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I come across more and more cases where the ‘green energy future’ clashes with nature conservation and biodiversity protection. These cases exemplify the risk of trying to solve one extinction threat (climate change) while exacerbating another (biodiversity loss). It begs the question: is the ‘green transition’ simply redirecting environmental breakdown elsewhere?
I’ve previously written about the tension between two schools of thought: those advocating for ‘green growth’ and those promoting ‘degrowth’. The latter is often dismissed as being unrealistic and wishful thinking, but – let’s be honest – so is denying the physical limitations of infinite growth.
Analysing the environmental impact of mining, geologist Simon Michaux calculated that “since 400 BCE, various civilizations dug up 700 million tonnes of metals (everything from bronze to uranium) prior to 2020. But a so-called green transition will require mining another 700 million metric tonnes by 2040 alone… Current copper reserves stand at 880 million tonnes. That’s equal to approximately 30 years of production. But industry will need 4.5 billion tonnes of copper to manufacture just one generation of renewable technologies, estimates Michaux. That’s six times the volume of copper mined throughout history.”
An increasing chorus of voices is raising the alarm about greenwashing and greenwishing a new energy model into existence that still relies on the same extractive and destructive methods of classic growth-dependent capitalism.
I think it’s worth examining how concepts of growth and expansion – let’s called it growthism – have become enshrined in the psychological structure of our collective minds. That’s what Erin Remblance does in this piece, listing examples of how growthism expresses itself in everyday culture, such as:
- Our dreams for the future are centred around it being better than today, in the sense of ‘more’ (e.g., a bigger house, a larger salary, more travel).
- We see ourselves as something to continually develop and optimise, our lives are seen as a process of creating biographies or filling curriculum vitae.
- Similarly, society views ‘hard-work’ as virtuous and thus ‘hard-work’ entitles those who undertake it to whatever their heart desires without limit or consideration of the harm caused, their purchases being the fruits of their labour.”
Remblance believes that “our ability to recognise and unpick these ‘mental infrastructures’ – that is, the worldview that influences all of our actions – will be key to throwing off the shackles of growth and unlocking a culture of sufficiency, whereby we recognise when we have ‘enough’ in a material sense and from then on meet our ‘nonmaterial needs nonmaterially’, increasing our sense of wellbeing and contentment.”
She goes on to list examples of counter-hegemonic narratives that are not based on the values of the ‘ruling class’, but instead start with the assumption that sufficiency, not growth, leads to the good life. As is often the case, First Nations peoples provide a great deal of inspiration, but there are plenty of modern day movements we can learn from, too – from futuresteading to housing cooperatives.
Currently, the dominant narrative behind mitigating climate change is one based on economic opportunity: more, but greener. While it may lower carbon emissions eventually, this narrative doesn’t offer solutions for – or even acknowledge – the many other planetary boundaries we’re already exceeding.
Advocating for genuine sustainability must therefore include an admission that hardly any political or corporate leader is willing to make: that ‘the green future’ is a future of less instead of a future of more.
– Kai
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Apps & Sites
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Free, open source reading list
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Ominvore is a free and open source alternative to Pocket, Instapaper and the likes. I have to say that, as a ‘power user’, I’m pretty sold on the new Readwise Reader, but if you’re after a no-cost alternative, Omnivore may tick all the boxes for you.
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When I first linked to mmm.page a couple of years ago it was still in beta, but I already loved how playful its approach to website building was. The tool has matured – offering a premium version that includes a custom domain name – without losing its adorable charm. Use the new Explore section to discover what others have built. Friends of DD enjoy 20% off the first year of premium.
Become a Friend to access specials like this.
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One of the more useful applications of the recent AI hype: the appropriately titled tl;dv app offers the ability to transcribe and summarise long, boring video calls on Google Meet and Zoom.
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Window switcher for macOS
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This free little macOS app enhances your command-tab window switching experience by including a preview of all open apps/windows. It also offers a lot of customisable settings.
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Favourite Books: Lena Maier
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Six fiction book recommendations by freelance brand strategist and copywriter Lena Maier.
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A dense book that tells of the lives and friendship of four men in New York who meet in their twenties. The reader travels back in time to accompany them as they go about their days while walking the streets of New York. It’s a story about human suffering, deep emotions, and love. I haven't read anything else that compares to this book, and I know many other readers who feel the same way.
Succinct yet very poetic, the Irish author Claire Keegan is a fascinating storyteller. Small Things Like These is set in the Irish countryside in the 1980s, when a young, orphaned man makes a shocking discovery that forces him to reflect on his life. Foster is also about family – a young girl born into one family, who is briefly taken in by another, where she experiences rare moments of happiness. Both stories are set in the recent past but feel timeless, and both resonated with me long after reading.
These books are great for anyone finding it hard to make time for reading. Each is only around a hundred pages long, so they’re easy to get through and will help anyone rediscover the joy of reading fiction.
