💬 Friday discussion: Planetary limits

For at least the last 30 years, no country has met the basic needs of its residents at a globally sustainable level of resource use, according to the Good Life project. (It's interactive, so you can have a play.)

It’s quite helpful to review the data for your country. There is also a distinct correlation between the “transgression of biophysical boundaries” (that is, resource use and pollution) and the ability to achieve social thresholds (like healthcare and housing provision, absence of political violence, etc.).

What are the possible pathways addressing sustainability (predominantly climate crisis) that are compatible with what might be politically acceptable by voters in richer countries? This question gets to the crux of the degrowth movement. Arresting economic growth is politically untenable in most democracies because people haven’t voted to freeze their standards of living for decades. For the degrowth movement to be successful, that’s exactly what they would be asked to do.

It’…