Today was a fasting day
My daughter tells me that as I write a lot about environmentalism I should write about de-growth (décroissance). She recently saw a documentary on the negative effects of electric dams. Hydro-electricity is often seen as renewable and therefore green but in actual fact it creates plenty of havoc through the destruction of all the local ecosystems (not sure that is true of nuclear plants!). I think I understand the intellectual logic behind de-growth, we have a finite amount of resources which means that if we continue to pursue constant growth we will run out at some point in the future. But I don't understand what we are supposed to do in practise. Ultimately I find that there are quite few inconsistencies which I find difficult to resolve:
My daughter tells me that as I write a lot about environmentalism I should write about de-growth (décroissance). She recently saw a documentary on the negative effects of electric dams. Hydro-electricity is often seen as renewable and therefore green but in actual fact it creates plenty of havoc through the destruction of all the local ecosystems (not sure that is true of nuclear plants!). I think I understand the intellectual logic behind de-growth, we have a finite amount of resources which means that if we continue to pursue constant growth we will run out at some point in the future. But I don't understand what we are supposed to do in practise. Ultimately I find that there are quite few inconsistencies which I find difficult to resolve:
- What is the ideal amount of economic activity we should be aiming for ?
- It's impossible to have zero environmental impact so how much is acceptable?
- How do you convince (rather then compel) people to give up things that they expect and that make their life easier or better? (I'm not giving up my standing desk!)
- Proponents of de-growth are often anti-technology but I feel that being anti-technology is like being anti-human. Isn't our intelligence what makes us difference from all other animals? I don't understand how we can decide the point at which technology is bad? Is a plough bad or an oven or a pen ?
As you can tell I'm not an advocate of de-growth I think I'd rather work towards smart-growth...
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