I also believe in degrowth. Wrote about it a while back. The problem now is time and political will. Most don't even know about the concept even though it's been with us since 1970.
hats off and a virtual handshake. Yea, I am trying to convey a lot of our shared ideas via illustrations, hoping to reach more public. Let's remain hopeful.
great piece, thank you! it's taking me longer & longer to read through your essays because they're so info-dense. i started this one this morn, left & came back several times, just finishing it this eve. i need to retire so i can keep up on all this worldly doom (one more year, but who's counting :)
I'm afraid at times my work can be a bit overwhelming, but tying many things together is an essential part of the work for me. In the beginning I just wanted to understand climate change, but everything is connected. Thanks for hanging with it, and thanks for the link to an outstanding article. The ecological disaster in Gaza is an issue I have considered writing about, but like the author felt hesitant because of the massive crime against humanity that's occurring there. It felt potentially insensitive.
CAUSE: too many humans using/depleting too many natural resources and producing too much pollution, including GHGs and climate collapse. It is absurd for European immigrant Americans to talk about the genocides of other powerful populations. There were only 2M natives left alive after we massively overpopulated and depleted the land that had so well served and sustained the native residents BEFORE our arrival. SOLUTION: CONTRACEPTION.
The genocide committed in North America by European settlers is unforgivable, as is the slavery that built the early economy of the US. The extermination of Native Americans is sickening and causes permanent damage, even at a genetic level. I well remember high school American history which portrayed Manifest Destiny as somehow righteous and the portrayal of Indians as heathens in movies. The destruction of the planet and Indigenous cultures are built on lies large and small, still carried forward daily in corrupt corporate media, if less blatantly now than by sins of omission.
Contraception — what should just be common sense — has been portrayed as against God's wishes by the church and is a complex subject from culture to culture and varying degrees of education. Ultimately, population is a huge problem, but so is overconsumption. As an American, no matter how small I live my personal impact on the planet is outsized. But the worst impacts are by those of the oligarchs whose emissions from private jets alone do more damage than I will from cradle to grave.
The foundation of industrial civilization was built to fall on the fleeting resources of fossil fuels. Without them, we would still have deep-seated behavioral problems, but at least not be facing possible extinction along with the other critical species we're taking down that make life possible.
I agree, the mess we have created for our children shouldn't fall on their shoulders. Unfortunately, they are growing up with sad awareness of how we have screwed up the planet. I know numerous young people who have chosen not to have children because of that awareness.
As an older guy now I feel the same as you, that we have a responsibility to put ourselves out there for younger people. We have economic power as a block that they don't. How do we organize and use that effectively? ThirdAct emphasizes this, but in my immediate life I see little awareness or effort. The Amazon trucks clutter the streets, and I doubt many have moved their money out of fossil fuel sponsoring banks.
They have names, addresses and security forces and damn well know what they're doing.
I hope blind greed is curable. Remember back in pre 1978 when China hated capitalism and only had one People's Bank of China (PBC)? But Nixon and his cohorts were on the hunt for Chinese money. I wonder if the neo-libs intended to make, along with a lot of dirty money, a monstrously competitive capitalist super power out of China. Probably. The ultra wealthy have no loyalty except to themselves. They just wanted to make China capitalistic and invest in the wealth on Wall Street.
I am no expert on China, but we have long treated the Chinese as a threat while being happy to exploit their labor in the pursuit of enrichment. They laid a lot of rail in this country and were employed as labor during the gold rush. The age of Chinese culture and invention of course far precedes our own.
It's interesting that even China adopted a form of capitalism, probably forced to by an ever more connected world that made isolation impossible. Outright feudalism became a problem. It's also ironic that the slavery of such systems have become the end result of capitalism. China had opium. America's opiate has been entertainment and consumption, brainwashed acceptance of what we've been told is a good life as we participate in our own destruction.
The spread of neoliberal economics by cunning and force has been a scourge. The big names have been called out — Naomi Klein did a fine job of that in The Shock Doctrine. I am certain thousands of smaller enablers went along from fear, coercion or greed. Dishonorable behavior exists even in the smallest of ponds, I witnessed it in academia where one would hope for a higher standard. So while there are good people, overall, I am a bit cynical when it comes to greed, opportunity and whether it's a curable condition. That starts with values I think imbued in us — or not — at a very young age.
Excellent, excellent article and the list of assassinations was revelatory. I had no idea. I wish you wrote more often but as the great mathematician Gauss said, "Pauca sed Matura"
Thank you, Michael. I wish to write more often, I was up to an article a week for a while, but the death of my father and aging mother brought new responsibilities. I hope to pick up the pace again.
So sad to read. We need justice for all of them and their causes
I am sad to be forced to write an article like this, but it's necessary. Very few are calling out the true dilemma we face and the inevitable reset.
This why I believe in degrowth: https://open.substack.com/pub/exploringhumans/p/the-confessions-of-a-degrowther-a?r=2v31j&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
I also believe in degrowth. Wrote about it a while back. The problem now is time and political will. Most don't even know about the concept even though it's been with us since 1970.
Thanks for the links.
https://geoffreydeihl.substack.com/p/degrowth-the-vision-we-must-demand
hats off and a virtual handshake. Yea, I am trying to convey a lot of our shared ideas via illustrations, hoping to reach more public. Let's remain hopeful.
I like your work. Your graphic memoir made me a bit wistful. I remember that world, too.
great piece, thank you! it's taking me longer & longer to read through your essays because they're so info-dense. i started this one this morn, left & came back several times, just finishing it this eve. i need to retire so i can keep up on all this worldly doom (one more year, but who's counting :)
wanted to share this mondoweiss piece on the genocide = ecocide = holocide (new word for me) in gaza, in case you haven't already come across it: https://mondoweiss.net/2025/09/ecocide-imperialism-and-palestine-liberation/?brid=nPaVn3SkI0riAi58RE9aTg
I'm afraid at times my work can be a bit overwhelming, but tying many things together is an essential part of the work for me. In the beginning I just wanted to understand climate change, but everything is connected. Thanks for hanging with it, and thanks for the link to an outstanding article. The ecological disaster in Gaza is an issue I have considered writing about, but like the author felt hesitant because of the massive crime against humanity that's occurring there. It felt potentially insensitive.
CAUSE: too many humans using/depleting too many natural resources and producing too much pollution, including GHGs and climate collapse. It is absurd for European immigrant Americans to talk about the genocides of other powerful populations. There were only 2M natives left alive after we massively overpopulated and depleted the land that had so well served and sustained the native residents BEFORE our arrival. SOLUTION: CONTRACEPTION.
The genocide committed in North America by European settlers is unforgivable, as is the slavery that built the early economy of the US. The extermination of Native Americans is sickening and causes permanent damage, even at a genetic level. I well remember high school American history which portrayed Manifest Destiny as somehow righteous and the portrayal of Indians as heathens in movies. The destruction of the planet and Indigenous cultures are built on lies large and small, still carried forward daily in corrupt corporate media, if less blatantly now than by sins of omission.
Contraception — what should just be common sense — has been portrayed as against God's wishes by the church and is a complex subject from culture to culture and varying degrees of education. Ultimately, population is a huge problem, but so is overconsumption. As an American, no matter how small I live my personal impact on the planet is outsized. But the worst impacts are by those of the oligarchs whose emissions from private jets alone do more damage than I will from cradle to grave.
The foundation of industrial civilization was built to fall on the fleeting resources of fossil fuels. Without them, we would still have deep-seated behavioral problems, but at least not be facing possible extinction along with the other critical species we're taking down that make life possible.
Well stated, Geoffrey.
"The fight is NOW"
I agree with that philosophy, for us old people, but Not for the youth.
I want them to play, walk in the wilderness, make love, not babies and make the most of nature while she is largely intact.
To quote Utah Phillips: "The World isn't dying, it's being killed and the killers have names and addresses".
That resonates with this rebel!
I agree, the mess we have created for our children shouldn't fall on their shoulders. Unfortunately, they are growing up with sad awareness of how we have screwed up the planet. I know numerous young people who have chosen not to have children because of that awareness.
As an older guy now I feel the same as you, that we have a responsibility to put ourselves out there for younger people. We have economic power as a block that they don't. How do we organize and use that effectively? ThirdAct emphasizes this, but in my immediate life I see little awareness or effort. The Amazon trucks clutter the streets, and I doubt many have moved their money out of fossil fuel sponsoring banks.
They have names, addresses and security forces and damn well know what they're doing.
Thank you Geoffrey! BTW, Limits to Growth has been replaced by Limits to Progress which is a more definite goal; we need to find a simpler life!
Thanks for the heads-up. We're both old enough to remember a simpler life even if we were already wildly off-track.
I hope blind greed is curable. Remember back in pre 1978 when China hated capitalism and only had one People's Bank of China (PBC)? But Nixon and his cohorts were on the hunt for Chinese money. I wonder if the neo-libs intended to make, along with a lot of dirty money, a monstrously competitive capitalist super power out of China. Probably. The ultra wealthy have no loyalty except to themselves. They just wanted to make China capitalistic and invest in the wealth on Wall Street.
I am no expert on China, but we have long treated the Chinese as a threat while being happy to exploit their labor in the pursuit of enrichment. They laid a lot of rail in this country and were employed as labor during the gold rush. The age of Chinese culture and invention of course far precedes our own.
It's interesting that even China adopted a form of capitalism, probably forced to by an ever more connected world that made isolation impossible. Outright feudalism became a problem. It's also ironic that the slavery of such systems have become the end result of capitalism. China had opium. America's opiate has been entertainment and consumption, brainwashed acceptance of what we've been told is a good life as we participate in our own destruction.
The spread of neoliberal economics by cunning and force has been a scourge. The big names have been called out — Naomi Klein did a fine job of that in The Shock Doctrine. I am certain thousands of smaller enablers went along from fear, coercion or greed. Dishonorable behavior exists even in the smallest of ponds, I witnessed it in academia where one would hope for a higher standard. So while there are good people, overall, I am a bit cynical when it comes to greed, opportunity and whether it's a curable condition. That starts with values I think imbued in us — or not — at a very young age.
Excellent, excellent article and the list of assassinations was revelatory. I had no idea. I wish you wrote more often but as the great mathematician Gauss said, "Pauca sed Matura"
Thank you, Michael. I wish to write more often, I was up to an article a week for a while, but the death of my father and aging mother brought new responsibilities. I hope to pick up the pace again.
Oh, please don't. My comment was meant as an appreciation of your work not an injunction to do more of it! 🙂
I'm sorry to hear of the loss of your parents.🙁. The years pass so swiftly.
No worries, I didn't take your comment the wrong way! I'm glad you find my work worthy and wish to publish more frequently again.
Yes, the years pass ever more swiftly as do the days.