Can We Escape the Obsession With Growth?

Keir Starmer thinks that growth is the only cure for a country in decline – increase GDP and we’ll prosper. But why is growth the central obsession of modern capitalist economies? And can we think our way out of the growth paradigm before our planet runs out of space and resources?

In this Trip episode, Nadia, Keir and Jem take a weird-left look at growth, from macroeconomics to personal productivity, with ideas from Kate Soper and Kohei Saito and music from Minnie Riperton, 7 Samurai and Joanna Newsom.

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Music: Bruce Springsteen – Growin’ Up / Joni Mitchell – Big Yellow Taxi / The Move – Flowers in the Rain / Alabaster DePlume – That Was My Garden / Joanna Newsom – The Sprout and the Bean / 7 Samurai – Modernisation / Minnie Riperton – Le Fleur /

Books and articles: Ajay Singh Chaudhary – The Exhaustion of the Earth / Kai Heron, Keir Milburn & Bertie Russell – Radical Abundance: How to Win a Green Democratic Future / Kai Heron – ‘Forget Ecomodernism’ / Kate Soper – Post-Growth Living / Kohei Saito – Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto