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Five challenges on the way to rethinking growth

Unless you're a redneck, a dinosaur or a Pollyanna, you'll probably agree with the proposition that we need to reduce our collective impact on the environment.

If you're reading this, it's also probable that you're among the 20% of the world's population who between them use more than 80% of the earth's resources. So there's a rather uncomfortable personal question: what am I and my community going to do about it?

Last night I was at a packed event at King's Cross, London, hearing speakers from the UK and Europe on the subject of 'degrowth' - or, as the Europeans style it, décroissance, which sounds as if it's to do with eating fewer croissants but involves a lot more than that.

A lot of work has been done to construct both the arguments for degrowth and a theoretical approach to a post-growth economy. Tim Jackson's excellent book Prosperity Without Growth (based on this report for the Sustainable Development Commission) is probably the most positive explanation of this approach; the new economics foundation's document The Great Transition sets out what a degrowth economy might look like and suggests some initial actions.

But the argument is far from won (or even clear in terms of practical action), and won't be won in gatherings of like-minded people. To make the case cogently, I think a few challenges need to be overcome.

• First, we need to address people's real fears and reluctance to change. Tim Jackson is good on this, explaining how consumption is ingrained in our desire for social affirmation. We use stuff as symbols of our respect for ourselves and each other. So a mindshift needs to take place in which we rethink the symbolic value of physical goods. Hectoring won't achieve that.

• Second, we need to move the debate from the margins. Inevitably this will provoke cries of selling out by those who see themselves as pioneers of green thinking. But there's a kind of green gamesmanship that needs to be recognised here - the easy kudos that comes from proposing a more radical solution than the next person, knowing there's no likelihood of being the one who has to put it into practice. Anyone who feels they're at the cutting edge because they've listened to three hours of speeches needs a reality check.

• Third, the theorists need to start modelling their proposed approaches in real life. The Transition Towns movement and projects like Incredible Edible Todmorden are good starting points, because they're rooted in practical action. Showing what's possible to friends and neighbours is worth a thousand seminars and conferences. Car clubs and pools like Car2go in Ulm, for example, are starting to show how people's needs for personal transport can be provided in a less environmentally harmful way.

• Fourth, the challenge to unsustainable growth needs to be expressed in language that people understand. The idea of environmental limits is important here. We all know that if you accumulate debts, either as an individual or a nation, the chickens will eventually come home to roost. While you can put off the evil day by borrowing more, there comes a point where you're so deep in debt you have to take drastic action. We have already reached our environmental credit limit - between the 1960s and 2005 the human species moved from using 60% of the earth's available capacity to 130%, according to Mauro Bonaiuti, one of the speakers at last night's event. And while you can create more finance to lend people at the touch of a button, you can't create more environmental capacity to use up whenever we fancy it.

• Fifth, we need to be more robust in challenging accepted wisdom. The main argument against degrowth is that everything will collapse - people will spend less, there'll be fewer jobs, we'll all live in poverty. What the growth advocates don't explain is why it is responsible to use finite resources at an ever-increasing rate without putting in place a means for creating alternatives when we do reach the limits; what those alternative resources will be and how they can be obtained and shared equitably without permanent damage to ecosystems; and why an exponential increase of consumption is an intelligent way of meeting human needs and sustaining our planet when it has failed to eliminate global poverty or offer happier, healthier lives to the majority of the world's population, and failed to find effective ways of remedying the damage already inflicted by increased consumption.

There are some tough debates to be had, difficult choices to be made and no guarantee of a successful outcome. On the other hand, as Tim Jackson pointed out, there's an opportunity to revalue our lives and emphasise what really contributes to human wellbeing - qualities like trust, affection, respect and participation.