Understandably, the Ukrainian side would make such propaganda claims. What is surprising is major news organizations—Reuters, AP, The New York Times, and The Washington Post — have […]
Green Energy’s Threat to the Desert West
Joshua Frank
Geothermal, like hydroelectric dams, is often cited as a renewable energy source, since the technology harnesses heat from the earth to produce electricity, which in theory is endless. Even so, large geothermal plants consume a lot of land and spit out a lot of water. The Dixie Meadows project, which was proposed in Nevada, was one such “green” energy plan that, if built, would suck up over 40,000 thousand acre-feet of water every single year, the result of which would be devasting. Dixie’s delicate wetlands habitat, unique to this stretch of the Great Basin, is home to the imperiled black-freckled […]
Why The Inflation Reduction Act Is Less A ‘Climate Bill’ and More a Poison Pill for Black and Indigenous Communities and Movements
Anthony Rogers-Wright
This, to me, is a fair inquiry. If a Republican introduced a piece of legislation that included opening up 600 million acres of oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico, dedicated billions of dollars to unproven “false climate solutions” like so called carbon capture and sequestration, extended the life of aging nuclear power plants, allowed for increased mining of uranium, and tied it to a commitment to ratify a separate, rubber stamped American Petroleum Institute (API) side deal that would deregulate landmark environmental laws like the National Environmental Policy Act, as well as the Clean Water Act, which […]
The System Is Causing Food Crisis, Not The War
Adele Walton
While Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine [and Western sanctions on Russia] has exacerbated this crisis, climate change and capitalism are the primary engines behind this global food emergency. The IPCC has estimated that by 2030, global warming will have diminished the world’s average agricultural production by more than a fifth. This process really took shape during the so-called “Green Revolution” in the late 1960s. This movement was a collaboration between India and the U.S. (with USAID and the Ford Foundation being key actors). This shift towards big agriculture and more profitable monocultures made small farmers more dependent on expensive […]