Ep 155, In Pursuit of Balance - Tim Jackson talks Post Growth, Life After Capitalism
EPISODE 155 FEATURES TIM JACKSON
Do we really believe that we can pursue infinite growth on a finite planet? Why would we even want to? This week's guest is Tim Jackson, the ecological economist who wrote Post Growth, Life After Capitalism.
It's a very persuasive argument for a complete rethink of how we define success, and why we need a new type of economy, one that prioritises relationships and meaning, over profits and power. Tim sees this book as "both a manifesto for system change and an invitation to rekindle a deeper conversation about the nature of the human condition.” Sound good?
What that might look like practically? How could we get there? On this Episode, Tim and Clare discuss all this and more, from how advertising fuels overconsumption and why big companies are banking on green growth, to the future of work, what a single universal income could do for us, and even a bit of fashion – by way of an 18th century philosopher.
ABOUT TIM Tim Jackson is an ecological economist and writer. Since 2016 he has been Director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP). CUSP is a multidisciplinary research centre which aims to understand the economic, social and political dimensions of sustainable prosperity. Its guiding vision for prosperity is one in which people everywhere have the capability to flourish as human beings – within the ecological and resource constraints of a finite planet.
FURTHER LISTENING Interested in this subject? Try these Episodes - 144 with J.B. McKinnon, with 152 Fashion Act Now on de-growing fashion, Ep 153 with Jason Hickel, and 102 with Raj Patel - “Can We Imagine the End of Capitalism?”
Tim has been at the forefront of international debates on sustainability for three decades and has worked closely with the UK Government, the United Nations, the European Commission, numerous NGOs, private companies and foundations to bring economic and social science research into sustainability. During five years at the Stockholm Environment Institute in the early 1990s, he pioneered the concept of preventative environmental management—a core principle of the circular economy—outlined in his 1996 book Material Concerns: Pollution Profit and Quality of life. From 2004 to 2011 he was Economics Commissioner for the UK Sustainable Development Commission where his work culminated in the publication of his controversial and ground-breaking book Prosperity without Growth . His most recent book is Post Growth – life after capitalism. Via timjackson.org.uk
NOTES
ECOLOGICAL ECONOMIST Ecological economics, bioeconomics, ecolonomy, eco-economics, or ecol-econ is both a transdisciplinary and an interdisciplinary field of academic research addressing the interdependence and coevolution of human economies and natural ecosystems, both intertemporally and spatially.
ADAM SMITH wasn’t one. He was, however, a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment.
ADVERTISING feeds the beast of overconsumption. “Advertising is everywhere, so prevalent as to be invisible but with an effect no less insidious than air pollution. A few years ago, an individual in the US was estimated to be exposed to between 4,000 and 10,000 adverts daily.” via Guardian.
“CONSUMER PRODUCTS MUST PROMISE PARADISE. BUT THEY MUST SYSTEMATICALLY FAIL TO DELIVER IT.” - Tim Jackson
SUSTAINABILITY is increasingly being pitched as a growth opportunity. Case in point, Business of Fashion’s “State of Fashion 2022” report, which notes that 12 % of execs “rate sustainability as an opportunity in the year ahead, suggesting that any costs or challenges they encounter relating to sustainability may be outweighed by business benefits associated with improving their company’s impact on the environment and society.” Read the report in full here.
Perhaps predictably, DON’T LOOK UP got mixed reviews. Most interesting, we thought, we this one by a climate scientist.
OVERSTUFFED. Tim writes: “Material progress has changed our lives – in many ways for the better. But the burden of having can obscure the joy of belonging.”
ARISTOTLE The basic principle of the “golden mean”, laid down by Aristotle 2,500 years ago is moderation, or striving for a balance between extremes.
GDP Fixating on it doesn’t even work. “Chasing growth through loose monetary policy in the face of challenging underlying fundamentals had led to financial bubbles which destabilized finance and culminated in crisis,’ writes Jackson in Post Growth.
And as for CAPITALISM… “[It] has no answers to its own failings. It cannot pursue social justice while it continues to prioritize profit. It cannot protect our climate while it continues to idolize the stock market. It finds itself powerless, at the mercy of circumstance, when the lives of millions are at stake. Capitalism’s core belief in eternal growth lies trembling in the ruins. The myth itself is moribund.”
UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME is a concept under which a low payment is provided to everyone, regardless of their need. It’s not a new idea, but recently has been gaining traction. Read more here.
TED TALK Watch it below:
"QUESTIONING GROWTH IS DEEMED TO BE THE ACT OF LUNATICS, IDEALISTS AND REVOLUTIONARIES. BUT QUESTION IT WE MUST." - Tim Jackson