3 / Trust by Hernan Diaz
Besides being a gripping story about two quite mysterious people, it was the diverse writing style of the novel that captivated me and provided lots of ‘aha’ moments. The story takes place in New York’s world of high finance and a hidden sanatorium in the Swiss alps at the beginning of the twentieth century. The book presents perspectives on how capitalism came to be and what it means to enjoy social or political freedom. A great page-turner, elegantly written, using different formats – from diary-style to novel.
4 / Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
Japanese culture has fascinated me since I was young – possibly because of this book. It’s a modern classic that opened up a whole new world to me. Imaginative and rich in culinary memories. In two stories steeped in melancholy, the reader follows young women on nightly walks during which they discover izakaya delicacies and challenging encounters with others.
A best-selling German book, translated into English and many other languages. Where You Come From tells the story of a young migrant from the former Yugoslavia who fled the war with his family and now faces the challenge of settling into a foreign culture in Germany: How do people treat each other here? What do people eat? Who beats up whom? And why isn’t he allowed to stay for dinner? He eventually travels back to his country of origin, searching for his roots. With a lot of humour and sensibility, Stanišić writes captivatingly about his growing up and coming of age in a strange new place.
(Did you know? Friends of DD can respond to and engage with guest contributors like Lena Maier in one click.)
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Books & Accessories
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Alternative prosperity
The description of this book reminds me of one of my favourite books called The Art of Frugal Hedonism in which the authors describe a less consumption-driven but more fun lifestyle. Similarly, Post-Growth Living “calls for a renewed emphasis on the joys of being, one that is capable of collective happiness not in consumption but by creating a future that allows not only for more free time, and less conventional and more creative ways of using it, but also for more fulfilling ways of working and existing.”
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Everyday mental health advice
A DD reader recommended this book to me as a “great guide to mental health basics”. I hadn’t heard of Dr Julie Smith before – she’s apparently a clinical psychologist with a big online presence. “The book tackles everyday issues and offers practical solutions in bite-sized, easy-to-digest entries which make it easy to quickly find specific information and guidance.”
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Overheard on Mastodon
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My house isn’t messy, it’s decentralized.
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Food for Thought
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As I discuss in the intro, this piece made me think about how growthism has been enshrined in the psychological structure of our collective minds and expresses itself in ways we hardly notice. “Our ability to recognise and unpick these ‘mental infrastructures’ - that is, the worldview that influences all of our actions – will be key to throwing off the shackles of growth and unlocking a culture of sufficiency, whereby we recognise when we have ‘enough’ in a material sense and from then on meet our ‘nonmaterial needs nonmaterially’, increasing our sense of wellbeing and contentment.”
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A rare piece of criticism of the rapid transition to renewable energy, highlighting the inherent unsustainability of relentless ‘green growth’. “The world needs a better plan to avoid collapse other than replacing one unsustainable fossil fuel system with another intensive mining system powered by even more extreme energies. In other words, electrifying the Titanic won’t melt the icebergs in its path.”
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An interesting theory about the dynamics of ‘good conversations’ and the psychological bias and egocentrism that prevent us from being better conversationalists: “Givers think that conversations unfold as a series of invitations; takers think conversations unfold as a series of declarations. When giver meets giver or taker meets taker, all is well. When giver meets taker, however, giver gives, taker takes, and giver gets resentful (‘Why won’t he ask me a single question?’) while taker has a lovely time (‘She must really think I’m interesting!’) or gets annoyed (‘My job is so boring, why does she keep asking me about it?’).”
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Aesthetically Pleasing
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This backyard studio/house on Australia’s east coast is built from a mix of water and fire-resistant materials, many of them natural. The interior is covered with so-called OSB – oriented strand board – an engineered, water-resistant material that looks similar to chipboard.
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The Instagram account Amiguitos de la Oscuridad (‘Little Friends of the Dark’) offers a collection of over 90 different species of bats – lovingly crafted from paper by artist Juan Nicolás Elizalde.
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Ben Koracevic has specialised in string art. He meticulously winds long pieces of black string around thousands of nails to create portraits of people and animals.
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The beautiful Sombra is an organic grotesque typeface with flourishing spirit. “It combines geometric structure with leafy, sharply swelling strokes and exaggerated incisions.”
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Notable Numbers
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New research trying to measure the water footprint of AI suggests that training GPT‑3 in Microsoft’s state-of-the-art US data centres can directly consume 700,000 litres of clean freshwater. ChatGPT needs a 500-ml bottle of water for a short conversation of roughly 20 to 50 questions and answers, depending on when and where the model is deployed.
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There were 363 journalists detained in more than 30 countries last year, with the highest number of detainees held in Iran, China and Myanmar, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The overall figure is nearly double that of 2015.
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Global solar capacity reached about 1.2TW by the end of 2022. China is leading newly installed capacity by almost three times (106GW) as much as the runner-up, the EU (38.7GW). Solar’s contribution amounts to 6.2% of the electricity demand in the world in total.
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Classifieds
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The Week in a GIF
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Reply or tweet at DD with your favourite GIF and it might get featured here in a future issue.
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