In Over My Head: Rethinking Growth Trailer

Growth - especially the green kind - is always good, right? But to actually solve the climate crisis perhaps we need to rethink our reverence for the gospel of growth. Starting Friday, May 5, over six weeks Michael explores degrowth and post-growth with experts from around the world. What do our work, education, money and life look like when we prioritize people and the planet over endless growth?  

What is In Over My Head?

Michael is on a quest to get his environmental footprint as low as humanly possible. So he built his own off-grid Tiny House. But downsizing and minimizing weren’t enough. He had to take more drastic measures, altering his lifestyle in some extreme ways, all in the name of saving the planet. But when it comes to his goal, he still feels in over his head. He doesn’t know if all the downsizing, minimizing, reducing, reusing, recycling, and sacrificing make a difference. It’s time to bring in the experts.

Join Michael as he sits down with scientists, policymakers, industry leaders, and environmental experts to figure out how to effectively reduce his footprint in all aspects of life. From food and fast fashion to cars and caskets, he gets into what the worst culprits really are and how we can all make more informed choices when it comes to the impact we have on the planet.

If you have feedback or would like to be a guest on In Over My Head, please email: [e-mail]

(00:00):
I've got a growing curiosity about something. So often solving the climate crisis revolves around building more wind turbines, solar modules or electric vehicles. It's a win-win. We can lower our carbon footprint and grow our economy, but can we really have green growth or is our obsession with growth the real problem? If so, what's the alternative? This topic is huge. Thankfully, I know a few big minds who can expand. My understanding,

(00:26):
And this is where the de-growth argument I think is a rather good one. I mean this idea of unlimited growth is really incompatible with an idea of a finite planet.

(00:36):
But they very few scholars and researchers focus on the role of technology in perpetuating and reproducing this imperative of growth or how I call it the religion of growth.

(00:51):
If there is no economic growth in a growth economy, there is crisis. So our subsistence, our survival, employment, work, welfare, all of these are very much strongly linked to growth in contemporary societies.

(01:09):
Economists have been so blind to communities, right? Much of like theorizing in economics is around either the state or the individual, and we forget what's in between

(01:19):
Factors that I might choose to measure a happy society or what you call the standard of living, the GDP hasn't bought us that. It's really hard for people knew us to question that. It's so deeply ingrained this kind of mantra that raising the GDP is the only path to all good ends.

(01:37):
You know, to talk about reduced economic growth is still kind of like that doesn't get you invited to parties, you know, I mean, people begin to look a bit suspicious at you

(01:48):
Starting May 5th. I talk with six experts over six weeks, all about de-growth. This is no small talk from work and debt to education and innovation. We'll be exploring big ideas around what our world might look like if we prioritize people and planet over endless growth. I'm sure you're growing impatient, so let's get started.

(02:09):
I'm trying to save the planet. Oh, will someone please save me?