this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
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So how do we solve a behavior crisis? I think the reason no one wants to discuss it is because there is no obvious solution.
It is being discussed but in the context of Economics. Neo-liberal economic theory presupposes an economy that is infinitely growing and infinitely consuming. That is running head-on to the fact that there are natural limits to our consumption. Politicians, financial/business leaders and mainstream economists have skirted by talking about serious issues when it comes to health, society and equality by saying "growth will even it all out". Now growth hasn't even things out its just made inequality worse, our planets biosphere is collapsing and our leaders have no answers, why? Because they have been brainwashed by sudo-science and fairy tales of infinite growth and wealth.
People are discussing solutions to this within the context of Degrowth, ecological economics and doughnut economics. However those theories are not popular to the mainstream because it accepts limits and advocates for things like wealth redistribution and limits on wealth, and the extremely rich/powerful don't like that.
I will look into those more, thanks. It seems hard to imagine a roadmap to a different kind of economy currently. The system is strangely popular despite its many downsides.
Its only popular because the cold war happened and there was a widespread campaign in the US to ingrain neo-liberal economic thinking into the general public. Its no different then people in Europe in the dark ages not being able to see anything besides the divine right of kings as the form of rule. At some point though something comes along forcing us to question it all and thats when the flood gates open. For Europe it was the black plague, for us it was the 08 financial crises.
Sure and I think people will chance eventually… it’s just hard to imagine it happening as quickly as we need it to at this point.
I have hope. My state Doughnut economics group just got funding to publish and distribute our state doughnut portrait and we are looking to expand to local towns/municipalities. The EU also had a degrowth conference to talk about economic/ecological overshoot. It looks dire now but momentum is building for some sort of shift, what that is and how it plays out is still anyone's guess. All I am saying is don't give up hope, fight as if your life depended on it because frankly it does.