IC13: Why is (de)growth a taboo?

Show notes

Welcome 2026! Inconvenient Chats kicks off the new year with a primer conversation about the challenges of growth - or de-growth - and explore its implications for sustainability. If growth requires resources, but we’re running out of them, shouldn’t we be considering all available options? We discuss the lack of mainstream conversation of de-growth and post-growth world, why that may be, and why we should talk about it more.

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Sources

• BBC News documentary (July 2025): Could ‘degrowth’ save the world? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=596dU6pDEU8))
• Gaya Harrington’s TedTalk (October 2024): Will the End of Economic Growth Come by Design – or Disaster? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfeRLwlnuHo))
• Kallis et al. in The Lancet Planetary Health (January 2025): Post-growth: the science of well-being within planetary boundaries (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(24)00310-3/fulltext))
• Carbon Brief (November 2025): Analysis: Fossil-fuel CO2 emissions to set new record in 2025, as land sink ‘recovers’. (https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-fossil-fuel-co2-emissions-to-set-new-record-in-2025-as-land-sink-recovers/))
• The Guardian (December 2025): Economic growth no longer linked to carbon emissions in most of the world, study finds. (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/11/economic-growth-no-longer-linked-to-carbon-emissions-in-most-of-the-world-study-finds)). IC comment: The article text cites that “Despite this progress, the authors [of the study] say more rapid action is needed in the coming decade to stabilise the climate.”
• Network of wellbeing: Income and emotional wellbeing: a conflict resolved? (https://networkofwellbeing.org/2023/03/27/income-and-emotional-wellbeing-a-conflict-resolved/))
• Book recommendation: Tim Jackson: Post-growth (published by Polity, 2021)