by Films For Action, filmsforaction.org: http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/infinite-growth-on-a-finite-planet/GDP is a terrible way to measure economic progress. A post-growth future is about growing things that actually matter: happiness, health and social well-being.
Every day on the TV, belt-way politicians and economists tell us the answer to our problems is more economic growth.
And yet, a growing number of indicators show that this kind of "progress" isn't progress at all. It's actually killing the planet - and isn't actually measuring the kind of progress that actually matters.
The kind of economic growth they keep talking about simply can't continue on a finite planet with finite resources. We could try to keep our extractive economy going till the ecological web we're a part of starts collapsing - but, I don't think that would end well for us.
It's time we throw this absurd economist logic out the door, understand some basic truths about our relationship to the planet, and start defining progress in a way that makes sense.
These 13 excellent films point the way.
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1 min ·
What the impossible hamster has to teach us about economic growth. A
new animation from nef (the new economics foundation), scripted by
Andrew Simms, numbers crunched by Viki...
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6 min ·
Economists insist that recovery is at hand, yet unemployment
remains high, real estate values continue to sink, and governments
stagger under record deficits. Richard Heinberg...
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18 min ·
Enough Is Enough lays out a visionary but realistic
alternative to the perpetual pursuit of economic growth-an economy where
the goal is enough, not more.
“Based on the...
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3 min ·
Our politicians are hung up on keeping the growth curve
rising. But does GDP really tell us all we need to know about a
country's wealth and well-being? In this new RSA Short...
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34 min ·
A 34 minute animated documentary about resource depletion and the impossibility of infinite growth on a finite planet.
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65 min ·
Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the
scale and power of big business and banking. It has also worsened nearly
every problem we face: fundamentalism and...
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3 min ·
How do we become a sustainable civilization? GrowthBusters
explores our society's worship of growth everlasting: Economic Growth,
Population Growth, Increasing Consumption, and...
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5 min ·
This fun animation provides a vision of what a post-consumer
society could look like, with people working fewer hours and pursuing
re-skilling, homesteading, and small-scale...
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5 min ·
Psychologist Tim Kasser discusses how America's culture of consumerism
undermines our well-being. When people buy into the ever-present
marketing messages that "the good...
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25 min ·
The economic crash of 2008 revealed not only the frailty and
vulnerability of the economic system, it also showed the false basis
that the growth economy is built on – the...
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9 min ·
What is a steady-state economy and how could it positively impact human behavior and our survival on the planet?
In this film, the concept of steady-state economics is...
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