#2 Degrowth and Ecological Economics

Tøyen Podcast Village invited Siri from New Story Hub to host a series of lectures. The first one was given by Tone Smith and was entitled degrowth and ecological economics. It has long been admitted that the level of accumulated human activity on Earth and our material consumption is problematic for the environment. While the mainstream response is to look for technological solutions to environmental problems, there exists a range of other, more integrated, responses to and understandings of the economic-environmental interactions. Ecological economics is an economic theory that sees the economy as embedded in the biophysical reality. This starting point leads to very different understanding of how to think about economy-nature relationships. Degrowth is another alternative paradigm that questions the modern culture of always striving for more, the economic paradigm which is part of this modernity, and the development model exported to all parts of the world.