I’ve been tried reading about how degrowth can safe the planet - personally I don’t buy stuff I don’t need, uses public transport extensively, etc. it happens to me naturally - But I don’t see how people and countries can apply degrowth without fear that others in our capitalist world would take advantage.
For example. let’s say the suddenly the UK decided to degeowth and stop making so much investments into the industrial sector. The international investments would simply go to countries that would accept the investments. It feels like degrowth is stuck in a prisoner’s dilemma. And there’s no obvious way around it.
How can this be solved?
Don’t have prisoners all have the same preconditions?
With degrowth, in theory at least, growing poorer countries could get richer while degrowing richer countries would lose nothing.
Degrowth can only work when there is a demand side reduction. Investments into industry can really only directly affect the supply side. So as long as a degrowth movement can succeed to decouple demand from prices, there is not much one can do to change that on the supply side.
Address the population issue.
The most probable is war, disease, famine, instability, collapse, along with large migrations of people. This is likely plan A.
A global one child policy is another approach along with true costing of carbon and other depletion activities. Even better a true change in what people think. Women’s rights, education, and opportunity goes a long way as does birth control and abortion rights. I am not an optimist here.
I’ve never heard of the term degrowth before, but the way @heeplr@feddit.de describes it, it sounds like a cool concept.
So look at the drug war, war on terrorism, money laundering sanctions, international tax evasion measures. The US and EU basically force the world to comply.
Imagine the EU and US are fully on board and say Australia decides no. What would happen to the Australian economy if they suddenly were barred from trading the dollar and euro. Australia is a big country and would be on the US/EU side. Imagine if Mexico or Croatia tried that. No chance.
Extreme? We did that to Russia during the Ukraine invasion.
This isn’t difficult. They just don’t care enough.
