I urge degrowth & other climate action researchers to keep in mind that all extraction adds damages to people & ecosystems somewhere, & challenge them to rise above techno-modernist ideology to envision radical alternative ways of organizing our lives & societies.
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Before advocating for each household to have appliances & gadgets that have only proliferated in recent decades, please think of how we could greatly reduce our dependence on such technologies.
Here are two low-tech alternatives for the basic tasks of washing & cooking.
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Washing clothes by hand is a chore, oftentimes a lonely one. But it needn’t be. We could have communal washing facilities in each neighborhood where people can plan to come in groups to do their laundry together...
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... while having a chat, or come alone & have a chat with anyone who's also there washing their clothes. Of course those who prefer to do it at home are free to do so.
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Washing clothes by hand is also tiring work if you have a load, but it’s still physical activity & exercise. We spend time in the gym & running outside to keep fit; would it be so bad to devote some of that time & energy to washing clothes by hand?
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When it comes to preparing & consuming food, communal kitchens would eliminate the need to have refrigerators, stoves, ovens, & other kitchen appliances in each home. They would reduce the consumption of materials & energy, & also food waste, by a lot.
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There are so many simple ideas we could implement before giving in to extractivist, colonialist & ecocidal techno-modern approaches.
Of course they require a radical reorganization of our societies & a shift of values, especially from individualism to collectivism.
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We’d also be wise to start preparing for a time likely within our lifetimes when we or many in the world will not have (reliable) electricity and/or devices they run. A world of disrupted supply chains & manufacturing, damaged infrastructure & radically different priorities.
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This is an important point that many or most researchers haven’t realized or have been ignoring. Our reliance on modern technologies (along with other aspects of modernity such as globalization & high occupational specialization) is eroding our resilience.
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Our techno-modernity is keeping extractivism, colonialism & ecocide in place while eroding our resilience. A double blow. (To both mitigation & adaptation).
Yet climate action plans including the establishment version of degrowth insist upon maintaining it.
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I think we need to be much more critical of our techno-modernity & start seeking radical low-tech alternatives for organizing our lives & societies, to reduce our climate & ecological impacts as well as to try to be resilient against the upheavals that are inevitable.
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Some people have said to me that we should first focus on eliminating the extravagant consumption of the wealthy rather than criticizing degrowth scholars' vision to provide such household appliances to everyone.
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But I think making people aware of the injustices involved in producing even what we now consider basic household appliances may inspire the public to create pressure to eliminate excess wealth & consumption.
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It's an education in the material & energy flows that sustain modernity, & the extractivism, colonialism & ecocide they entail.
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@JKSteinberger @jasonhickel @g_kallis @timparrique @HakawatiSunbird @MGSchmelzer
It's revealing that the people trolling & making disparaging remarks in this thread are Westerners who have long been accustomed to modern comforts built upon extraction & colonialism & cannot imagine alternative arrangements.
These folks are idiots who think that our high tech modernity will last the onslaught of the climate disruptions and social-ecological upheavals that have only just begun.
And of course, it's unacceptable for men to exploit women to do work that should be equitably shared. Abolishing the patriarchy is a must.
Life is normally hard in nature. Our techno-industrial modernity has shielded us from many hardships.
But it is built upon extraction, exploitation & ecocide & is destroying our planet.
If we can't accept a harder life & share its burdens equitably, we'll make life impossible.
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