POST GROWTH PROJECTS
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PROJECTS + IDEAS COURSES that integrate a post-growth lens

Our global, highly networked industrial society is confronting the limits to growth in materials and energy use.  As change accelerates, industrial society will become less networked, less wealthy, and less secure.

WHAT IS "POST-GROWTH THINKING?"    

​Ecological economics is a trans-disciplinary field that acts as a bridge across not only ecology and economics but also psychology, anthropology, and history. The field considers how economics is embedded in the broader ecosystem that supports all human activity. The limits to economic growth are considered along with opportunities to improve the well-being of the human and the non-human.  

For decades, it has been challenging to consider how society can simultaneously consume less but improve overall well-being. The term "post-growth" is an umbrella for various approaches to this unifying emphasis on well-being: degrowth, steady-state economics, political ecology, voluntary simplicity, among others. Each of these approaches is an attempt to animate sustainability and social-ecological resilience. At their best, these ideas support one another.

In practice: the transition to well-being over income
Today, the world is suddenly experiencing a slower pace of life. While the conditions are less-than-ideal, this moment presents us with an opportunity to put life in perspective:
  • How can political narratives, public policies, and business practices shift away from consumerism and towards life-affirming modes of living?
  • What will happen to social cohesion under conditions of change? 
  • How can good ideas be communicated with care in the public sphere? 
  • How can humans participate with (not dominate) the global community of life?
  • How is theory becoming practice in complex policy and business settings?

While responsible business practices, policies, and appropriate technology may all serve to address contemporary constraints, we've also proven that we can shift our behaviour when life is at stake. How can this shift in behaviour and culture be sustained in ways that maintain peace and transcend old political divides?
​​James ​Magnus-Johnston
​
​PhD researcher (McGill University) and instructor (Canadian Mennonite University) in the fields of ecological economics and social entrepreneurship. ​
About James

Resource partners

Post Growth Institute
Post Carbon Institute / Resilience.org
Canadian Mennonite University
Leadership for the Ecozoic
Economics for the Anthropocene
Long Talks in the Woods
CASSE
This site is not formally associated with any organization and it has no political affiliation. 

Schedule a meeting with James. 
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