Degrowth

Friday evening, Ellen and I went to a lecture sponsored by our local World Affairs Council, at Centre Church. It was given by Dr.Julie Snorek, an environmental researcher at Dartmouth Colllege,  on the topic, Degrowth: How Our Blessings Have Become a Curse. The topic addressed the very urgent controversial  issue of reducing our carbon footprint not through technology - i.e., substituting renewable energy sources like solar and wind for our present dependence on fossil fuels - but rather through a entirely new understanding of our economy which does not assume growth. We are eager to hear someone who has thought this through. I have struggled with it in my own little way- cf. an earlier post in which I reported on a sermon I gave at the Guilford Church in which I suggested that a group of us might sell our homes and cars and live as a kind of commune at the church, with each having their own bedroll under a pew, and building our lives around that community. It was sort of a whimsical suggestion with the serious purpose of getting people to think about a kind of degrowth (I didn't call it that back then).  I feel we really need to be imagining new ways of living lives that are meaningful and satisfying, but consume way less of everything. I was hoping Dr. Snorek might offer something along those lines.  It was disappointing in that regard. She had lived for years in southern Africa among tribes whose lifestyle was totally other  from ours, and certainly way less consuming of energy and things, and she urged the need to learn from such peoples a new way of thinking about our economy, but it was too general. I did learn something about the "Degrowth Movement" which has been around for a while.  Some of what she had to say was provocative, and some was confusing, at least to me. I need to learn more.

Dr.Julie Snorek

 Last night, we tried to go to the Northern Roots concert but the weather was so awful that we turned back. We were afraid it would be solid ice when we tried to come home. So we had a nice time at home instead. Today I went to Guilford to church and Ellen went to Dummerston to sing in the choir. I had been asked to talk about "temptation" in the Sunday School. It turned out to be a very small audience of children - one - but we had a good time anyway. I stayed for an information session after church on the upcoming transition to a new pastor. Lise expects to be gone by June, which is not far from now.