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Book Cover for: Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World, Jason Hickel

Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World

Jason Hickel

A groundbreaking exploration of the best possible solution to the climate crisis: a new economic model, and a new way of viewing our relationship with the natural world

The world has finally awoken to the reality of climate breakdown and ecological collapse. Now we must face up to its primary cause. Capitalism demands perpetual expansion, which is devastating the living world. There is only one solution that will lead to meaningful and immediate change: DEGROWTH. If we want to have a shot at halting the crisis, we need to restore the balance. We need to change how we see nature and our place in it, shifting from a philosophy of domination and extraction to one that's rooted in reciprocity and regeneration. We need to evolve beyond the dogmas of capitalism to a new system that is fit for the twenty-first century. But what does such a society look like? What about jobs? What about health? What about progress? This book tackles these questions and traces a clear pathway to a post-capitalist economy. An economy that's more just, more caring, and more fun. An economy that enables human flourishing while reversing ecological breakdown. An economy that will not only lift us out of our current crisis, but restore our sense of connection to a world that's brimming with life. By taking less, we can become more.

Book Details

  • Publisher: William Heinemann
  • Publish Date: Nov 1st, 2021
  • Pages: 336
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 7.72in - 5.04in - 1.02in - 0.50lb
  • EAN: 9781786091215
  • Categories: Economics - GeneralGlobal Warming & Climate ChangeWorld - General

About the Author

Jason Hickel is an economic anthropologist, Fulbright Scholar and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is originally from Eswatini (Swaziland) and spent a number of years with migrant workers in South Africa, writing about exploitation and political resistance in the wake of apartheid. He has authored three books, including most recently The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions. He writes regularly for the Guardian, Al Jazeera and Foreign Policy, serves as an advisor for the Green New Deal for Europe and sits on the Lancet Commission for Reparations and Redistributive Justice. He lives in London.

Praise for this book

Jason is able to personalise the global and swarm the mind with ideas ... Heed his beautifully rendered warning.--Russell Brand

A powerfully disruptive book for disrupted times. Jason Hickel takes all we've been been told about growth and development and turns it inside out, offering instead a radically possible vision of a post-growth future. If you're looking for transformative ideas, this book is for you.--Kate Raworth, economist and author of Doughnut Economics

A masterpiece pulling together the ecological disaster wake-up call from The Uninhabitable Earth, the economic enlightenment from Piketty's Capital, and the colonial history from Jason's own The Divide. Just ace.--David Heinemeier Hansson

Eye-opening and passionate, Jason Hickel shows how the insatiable drive to increase GDP has caused the ecological crisis, reveals the historical and colonial roots of capitalism and argues that an ecologically sensitive economic based on 'degrowth' is essential for us to flourish.--New Scientist

A masterpiece... Less is More covers centuries and continents, spans academic disciplines, and connects contemporary and ancient events in a way which cannot be put down until it's finished. So much needs to change; although beginning that change might require nothing more than asking the right question.--Danny Dorling, Professor of Geography, University of Oxford