Aashis Joshi Profile picture
Sep 17, 2024 19 tweets 3 min read Read on X
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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More from @aashisjo

Oct 1, 2024
“I wish a Gandhi would emerge from the Palestinian people & inspire a peaceful liberation movement.”

I’ve heard such a statement from Western colleagues a couple of times. Each time, I’ve asked, “Why is the burden to produce such a figure always on the colonized?”

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The people who made such statements are from a European nation that got rich off imperial violence & plunder & which supports Israel’s genocide of Palestinians today. What worldview leads them to fantasize about the colonized producing messiahs of peace to save themselves?

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I find it quite appalling. To me it shows that many people in the academic & research institutions of the imperial core think that the resistance of the colonized against the vicious, violent Western empire may be considered legitimate only if done with “peace & love”.

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Read 10 tweets
Sep 9, 2024
When I criticize modernity I think in terms of the material and energy flows and the distribution of the harms and risks involved in sustaining it, especially when it comes to technologies and systems whose proliferation has coincided with...

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... the acceleration of extraction and ecocide in recent decades.

With 8 billion people, sustaining our techno-modernity even at a smaller scale still keeps adding extractive damages to ecosystems and people.

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We’ve normalized modernity and its myths and absurdities built upon great injustices, e.g. nation-states, technological “development”, economic growth, etc.

It’s an easy step from this to normalizing ecocides, genocides, fascism, and all sorts of unacceptable things.

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Read 6 tweets
Aug 5, 2024
Yesterday I came across a piece that inadvertently exposes the claim that the “green” energy transition will entail less material extraction than fossil fuels as a blatant lie.

It’s by none other than the capitalist techno-solutionist @_HannahRitchie from @OurWorldInData.

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As we’d expect, she is trying to reassure her readers that the large-scale renewable energy transition she advocates for will need less mining than fossil fuels, even after adjusting for the amount of rock that needs to be processed to obtain metals & minerals.

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She claims the transition will require less materials than the 15Gt (billion tons) of fossil fuels we extract each year.

However, the data she presents shows the opposite – that the push towards “low carbon” technologies will increase our materials consumption substantially.

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Read 13 tweets
Aug 4, 2024
A barrage of dire news & research findings that came out just this past week shows we’re on the verge of catastrophic climate & ecological breakdown.

Massive social upheavals are imminent, & we must realign our priorities & plans with what is realistically possible.

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Yet most climate action folks cling to actions & approaches based on modern techno-industrial systems, whose existence depends on stable climate, ecological & social-political conditions that will soon no longer exist in the first place.

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Four earth systems that are key to climate stability are headed towards collapse: the Greenland & West Antarctic ice sheets, the Amazon rainforest, & the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

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thehill.com/policy/energy-…
Read 16 tweets
Aug 3, 2024
A torrent of dire news & research findings that came out just this past week shows we’re on the verge of catastrophic climate & ecological breakdown.

Massive social upheavals are imminent, & we must realign our priorities & plans with what is realistically possible.

1/
Yet most scholars & others with influence cling to actions & approaches based on modern techno-industrial systems, whose existence depends on stable climate, ecological & social-political conditions that will soon no longer exist in the first place.

2/
Four earth systems that are key to climate stability are headed towards collapse: the Greenland & West Antarctic ice sheets, the Amazon rainforest, & the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

3/

thehill.com/policy/energy-…
Read 18 tweets
Jul 28, 2024
A new paper by degrowth scholars @jasonhickel & Dylan Sullivan suggests we can ensure public luxury & techno-scientific advancement for all with the right policies.

But it ignores the already visible & accelerating impacts of climate & ecological breakdown on such ambitions.

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The authors want to inform a reduction of our materials & energy consumption while meeting people’s needs globally.

Unfortunately their analysis isn’t grounded in biophysical reality as it doesn’t account for the unprecedented social upheavals that are imminent & inevitable.

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The authors state: “Provisioning decent living standards (DLS) for 8.5 billion people would require only 30% of current global resource & energy use, leaving a substantial surplus for additional consumption, public luxury, scientific advancement & other social investments.”

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Read 15 tweets

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