GDP is a terrible way to measure economic progress. A post-growth future is about growing things that actually matter: happiness, health and social well-being.
Every day on the TV, belt-way politicians and economists tell us the answer to our problems is more econcomic growth. And yet, a growing number of indictators show that this kind of "progress" isn't progress at all. It's actually killing the planet - and isn't actually measuring the kind of progress that actually matters.
The kind of economic growth they keep talking about simply can't continue on a finite planet with finite resources. We could try to keep our extractive economy going till the ecological web we're a part of starts collapsing - but, I don't think that would end well for us.
It's time we throw this absurd economist logic out the door, understand some basic truths about our relationship to the planet, and start defining progress in a way that makes sense.
These 13 excellent films point the way.
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1 min ·
What the impossible hamster has to teach us about economic growth. A new animation from nef (the new economics foundation), scripted by Andrew Simms, numbers crunched by Viki Johnson and pictures realised by Leo Murray.
We wanted to...
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6 min ·
Economists insist that recovery is at hand, yet unemployment remains high, real estate values continue to sink, and governments stagger under record deficits. Richard Heinberg proposes a startling diagnosis: humanity has reached a...
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18 min ·
Enough Is Enough lays out a visionary but realistic alternative to the perpetual pursuit of economic growth-an economy where the goal is enough, not more.
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3 min ·
Our politicians are hung up on keeping the growth curve rising. But does GDP really tell us all we need to know about a country's wealth and well-being? In this new RSA Short, Kate Raworth makes a powerful argument to look beyond...
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34 min ·
A 34 minute animated documentary about resource depletion and the impossibility of infinite growth on a finite planet.
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65 min ·
Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of big business and banking. It has also worsened nearly every problem we face: fundamentalism and ethnic conflict; climate chaos and species extinction...
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3 min ·
How do we become a sustainable civilization? GrowthBusters explores our society's worship of growth everlasting: Economic Growth, Population Growth, Increasing Consumption, and Urban Growth. I puts a spotlight on the powerful forces...
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5 min ·
This fun animation provides a vision of what a post-consumer society could look like, with people working fewer hours and pursuing re-skilling, homesteading, and small-scale enterprises that can help reduce the overall size and impact...
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5 min ·
Psychologist Tim Kasser discusses how America's culture of consumerism undermines our well-being. When people buy into the ever-present marketing messages that "the good life" is "the goods life," they not only use up Earth's limited...
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25 min ·
The economic crash of 2008 revealed not only the frailty and vulnerability of the economic system, it also showed the false basis that the growth economy is built on – the financial bubble grows bigger and crashes bigger, but we don't...
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9 min ·
What is a steady-state economy and how could it positively impact human behavior and our survival on the planet?
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