To save the Planet, should we really be moving slower?

Some elements make sense. Consuming less meat, especially red meat, is generally healthier. Not commuting in a car as the sole passenger is clearly preventing waste. Avoiding fast fashion and just being burdened with consumerist junk is probably better for you.

But the frustration is that this moralizing - and it is truly moralizing, even if it’s right - comes without real, overarching changes by those in power and it’s applied to the middle class and below. Don’t fly on planes half as much? Okay, don’t OWN a plane. Turn your thermometer down? Yes, in all four of your houses.

As life is made more miserable by the lower classes’ wealth getting squeezed out of them by ignorant or complicit governmental bodies and the ruling class, your ability to get people to give up what they see as either meager comforts or what they’ve worked hard to earn is going to tank if it isn’t a group effort. Why should I double or triple the length of my commute by subjecting myself to the subway (and then STILL having to walk at both ends) to save energy if some billionaire is flying six of his dog groomers across the country for an emergency haircut?

Degrowth will happen eventually even if we do nothing. I’m an accelerationist though. It’s the tragedy of the commons. The faster we get to collapse, the quicker we can start rebuilding.