What does “growth” under capitalism actually mean? According to Prof. Jason Hickel, it’s measured in “SUVs and AI and fast fashion and private jets and mansions and industrial beef and weapons.” In other words, industries that are profitable precisely *because* they’re socially and environmentally destructive. At the same time, capitalism necessarily fails to meet real human needs like “renewable energy, affordable housing, public transit and regenerative agriculture.”
In a society ruled by profit, this contradiction will intensify to the point of planetary suicide. There’s no way to grow our way out of the climate crisis when fossil fuels are more profitable than renewable energy by design. Only a total rupture with capitalism and with the logic of growth can save us from the abyss.
