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The Only Solution to Climate Change is Culture Change
Modern Global Society is Predicated on Growth, which is incompatible with long-term sustainability.
One of the most common points I hear about climate change from people on both the left and the right is that we would be better off focusing on growing our economy, then using our extra wealth to tackle climate change, rather than dealing with the issue now. Initially this answer surprised me: more fossil fuel emissions now will somehow help us emit less in the future? I’m not sure this answer comes from a place of logic. Rather, growth is just our society’s default answer to almost every problem.
Almost everything in our society is predicated on continuous growth. Social security and pensions require growth in the financial system and/or the workforce to maintain their funding. Venture capitalists and shareholders require growth to recoup their investments. Academia requires growth in the university system and the scientific apparatus to provide jobs for the exponential numbers of PhD students it churns out. Growth and progress are non-optional: the very foundational mythos of both the United States and Western culture requires it.
There’s a lot of good things about growth. A growing economy can provide more for everyone without engaging in zero-sum dynamics. Growth feels good: it’s encoded in our DNA…
