The two explanations of degrowth (1) that it is an energy-related process and (2) that it is an ideology, are misleading fruitful discussions. It is neither one nor t’other. It is both.
I believe in the ideology of degrowth and I also believe in the fact that the economy is an energy-based system.
[If you want to understand what is being written about the surplus energy economy, please go to Tim Morgan’s blog – in which the world’s energy experts, those who do not have a vested interest in the money economy, discuss the issues involved.]
Maybe it would helpful for the purposes of this discussion if I use the phrase “the declining energy economy”.
Degrowth and the declining energy economy (DEE) complement each other. The DEE makes degrowth much more likely than a future of never-ending growth.
There is no need to argue the case for degrowth, it is already happening, but perhaps not in the ways those who believe in the ideology of degrowth expect or want.
This is because the DEE is making the economy shrink towards a state where human energy dominates the world. As it did in pre-industrial times.
The emphasis NOW should be to ensure that the process of DEE takes a path towards the kind of degrowth wanted. Much of what is happening now is having the opposite effect.
What tangled webs we weave!