Scientists’ warning on affluence

For over half a century, worldwide growth in affluence has continuously increased resource use and pollutant emissions far more rapidly than these have been reduced through better technology. The affluent citizens of the world are responsible for most environmental impacts and are central to any future prospect of retreating to safer environmental conditions. We summarise the evidence and present possible solution approaches. Any transition towards sustainability can only be effective if far-reaching lifestyle changes complement technological advancements. However, existing societies, economies and cultures incite consumption expansion and the structural imperative for growth in competitive market economies inhibits necessary societal change

To grow or not to grow : evolution of the economic paradigm as a response to climate disruption

Climate and environmental hazards make the current phase of growth increasingly uneconomic - its costs overshadow its benefits. Furthermore, it is also becoming apparent that Western societies have already crossed the line marking the correlation between certain levels of income and an increase of subjective wellbeing (Frey in Happiness: A Revolution in Economics. MIT Press, Cambridge, 2008; Frey in Economics of Happiness. Springer, Cham, 2018). On the one hand, economists emphasize the need to find policies for controlling climate change that optimize the trade-off between climate damages and lost opportunities for consumption or economic development; on the other, the scale of the environmental consequences of the present growth paradigm leads to the collapse of the major economic consensus linking economic growth per capita with human well-being and social cohesion