Economic Growth and Societal Collapse: Beyond Green Growth and Degrowth Fairy Tales

Preface
Contents
About the Author
Abbreviations
List of Figures
List of Tables
Chapter 1: Introduction
	1.1 Introduction
	1.2 Thin and Precious
	1.3 Complex and Fragile
	1.4 The Most Important Century?
	1.5 Key Concepts
		1.5.1 Gross Domestic Product
		1.5.2 Economic Growth
		1.5.3 Ecological Overshoot
	1.6 Structure of the Book
	References
Chapter 2: The Malthusians and the Cornucopians
	2.1 Introduction
	2.2 The (Neo) Malthusians
	2.3 The Cornucopians
		2.3.1 The Great Acceleration
		2.3.2 The Power of Ideas
		2.3.3 Solve Intelligence and Use It to Solve Everything Else
	2.4 Concluding Remarks
	References
Chapter 3: What to Do About the Detritovores?
	3.1 Introduction
	3.2 Ecological Overshoot
		3.2.1 Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change
		3.2.2 Ecological Footprint and Earth System Boundaries
		3.2.3 Ecological Doom-Loops: Tipping Points and Existential Risks
	3.3 The Carbon Pulse
		3.3.1 Dark Satanic Mills
		3.3.2 The Detritovores
		3.3.3 Peak Oil
		3.3.4 EROI: Energy Return to Energy Invested
	3.4 The Dataome
	3.5 Concluding Remarks
	References
Chapter 4: Green Growth
	4.1 Introduction
	4.2 Defining Green Growth
	4.3 Eco-Innovation
	4.4 Critical Analysis: Can Green Growth Decouple GDP?
	4.5 Doomsday Bunkers
		4.5.1 Davos Man and the Rise of Technofeudalism
		4.5.2 Embedded Growth Obligations
		4.5.3 The Silicon Valley Mindset
		4.5.4 The New Ethics of Plunder?
	4.6 Concluding Remarks
	References
Chapter 5: The Degrowth Movement
	5.1 Introduction
	5.2 What Is Degrowth?
	5.3 Deconstructing Degrowth
		5.3.1 Degrowth May Be De-effective
		5.3.2 Degrowth May Be Dirty
		5.3.3 Degrowth May Be Expensive and Worsen Global Inequality
	5.4 Concluding Remarks
	References
Chapter 6: Living in a Degrowth World
	6.1 Introduction
	6.2 Can Economic Growth Continue Forever?
	6.3 The Great Decline
		6.3.1 Entrepreneurship
		6.3.2 Innovation and Science
		6.3.3 Research Productivity
	6.4 The Zero-Sum Society
	6.5 The Degrowth Movement as the Outcome of Degrowth
	6.6 Concluding Remarks
	References
Chapter 7: Collapse, Unraveling, or Great Simplification?
	7.1 Introduction
	7.2 Trajectories of Civilization
	7.3 Collapse as the End of the World?
	7.4 Collapse as the Beginning of a New World?
	7.5 Homeostatic Awakening
		7.5.1 The Eerie Silence
		7.5.2 The Great Filter
		7.5.3 Asymptotic Burnout
	7.6 Concluding Remarks
	References
Chapter 8: Toward a Humpty Dumpty Economics
	8.1 Summary
	8.2 Humpty Dumpty Economics
	8.3 Conclusion: Don’t Cry for Humpty
	References
References
Index