De-growth: living better with less

English version foreword

This is a translation of the academic paper Decreixement, la utopia concreta: viure millor amb menys which I originally wrote in Catalan and that was published in the University of Valencia journal Caràcters in March of 2012. I feel that this publication was an honour for me, specially not being a Professor, and I am indeed very grateful. Besides, I think that this might be a useful post for English speakers who want to approach the concept of de-growth and face difficulties to find materials in their own language. However, I must point out that this is not exactly my opinion about the subject, but more a reinterpretation of Professor Latouche ideas, which I am strongly interested in but not fully agreed. There is sensible criticism about the reformist nature of the movement, the arguably narrow interpretation of concepts such as development or growth itself (which, of course, could eventually happen without an increased consumption of natural resources, we only need to think of linux or the internet, for instance), the deliberate oversight of the structural causes of the capitalist system problems, a kind of falsely-based alarmism -based on malthusianism and utilitarian theories- and so forth. Nevertheless, I sincerely believe that in the de-growth movement there are strong, useful ideas that, at least, may make us wonder about alternative approaches to the way we live, we produce and consume goods or we waste our time. To finish this introduction I would like to apologise for any spelling, vocabulary or grammar mistake you might find -I am not a translator and I have realized it is sometimes a damn technical jargon I use in Catalan or Spanish, particularly at the beginning of the article: jump to the frugal abundance if you are getting bored. In this regard I would be really thankful if I received any feedback.

De-growth, the specific Utopia: living better with less

Is it possible an infinite growth in a finite world? This could seem an absurd question if it was not for the fact that the answer provided by the neo-liberal economic models is 'yes'. As long as consumption and production methods, the rules by which they are governed and the conception of modern society itself are fully based in these neoclassical growth models, it might be engaging to give some thought on the subject. The 3i4 publishing house presents, within its collection 'Gaia' a beautifully-produced edition in Catalan of two of the books written by the degrowth guru Serge Latouche: Farewell to Growth and Le Pari de la Décroissance. Both books fit into the post-developmental and bio-economic movements, two of the most thriving schools of thought within the critics to the model of production and to the collective imaginary not just capitalist but developmental and economy-driven. The first book, with a theoretical emphasis, is a sort of degrowth manual which aims to be a working tool for conscious policy-makers, while the second one is conceived as a FAQ about degrowth: it includes answers to the most common objections, clarifications of uncertainties in the theoretical body, disputes, apparent contradictions and, eventually, a paper conceived, in the author words, to prepare the advocates, in particular the youngest and less used to debate.

Breaking the imaginary

Rooted in the political ecologism and in authors of the relevance of Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, Ivan Ilich, André Gorz or Cornelius Castoriadis de-growth, or more properly "agrowth in the same vein of atheism" intends to "break the ambiguity of productivism addicts and reject the irracional cult, almost idolatrous, of the growth by the growth". Latouche, authoritative spokesman of growth-objectors mounts a ferocious criticism to the commercialised productive system and its perverse logic production - employment - consumption (or, in a different level advertising - bank credit - planned obsolescence) which would lead us sooner rather than later "to [forced] de-growth or to barbarism". He begins refuting the voluntary ignorance that neoclassical theoretical economists make about the nature in their models - by means of the indisputable elegant trick of the infinite substitutability of the factors, and taking into account the thermodynamic laws that imply some processes to be irreversible as well as that this would mean a higher cost in resources rather than lower, as we prefer to believe, Latouche considers us to be in a dead end of catastrophic consequences for mankind and, may be, for the life itself in our planet: The Growth would be a cancer for the humanity.

The frugal abundance

We, therefore, need to leave the accumulation path which has been dramatically intensified in the XX century and come back, or reinvent, a progress precisely based on frugality, on the self-limitation of our needs (and to achieve this is essential to limit and strictly regulate advertising and created needs) and also based on relational goods such as culture, conversation or public and political involvement, goods that are not depleted by use but, instead, are grown by it, in opposition to the material goods, renewable or not. The frugal abundance would also involve an advocacy for savoring the slowness, like the slow-food movement does all around the world, with one houndred thousand producers, farmers, craftsmen and fishermen fighting the standardisation of nourishment and regaining tastes and flavours. It even provides advice for a frugal diet: a move towards a more vegetarian, seasonal and local diet. Latouche believes that the frugal abundance is not more an oxymoron than sustainable development is, a concept widely discredited -something must be wrong when the CEO of Nestlé can make use of the concept without blushing at all. Summarizing, this frugal abundance would be very related with the voluntary simplicity, the assumption of a simplified lifestyle that rejects consumerism and the false ethics of forced labour while emphasizing a humanism, which could be more or less hedonistic, but at any rate vivid and measured in an indiscutable human scale.

Comeback to local world

A good deal of the problems linked to economic globalisation are precisely related to the abandonment of local world. For that matter Latouche ties up with proposals coming from the South, such as the proximity consumption defended by Via Campesina and the World Social Forum claiming a return to the local, the local farming and the local consumption which ensures an appreciable reduction of the ecological footprint, a further increase of food security and sovereignty and job-post creation in your living environment. Local trading in opposition to large shopping centres will involve improvements on account of the reduction of zoning problems, thus there is no need of an abuse of private vehicles and it strenghtens both social fabric and cohesion within our towns and districts whilst it reduces the pressure on impoverished countries, particularly vulnerables to the upheavals of international markets and speculative behaviours. Latouche proposes a genuine "organic" reconstruction of the local level, not closed upon itself but built in a municipality network in the way Roberto Camagni would raise it, placing the scale of life, of democracy -now, finally, participative- and of relationships in a more human and serene dimension.

Work addiction detoxification

Facing the criticism that, meaningfully, indicates that within the capitalism a stop to growth -even a weak growth- implies a reduction on job-posts and a raise in inequality and social conflict, the author advocate for sharing the jobs and restore the pleasure of leisure, not the commersialised entertainment but the time you recover for youself, for playing, contemplating and public participating. To share the jobs will be, therefore, a necessary condition in order to reduce the consumption of natural resources, and, alongside with the knell of the exploitation of southern population with the above-named relocalization, would ensure a smooth transition from a productivist system to a degrowth one. Unfortunately in this field the proposals, despite its more than likely worth, seem today far away of the agenda, even more after the failure of the 35-hours initiative in France.

What crisis of thought?

Whether we agree with the degrowth thesis or we are confused about a system crisis that does not seem to outline its ending, or either we simply want to know further about how and why living better with less and such interesting issues as North - South fairness, ecological debt, the advice of degrowth-thinkers for empoverished countries, the revolutionary or reformist nature of the movement, what is hidden behind the 8 R, the desirability of a degrowth party, the usefulness of a techno-scientific moratorium or the actual proposal of their political programme those two Serge Latouche books are an invigorating way of facing the future with a revolutionary calmed look.