Moving Beyond Growth: Curated List of Resources

This collection provides ideas (in the form of books, journals, podcasts, and other sources), organizations, and even entertaining media that can help you understand the economics of sustainability, the degrowth movement, and the transition away from capitalism and consumerism.

Discussion: What Can You Do About the Economy? How to Be a Degrowth Practitioner and Activist

Program Director at Post Carbon Institute, Rob Dietz, hosts a participatory discussion session with Anitra Nelson, degrowth scholar and activist and author of many books about degrowth and the systemic changes needed to make the shift to a post-capitalist, post-consumerist economy.

Bringing the Economy Home: Degrowth and Local Investing for a Sustainable Future

Environmental journalist Rachel Donald hosts a conversation with Jason Hickel, internationally known degrowth researcher and advocate, and Nia Evans and Cierra Peters of the Boston Ujima Project, which focuses on creating a community-controlled economy.

Othering and Political Conflict in the Great Unraveling

This live online event on Octoner 8, 2024 features Lilliana Mason, Associate Professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University and author of Radical American Partisanship, and Cecilie Surasky, Director of Communications & Narrative at the Othering & Belonging Institute. Post Carbon Institute’s Asher Miller will join Lilliana and Cecilie for an expansive conversation on the drivers of polarization and othering, and methods for fostering belonging and mutuality.  

Discussion: How to Overcome Polarization in Your Own Community

This live online discussion event on October 15, 2024 features Trisha Dehrone, a PhD candidate and NSF Fellow at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst. Trisha has designed and analyzed interventions that bridge group differences in divided societies and has evaluated interventions in the U.S., Rwanda, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Citizen Engagement & Mounting a Proper Government Response to the Climate Crisis

Environmental journalist and podcaster Rachel Donald interviews Melissa Hoffer, the first ever Climate Chief for the state of Massachusetts. Rachel and Melissa discuss the role of government in changing the energy landscape, from relying on fossil fuels to widespread adoption of renewable sources and how to overcome the status quo championed by powerful corporations and national interests.

Community- and Justice-Centered Climate Action with Johanna Bozuwa

Journalist and podcaster Rachel Donald interviews Johanna Bozuwa, Executive Director at the Climate and Community Project, where she directs a network of researchers and experts to develop crucial and justice-based climate policy. Rachel and Johanna discuss community-based projects, policies aimed at climate adaptation and mitigation, and the political requirements of an equitable energy transition.

Human Nature Odyssey: Episode 8. A Conversation with Rennie MacKay Quinn (wife of author Daniel Quinn)

In this very special episode, author Daniel Quinn’s wife Rennie Mackay Quinn joins us for her first ever interview: sharing untold stories, new insights, and reflections on her life and journey with her beloved late husband Daniel Quinn.

Human Nature Odyssey: Episode 7. After ‘Ishmael’ by Daniel Quinn

In this climactic culmination of the Ishmael series, we ask the question: How do we transform an entire society? We’ll meet the fantastical Prince who first concocted the criminal justice system, have a final reckoning with our Taker Mythology hat, and return to the abandoned land of Ashbourne.

Human Nature Odyssey: Episode 6. A Civilization That Flies

Is it possible to build a civilization that flies? (Metaphorically speaking of course.) How did we first learn to fly in the first place? It wasn’t by defying gravity and disobeying aerodynamics but by learning how to work with them. This is an episode of short stories, cinematic sound effects, and wacky voices. Strap in for liftoff.

Human Nature Odyssey: Episode 5. Adam, Eve, and the Agricultural Revolution

The story of the Garden of Eden has been told and retold for thousands of years. Why do we keep telling it? With insight from modern biblical scholarship, we investigate the origins of this ancient story and what warning this active myth still has yet to be heeded today.

Human Nature Odyssey: Episode 4. Takers and Leavers

When we use the term “civilization” who do we include and exclude? Who is civilized and what does that mean? In this episode we take a step back from Ishmael to better view the context it was written in, discussing noble savage theory, romantic-primitivism, and the rise of the identity “indigenous.”