The Blog

Irrational Economics

Posted on March 12, 2025 in Economics, Philosophy and Rights, Politics by Barbara Williams

The illuminem sustainability journal has published an article of mine called Irrational economics. The article explains how our popular economic models for growth are engineering our own extinction, and suggests how we might turn this sorry scenario on its head.

The article was written in response to Wim Naude’s article about the flaws in the mainstream Degrowth. We both agree that the mainstream Degrowth movement will not solve the ecological crisis, but we give different reasons. My article concludes thus:

The mainstream Degrowth movement does not yet recommend a concerted effort to shrink the global economy and global population. … We need a new economic model to put a cap on wealth, share resources fairly, and facilitate a temporary global birth strike. This is a prerequisite to genuine sustainability and probably our only chance of avoiding extinction this century.

The Schumacher Institute are hosting a workshop about Paths to Paradigm shift on 18 March 2025 that will further explore these ideas.

Helpful Initiatives

There are many extremely positive initiatives that are now emerging rapidly. The Society Project is one of these initiatives, and their concept of Societism will help many people to decide how to navigate their own destiny wisely. The concept is described thus:

A social and political philosophy that promotes the well-being of the group, of society, without sacrificing the significance of the individual.

We might add the word ‘unique’ in front of ‘significance’. We all have a unique role to play in Gaia’s operation. Every life is unique and achieves fulfilment when contributing positively to Gaia’s long-term well being. People who seek power and domination are never fulfilled and when this happens they become dangerous to humanity as a species.

The Emerging Story

I have been told ‘you have some good ideas, but the backdrop is so gloomy, you need to paint a rosy picture going forwards’. The Society Project fills in this omission in a realistic manner. It provides a means to quickly understand how we got into this pickle, and offers sensible suggestions on navigating forwards wisely. Whilst our climate, ecosystems, and financial systems are all becoming increasingly unstable, we simply cannot afford to paint the picture of our future in hues that are unrealistically rosy. We have arrived into this predicament by fostering unrealistic hopes of technical solutions.

The Society Project will assist the transition from our current irrational path in which we ignore the capacity of Earth. People are waking up to different consequences of this reality. There are many in America who are now realising that their constitution is being torn apart by billionaire bullies. The Society Project can help them when they start reassessing modern society.

Irrational versus Realistic Reasoning

Elon Musk and Donald Trump serve as examples of an anti-social and chronic lust for power over others. Bill Gates is an example of the naivety of many wealthy people who are trying to normalise the form of fascism that is currently emerging in the USA. In this episode from independent commentator Kyle Kulinski, he warns his audience against the dangerous assumption that fascism cannot take hold in America. The UK and Europe are seeing the emergence of right-wing logic, encouraging a divisive outlook. This trend is further fuelled by Musk’s money and propaganda platform X.

Those who are entranced by the MAGA mania are exhibiting the mass delusion that the Council for Human Future has named as one of the ten megarisks that we are facing. The MAGA movement is in denial with regards to all ten of the megarisks that arise from climate change and ecosystems collapse. Certain media are playing key role in the USA right now, helping Americans snap out of the mass delusion that Trump is not a conman, for example Rachel Maddow.

The Network that is Emerging

The mindset shift to equitable economic Degrowth is emerging rapidly now. It is the key to providing a safety net when the stock market crashes, this video will help you to grasp how fragile global finance is right now.

There are many NGOs in addition to the Society Project that represent important aspects of the emerging mindset, for example:

• The Fair Start Movement — Tackles the legislative reform to provide minimum levels of welfare for all children
• WeAreSaners.org — Bringing activism into the community
• International Degrowth Network — a growing network of NGOs committed to contraction
• Stable Planet Alliance, Wellbeing Economy Alliance, Post Growth Institute and all the other organisations who signed up to the Roundtable on Human Future

Fairy-tales

Our education system is at fault for leading students to believe that humans are too clever too fail. For decades we have been trying and failing to build a fair and non-violent society. This is because our economic models can neither control wealth inequality nor put a cap on wealth. The natural resources in the Commons, namely: air, land, and sea, need to be shared fairly with minimal waste and nonessential usage. We also need a temporary global birth strike during the downsize process. Humans are not exempt from this ongoing Mass Extinction Event. That is the reality that we are facing.

Paths to Paradigm Shift

The Schumacher Institute is facilitating a workshop based upon my work on 18 March 2025 entitled ‘Paths to Paradigm Shift’. Many people will not need all the copious and complex material offered by Degrowth economists to recognise that we urgently need to shrink the global economy. A brief webpage explains how to estimate the carrying capacity of Earth. A rough estimate concludes that we need to shrink the global economy and population to about a quarter of the current levels.

Ideally, this change in direction can be achieved peacefully and equitably. After all, nobody desires near-term extinction.

Advice Going Forwards

Any organisation that recognises the need for equitable Degrowth can apply to be part of the International Degrowth Network.

With regards to the material offered by the Society Project, they may like to reconsider what qualifies as ‘inalienable rights’, in item 5 in the Politics of Change. We are in chronic ecological overshoot; we need to strive to minimise resource use and birth rates until we return to a state of dynamic equilibrium which has a chance of sustaining life for the longer term. None of us are safe right now, declaring ‘safety’ as an inalienable right does not alter that fact. The section currently reveals an acquisitive mindset that is probably not the most helpful right now. Extract below as at 7 February 2025:

We have inalienable, non-violable rights, to life, liberty, life’s necessities sufficient to enjoy well-being and beyond, to safety, health and happiness. We have a right to acquire and possess personal property. These rights require a political framework which is not bound in the political legacy of capitalism and socialism, but informed by the rich heritage which action for our collective good has inspired, founded on a view of equality and fairness fit for the 21st century and beyond.

If we achieve a fully-facilitated global birth strike, and minimal tourism, we can release a great deal of hotel accommodation. Voluntary decline in birth rate would mean that we soon have surplus housing available. Instead of the torturous property market we could introduce a housing swap system. There are affluent older people who would love to downsize, but the process of selling their house is just too big an ordeal.

The large buildings that were currently hotels can be converted for communal living. Some of these ideas are explored in Chapter 6 of my free self-published book: ‘Saving Us From Ourselves — Can we repair over 50 years of ecological overshoot?’

There are lots of possibilities going forwards. Everyone is travelling their own personal journey. We are all restricted by the reality that the biocapacity of Earth is currently losing the battle to recover from the environmental injuries that we inflict. We must acquire the emotional resilience to accept that reality, and then start working to repay our ecological debts which have built up over the last century or more.

If we collaborate peacefully on a global aspiration to return within the carrying capacity of Earth, we can begin to rise above nationalism, and any other concept that prevents us collaborating peacefully.

Links to earlier works:

A Roadmap to Ecological Justice

Saving Us From Ourselves