I spend a lot of time considering abstract, complex and the many aspirationally “real” systems that exist between our ears and upon the surface of our planet. My acquired suspicion in this context is that neither “growth” nor “degrowth” represent sufficiently sophisticated concepts with which to effectively engage this vast and multidimensional problem we are all now facing.
Sure, it is easier to be critical and the majority of entry points into any pre-existing linguistic artefact or social media post takes the form of a rebuttal or constructively critical engagement. The conceptual vocabulary we should be invoking, cultivating and nurturing already exists but it is scattered across a thousand different research institutions and scattered upon the idiomatic confetti within a billion brains.
The very first thing we might, in my humble opinion, be better to consider is not the what and the how but the why. Not in any trivialised Simon Sinek fanboy tribute; more that we do not understand how these systems emerge and subsequently, our ontological and epistemological aspirations to new descriptions generally falter before they even begin.
We can not simply keep replacing descriptive dialects. Authentic paradigm shifts are needed.
Context: To Save the Planet, Should We Really Be Moving Slower?
Daedelus Kite 