Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World
Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World book cover

Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World

Hardcover – December 1, 2020

Price
$82.10
Format
Hardcover
Pages
336
Publisher
William Heinemann
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1785152498
Dimensions
5.75 x 1.2 x 9 inches
Weight
15.7 ounces

Description

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 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.

Features & Highlights

  • 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.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(403)
★★★★
25%
(168)
★★★
15%
(101)
★★
7%
(47)
-7%
(-47)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

Communism will not solve our problems

The author pretty much promotes communism to solve our global issues around ecology, inequality, and a host of other problems. No time has communism (government controlled economy) been successful - China, USSR, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea. And the Nordic socialist countries are not government controlled economies. They are much closer to free market economies.

What does work is the combination of capitalism and democracy. That combination, as the author stated, has done more to advance humanity in the last 500 years than any other construct. Look at the advances in personal freedoms, free speech, rights to vote, engineering, medicine, art, literature. And when capitalism gets ahead of itself, democratic institutions reign it in. With respect to ecology, it happened with too much hunting. That was all reigned in with controlled seasons and management. It happened with commercialization of the environment with the advent of National Parks and National Forests. These are a national treasure. It happened with oil explorations with the reduction in many areas. And it will happen with climate change. A democracy will reign it in and we will do the right thing. It is happening already. It may not be in exactly the timeframe some people want, but it will happen. There is no reason to move to communism to make this happen. The system of capitalism and democracy will work as it has in the past.

A couple of other things really annoyed me with this book. One was the idea that we really only need to work 20 hours a week or so to survive. Capitalism forces us to work too much. Do you really want your doctor only studying 20 hours a week? Your lawyer? Your accountant? The people building our bridges? Many things take time to become excellent. We should promote and reward this - not disparage it. The second idea is that work is bad. Work is often really an opportunity to personally grow. You have to deal with people of different belief systems and develop a plan. You can't just sit in cafe and talk about how terrible other groups are. You actually have to work with them. Work often gives you a better perspective. Work also helps you listen better, teaches you how to be a leader, how to be a team player, how to develop your confidence. While hard at times, it can be rewarding.

This book book, along with lot of the language out there, is articulated by people who are not doers but good with words. They are smart, but actually haven't built anything and struggle to see people who are not as book smart as them be successful. We should not let those people dictate what happens. We should stick with the system - capitalism and democracy - that has worked in the past, and let the doers who make it go, be the ones that decide what happens.
37 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

If only...

If only these insights, crystallized and woven together by Hickel, had been followed for the past 60 to 80 years as they've slowly been pushed by others. Sadly, the addiction to growth will continue. Anyone saying this book is "communist" or whatever b.s. talking point, clearly didn't read the actual book.
3 people found this helpful