Summary of Jason Hickel: ‘Our addiction to economic growth is killing us’ - Viewsnight
The video features Jason Hickel discussing the global obsession with economic growth, highlighting that this fixation is detrimental to both humanity and the planet. He explains that political success is often measured by GDP growth, but infinite growth is impossible on a finite planet. Currently, humanity is exceeding the Earth's biocapacity by nearly 60%, leading to environmental crises such as climate change, deforestation, and species extinction. These problems stem largely from overconsumption in wealthy countries, which use more than triple their fair share of resources.
Hickel advocates for "planned degrowth," a strategy aimed at reducing consumption in rich nations while improving human well-being and happiness. This approach differs from austerity; it focuses on sharing resources more equitably, cutting excess consumption through measures like limiting advertising and taxing carbon, and restructuring labor with policies such as basic income and shorter workweeks to eliminate unnecessary jobs.
A critical step is to move away from GDP as the primary measure of progress because it ignores environmental and social costs and can even rise in the wake of disasters or increased healthcare spending. Instead, Hickel proposes adopting metrics like the Genuine Progress Indicator, which adjusts GDP by subtracting negative impacts. Ultimately, the goal is to develop an economic system that supports human flourishing in balance with the Earth's ecological limits.
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