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Hi, I'm Meg!
In Member Introductions
Brooke Sutherland
Mar 07, 2022
Ooo, great - thanks for sharing these!
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Hi, I'm Meg!
In Member Introductions
Hi, I'm Brooke!
In Member Introductions
Brooke Sutherland
Mar 03, 2022
Awesome :)
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Hi, I'm Brooke!
In Member Introductions
Brooke Sutherland
Mar 03, 2022
I actually loved the discussion of post-growth economics in that book by Kate Raworth! My understanding of their perspective is that it's not necessarily that we need degrowth, but to transform our economies such that, regardless of whether or not they grow, our societies continue to thrive. In other words, it's about removing our emphasis on growth as the goal, and designing our economies to directly achieve what we really want - healthy and flourishing communities! I've honestly struggled to find real world examples of how we can do this or what these changes look like in practice. Tim Jackson has some work in this area that is super interesting, though. This part from their paper is super relevant to CoSphere and the lever and leverage points framework, actually: "structural change must lie at the heart of any strategy to address the social logic of consumerism. And it must consist in two main avenues. The first is to dismantle the perverse incentives for unproductive status competition. The second must be to establish new structures that provide capabilities for people to flourish — and particularly to participate meaningfully in the life of society — in less materialistic ways. Achieving this means finding new ways for meeting the desires and aspirations that are now met through commoditized materialistic consumption. One way to achieve this is through investment in public amenities and spaces that create opportunities for leisure and self-development. An equally important, complementary strategy lies in strengthening communities and building strong social ties that enrich human life without enlarging our ecological footprint." (Jackson, 2011) Jackson also looks at policies that might reduce our dependence on growth - i.e., what changes we could make so people don't suffer if an economy's growth is stagnant (see the book "Prosperity without Growth - The transition to a sustainable economy" if you're interested). I think some of the changes were more values-based, while others were related to policies and taxation - e.g., a move away from taxation on labour towards other things, such as labour, could help. My memory is failing me a bit, but I was impressed at the concrete policy solutions identified that could potentially help. Definitely a lot more I hope to understand on this topic!
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Brooke Sutherland

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