Can 'degrowth' solve our economic, social, and ecological problems? Economist Timothée Parrique thinks so. On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, he joins co-host Rachel Donald to interrogate this 20+ year-old concept that critiques the notion of limitless growth in a finite world, and which offers tangible gains for people and planet.

The current economic model stretches the ecological limits of the planet – the Planetary Boundaries. Parrique says degrowth is a pathway for rich countries to scale back production and consumption – much of which contributes nothing to human well-being, research indicates – making room for low and middle-income nations to raise their standards of living, while allowing natural systems to continue supporting the ecosystem services humanity needs, like clean air and water.

Related reading:

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Image Caption: A bicycle lane in Fürth, Germany. Image by Markus Spiske via Unsplash. 

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Timecodes: 

(00:00:00) Introduction

(00:02:35) What is degrowth exactly?

(00:07:46) Is 'decoupling' the answer? 

(00:12:52) Will 'limitless growth' improve quality of life?

(00:18:23) Wasted GDP in the USA

(00:25:28) Pushing the 'GDP button'

(00:35:20) Implementing degrowth

(00:47:57) A degrowth future

(00:56:44) Rachel & Mike post-chat

(01:12:45) Rachel asks Mike to imagine a day in a post-growth world

(01:16:42) Credits