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Slow Down

The Degrowth Manifesto

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Slow Down

By: Kohei Saito
Narrated by: Troy Glasgow, Kohei Saito
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Why, in our affluent society, do so many people live in poverty, without access to health care, working multiple jobs, and are nevertheless unable to make ends meet, with no future prospects, while the planet is burning? In his international bestseller, Kohei Saito argues that while unfettered capitalism is often blamed for inequality and climate change, subsequent calls for sustainable growth and a Green New Deal are a dangerous compromise. Capitalism creates artificial scarcity by pursuing profit based on the value of products rather than their usefulness and by putting perpetual growth above all else. It is therefore impossible to reverse climate change in a capitalist society; in fact, the system that caused the problem in the first place cannot be an integral part of the solution. Instead, Saito advocates for degrowth and deceleration, which he conceives as the slowing of economic activity through the democratic reform of labor and production. In practical terms, he argues for the following: the end of mass production and mass consumption. decarbonization through shorter working hours. the prioritization of essential labor over corporate profits. By returning to a system of social ownership, he argues, we can restore abundance and focus on those activities that are essential for human life, effectively reversing climate change and saving the planet. Economics Environment Environmental Economics Politics & Government Science Capitalism Socialism Thought-Provoking Liberalism Taxation Economic Inequality
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Most of the book is spent explaining what climate change is (and how it’s bad) and how the first world is to blame for all the third world’s problems. Author seems to believe the third world has all the answers and would function as a utopia on its own if not for the “imperialist” mindset driving resource extraction. There is no consideration of how capitalism (however flawed) has raised the standard of living for billions around the world (China?). No one (including myself) thinks capitalism is perfect so I bought this book to learn about the alternatives. The author alludes to his magic answer (alternatively labeled slow growth socialism/communism) but spends almost no time explaining what it really means and how anyone anywhere would agree to transition to any form of communism. He also spends an inordinate amount of time focusing on some “lost manuscripts” from Marx which supposedly explain his world view and provide “intellectual” support. It all comes across as repetitive, simplistic, unrealistic, and boring as well. Would not recommend this book.

Pseudo intellectual fantasy

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Climate change is a big deal and we need to reduce our emissions and get to a more sustainable way of living. This book goes on to heap a lot of blame, some warranted, a lot not. It uses charged words like capitalism and communism in ways that don't make much sense and without really defining them well. He blames everything on the elites, experts and captialists in a way that leads to devision instead of unity or cooperation. He makes a ton of claims that are just blatantly false, instead seeming to prefer conspiracy theories. In the end he finally makes some suggestions of solutions, but they really don't seem workable. He seems to want to bring back the commons, but fails to acknowledge or accept the reasons why the commons failed in the past. He seems to say government is bad and we should have a cooperation of the people, which sounds like exactly what a government is. Overall, I don't recommend this book at all. I want to see less inequality which should happen through wealth taxes, progressive income taxes, inheritance taxes, land value taxes and carbon taxes, then good public services all run through a democracy. I just don't see how his revolution will achieve his aims.

A few decent ideas, but poorly argued

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