Against growthism, and how to understand the Green New Deal

Some forms of growth are of course more damaging than others. And: It is of course in principle possible to have economic growth that does not do environmental damage. It is in principle possible to separate economic growth from negative impacts and from increased throughput of 'raw materials'. But (1) There is no evidence that economic growth is in general even now compatible with reducing emissions, impacts etc. - the 'lockstep' between CO2 emissions and growth has not been obliterated; (2) There is good reason to believe that it is in principle as well as in practice impossible to have endless economic growth without devastating environmental impacts - what Aubrey Meyer calls, with irony, the 'angelisation' of economic growth (evaporation of impacts of economic activity) is probably impossible, (3) One such good reason is that growth to infinity is simply absurd, on a finite planet, (4) If you have a real increase in economic activity without any increase in materials throughput, then, unless you have exponentially improving technology and efficiency forever (which is an absurd Polyanna-ish idea which again will itself run up against absolute physical limits), such increased economic activity has to involve increased labour and decreased leisure, & (5) Increased economic activity does not equate to increased well-being.

Of course the Green New Deal can be understood as simply about getting back on the treadmill of economic growth. That is what 'green 'stimulus'' packages seem to involve (they sound to me like gruesomely stimulating a corpse). But our way (the Green way) of thinking of the Green New Deal is different. For us, the Green New Deal is about stablising the economy, and thus avoiding a 'double dip recession' or Depression. We want to oppose (most) cuts, and save jobs and create green jobs. But not for the sake of pointlessly restarting the engine of growth. Our vision is rather to stabilise the economy, to equalise social classes, to build down the structural deficit, and then to begin to build down the level of economic activity to a level that is long-term sustainable, and to improve well-being in the process. I.e. We look to Herman Daly and Tim Jackson and Richard Douthwaite et al, not to Keynesian/neoclassical economists, for our medium- to long term- vision.

Ultimately, we have to use this crisis as an opportunity to talk about why the debt- and growth- treadmills and finance bubbles etc need to be put aside, and a vision of economic stability and environmental stability take their place.