Note: This is the 6/28/22 entry of my free weekly newsletter. You can sign up here: https://apple6.aweb.page/p/de4ee963-cd8d-4ced-9975-e13965236a7d
Today’s topic is “degrowth”: What does it mean? Is it actually desirable? How could we achieve it? And do we really need to confront economic growth if we want to fight climate change and build a just, sustainable society? I consider myself staunchly pro-degrowth, but it’s definitely a complex issues, so I brought on Aaron Vansintjan to help answer these questions and discuss the new book he co-authored, The Future Is Degrowth: A Guide to a World Beyond Capitalism.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6SlClAgAB2rFaOItc5Yrmj
Book club: Our fungus discussion is tonight! I finished Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life over the weekend and was thoroughly fascinated. I will never look at soil, plant roots, or mushrooms the same way again. If you wish to join, just reply to this email asking me for the Zoom link. Or if you haven’t had a chance to read it, it’s not too late to start preparing for one of our next two book club meetings (all at 5:30 Pacific/8:30 Eastern):
7/26 – The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson (a previous guest on the podcast)
8/23 – As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock by Dina Gilio-Whitaker
For more on the book club and how to join, go to my web site: https://daytonmartindale.com/book-club/
The best thing I read all week: Apropos of the degrowth discussion, I want to shout out this book review in The Trouble that gets at the division in the left around growth. Author Andrew Ahern critiques Matt Huber’s Climate Change as Class War, exploring some of the fault lines between some environmentalists and some labor unions over issues like growth, fossil fuel use, and electrification. Huber is scornful of degrowth, but Ahern finds that his portrayal of the concept is misguided.
While we’re discussing The Trouble, I might briefly mention a piece I wrote for them in 2020 about why the climate movement should embrace animal liberation: https://www.the-trouble.com/content/2020/8/28/the-strategic-case-for-animal-liberation
That’s all–thanks!
Dayton
Dayton Martindale 