Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World

by Jason Hickel, Kofi Klu (Foreword by), Rupert Read (Foreword by)

Overview

A groundbreaking exploration of the best possible solution to the climate crisis: a new economic model, and a new way of viewing our relationship with the natural world

The world has finally awoken to the reality of climate breakdown and ecological collapse. Now we must face up to its primary cause. Capitalism demands perpetual expansion, which is devastating the living world. There is only one solution that will lead to meaningful and immediate change: DEGROWTH. If we want to have a shot at halting the crisis, we need to restore the balance. We need to change how we see nature and our place in it, shifting from a philosophy of domination and extraction to one that's rooted in reciprocity and regeneration. We need to evolve beyond the dogmas of capitalism to a new system that is fit for the twenty-first century. But what does such a society look like? What about jobs? What about health? What about progress? This book tackles these questions and traces a clear pathway to a post-capitalist economy. An economy that's more just, more caring, and more fun. An economy that enables human flourishing while reversing ecological breakdown. An economy that will not only lift us out of our current crisis, but restore our sense of connection to a world that's brimming with life. By taking less, we can become more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786091215
Publisher:	Penguin Random House UK
Publication date:	11/01/2021
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	118,310
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Jason Hickel is an economic anthropologist, Fulbright Scholar and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is originally from Eswatini (Swaziland) and spent a number of years with migrant workers in South Africa, writing about exploitation and political resistance in the wake of apartheid. He has authored three books, including most recently The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions. He writes regularly for the Guardian, Al Jazeera and Foreign Policy, serves as an advisor for the Green New Deal for Europe and sits on the Lancet Commission for Reparations and Redistributive Justice.

Table of Contents

Preface Kofi Mawuli Klu Rupert Read of XR xi

Introduction Welcome to the Anthropocene 1

Part 1 Mote is Less

1 Capitalism - A Creation Story 39

2 Rise of the Juggernaut 81

3 Will Technology Save Us? 126

Part 2 Less is More

4 Secrets of the Good Life 169

5 Pathways to a Post-Capitalist World 205

6 Everything is Connected 251

Acknowledgements 291

Endnotes 295

Editorial Reviews

09/27/2021

“For decades we’ve been told that we need growth in order to improve lives. But it turns out this isn’t actually true,” writes economic anthropologist Hickel (The Divide) in this impassioned treatise. Capitalism is fundamentally dependent on growth, and that growth is destroying the planet, Hickel posits. Degrowth, meanwhile, is “a planned reduction of excess energy and resource use to bring the economy back into balance with the living world in a safe, just and equitable way.” Hickel shows what this would look like in practice, imagining 30-hour workweeks, products made to last, longer life expectancies, and more time for leisure and care. He convincingly makes a case that Western societies believe capitalism to be “natural” and ingrained in human nature, and, on the flipside, he surveys countries that are granting nature legal personhood the way corporations have been: New Zealand, India, and Colombia, for example, have granted legal personhood to several sites, and anyone who “harms” the site can be prosecuted accordingly. Hickel effectively avoids doom-and-gloom, and his hope is inspiring: “We have everything to lose, and a world to gain.” Climate-minded readers will find this worth returning to. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"A powerfully disruptive book for disrupted times ... If you're looking for transformative ideas, this book is for you." —KATE RAWORTH, economist and author of Doughnut Economics

"Jason is able to personalise the global and swarm the mind in the way that insects used to in abundance but soon shan't unless we are able to heed his beautifully rendered warning." —RUSSELL BRAND

"One of the most important books I have read ... does something extremely rare: it outlines a clear path to a sustainable future for all." —RAOUL MARTINEZ, author of Creating Freedom

From the Publisher