In his recent post Hans Stegeman, Chief Economist at the Triodos Bank focuses on the need to reimagine society beyond growth. What should such a society look like? In our dialogue about degrowth and the limits to (economic) growth I feel there are many lessons that Nature itself can tell us. As it is the earth we want to protect and the harmony with our natural environment we want to restore, what is Nature telling us about growth?
One key lesson might be that Nature ís growth and transformation. Everything in Nature that does not grow, is dead or dying. In that respect there is no degrowth in Nature. There is only a continuous and evolving flow of life and death. So maybe the challenge is to reimagine what growth stands for through the eyes of Nature?
Needless to say, our current economic parameters are far removed from this perspective on growth. Growth to start with, is not a number. Real growth is about creating beauty, creating value through meaning. Growth we can imagine through the heart, rather than through the mind. And this is not something we are accustomed to in our professional context. (I did warn you these were my radical thoughts on growth ;-) )
The good news is that we all recognise beauty when we see it, so maybe we are closer to a solution than we think.
@Hans Stegeman: Thank you for your efforts to facilitate an open dialogue on this topic.
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