This will be a shared learning space: The Degrowth team is a group still very much in formation. At the December meeting, one person said, “Since I am new to this group, I'd say that study group is my first choice at the moment,” and that seemed to capture a general feeling in the group. We spent a fair amount of time discussing the first half of Hoodwinked in the Hothouse. We will discuss the second half at our January meeting.
We plan to create subgroups, as volunteer capacity and interests permits. We will likely start with a communications team. We will keep checking in about who wants to engage more in a leadership role. Having breakout rooms during our monthly meetings was suggested.
There was interest in a grief group: There was a recurring theme of people feeling overwhelmed at the seeming inevitability of a collapse. One person wrote in the chat: “As for what we can do, will any of the suggestions make a dent in GHG emissions? Someone suggested creating a grief group where that sadness and anger could be held.
General notes
People introduced themselves on chat, and gave a brief description about why they came. Here are a few examples:.
- I have 4 gr-grandkids, and it is painful for me to think of a collapse during their lifetimes. And some of the 4 will be alive in 2100.
- The topic of this meeting is my major concern and I think always has been. I just wonder how the bulk of people will ever catch on to it.
- Want to learn about how to lead systems-level change in production and consumption of our limited resources!
- I'm curious about how we can measure degrowth and progress toward that goal, and how we can persuade others how to do it in the face of the dominant capitalist economy. How can we seek a mindset of "a sustainable enough", rather than a "constant more".
- Lifting up mutual aid groups
Some offered book suggestions, including:
- The Si'lailo Way which is about the laws which governed the Celilo Falls Fishery on the Columbia River. It highlights the needs of the community ahead of the needs of the people. That included not fishing to excess and not hoarding for oneself.
- Choosing Humanity's Journey of Initiation Through Breakdown and Collapse to Mature Planetary Community. (This is an update to: Choosing Earth: Humanity's Great Transition to a Mature Planetary Civilization)
- Homo Ecophagus—A Deep Dive to Save the Earth, by Warren Hern.
- Before They Vanish: Saving Nature's Populations -- And Ourselves, by Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb
- The Ministry for the Future (science fiction): Told through fictional eye-witness accounts, it is a story of how climate change will affect us all over the decades to come. (Also a good discussion of economics of what is happening.)
Video: Jem Bendell's film on collapse. It’s an hour long. (Irony alert: About once every 5 minutes an ad pops up for buying the latest pre-made meal services!)