IT SEEMS PATENTLY obvious: We live in a world of limited resources. Because of that, humans simply cannot continue to relentlessly produce and consume more and more stuff and expect the planet to survive. The path of unchecked growth is, without doubt, not sustainable. And yet, mainstream economists and headline writers still seem stuck in the mantra that “growth” (by which they mean increases in misleading measures such as gross domestic product) is an unmitigated good — the alternatives being dire situations such as “stagflation” and recession, and thus to be avoided at all costs.
Prophets among us have challenged that view, and have been ostracized by “respectable” experts as a result. Pope Francis, for instance, in his 2020 book Let Us Dream, wrote that “in the wealthier parts of the world, the fixation with constant economic growth has become destabilizing, producing vast inequalities and putting the natural world out of balance.” Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, in her usual plain-spoken way, famously challenged world leaders on the subject: “We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”
Last fall, the world lost one of the most preeminent of those prophets: Herman Daly. Daly spent much of his life — especially since the 1973 publication of his first book, Toward a Steady-State Economy — sounding the alarm about the perils of unrestricted growth, which he termed “uneconomic” because the costs exceed the benefits. Daly’s associate Brian Czech, executive director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy, said Daly, who died in October, was motivated by his “abiding faith,” and that he “walked the talk of the United Methodist Church.” Daly, said Czech, “was the best of Christians: seldom proselytizing but always exemplarizing.”
The undeniable manifestations of climate change over the past decade or so — and, especially, widespread awareness of its human causes — have helped spark a growing recognition that humans need to rethink old assumptions that unlimited growth is inherently or fundamentally positive. In Europe, the concept of “degrowth” (or décroissance, as the French put it) has been gaining adherents. “Degrowth begins as a process of taking less,” wrote economic anthropologist Jason Hickel in his 2020 book Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World. “But in the end it opens up whole vistas of possibility.” Not every part of the world’s economy, however, needs “degrowth” — in poor areas, redistribution of resources and development are still essential — and thus some keep the focus on the goal of a “steady state” economy. As Czech puts it, “Our unified slogan ought not be simply ‘steady state economy’ or ‘degrowth,’ but rather ‘degrowth toward a steady state economy.’”
Czech tells the story of a group of theologians and ministers at Catholic University who were engaged in a discussion of steady state economics. After Czech gave an overview of the topic, he said, “One thoughtful minister paused at length, stroked his chin, and pronounced, ‘The steady state economy ... now that’s the Kingdom of God.’” Whether or not that’s true, it’s at least a step in the right direction.
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