The problem with growth

We are told all the time that economic growth is good for us, and that whenever a country doesn't experience growth, it is a bad thing and should be avoided at all costs. So why do we say that we must stop growth?

In the first place, our planet is limited. There is only so much water, land, minerals and life. Just from that fact, it should be clear that we cannot grow infinitely. Some people propose that we can just move to the Moon, Mars or other planets. This might be possible in the future, but it is not right now. We have a planet, a single planet, and it's the only place we know of, in the whole universe, with the conditions to hold life as we know it. This planet has a limited capacity to provide us with what we need to survive and thrive, including clean air and water and other lifebeings. Right now, we are exceeding that capacity, and if things continue this way, we might bring irreversible changes to the planet that threaten not only our survival, but that of many other species.

Some people suggest that we can continue growing our economy without increasing the pressure on the planet. That is called decoupling, meaning that the amount of resources that we use are independent (decoupled) from economic growth. Following that theory, we could grow continuously - for example, through digital services - without increasing our resource consumption. This is an example of Green Growth, growth respecting planetary boundaries. Unfortunately there is no scientific evidence that we are able to do that on a planetary or even national scale. Many studies have shown that no real decoupling has taken place, only decreases of consumption relative to growth.

So we are faced with planetary limits, an economy that has pushed beyond the carrying capacity of the planet, and the impossibility to grow without pushing it further. The impossibility of eternal growth is given by physics, not by ideology. It just doesn't work.

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