Die Tragödie des Wachstums

by Rist Gilbert

Jede und jeder wird einsehen, dass ein unendliches Wachstum in einer endlichen Welt unmo?glich ist, und trotzdem verhalten wir uns alle so, als ob dies mo?glich wa?re. Wir alle sind heute in einer fundamentalen Dissonanz des Denkens Um die psychische Komfortzone nicht zu verlassen, wollen wir der unangenehmen Wahrheit nicht ins Auge sehen, wir hoffen einfach, dass am Ende alles doch irgendwie gutgehen wird ... Es gibt allerdings einen Ausweg aus dieser Sackgasse. Um von unserer fatalen Abha?ngigkeit vom Wachstum loszukommen, mu?ssen wir den Zugang zu Begriffen wie Gemeinwohl wiederfinden, auf Gegenseitigkeit beruhende Beziehungen pflegen und in einen Dialog mit der Natur treten. Gilbert Rist liefert eine scharfsinnige und packende Analyse eines der dringendsten und wichtigsten Probleme der Menschheit in der heutigen Zeit und weist Wege zu einer Gesellschaft des Post-Wachstums.

Paperback

Reviews

[Thomas Hettich · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a German translation of the 2021 French book "La Tragedies de la croissance" and it is felt throughout the book (as all references to other books and texts are still in French).

The author describes the main components of the tragedy of growth to be the economic thoughts (and their application) of "rational man", private property and the efficient markets. This has led to an increase in inequality and damaged biospheres. The solutions include implementing different forms of managing the commons (instead of more public and private ownership), forgiving loans, improve alternative forms of "money" that is local, regional and supports reciprocity and giving nature improved legal standing (maybe create legal entities) for protection and management.

The best part of the book is when the author describes real-life examples of his solutions (such as how a river was given a legal entity). However, these examples don't go sufficiently into detail and both problems and solutions are bedded in a constant criticism of how the rich and powerful bend the world to get their way using an outdated economic model. This becomes rather boring, especially as there are good economic theories that are gaining traction (such as Doughnut Economics which isn't mentioned). The author appreciates philosophy and peppers quotes throughout. Instead of being supportive of his arguments, I find it mostly distracting.

Overall, I am probably not on the right wavelength for this book. I agree that the dominant economic model is too limited to deal with the challenges and new ways of thinking are required. I would have appreciated more detailed examples of the proposed solutions of how to get to a better society that values and improves the biosphere.