This book takes a compelling approach to describing what is needed to
create the kind of future that most people on Earth really want. Our
global society is hopelessly addicted to a particular vision of the
world and a future that has become both unsustainable and undesirable.
Addicted to Growth frames our current predicament as a societal
addiction to a 'growth at all costs' economic paradigm. While economic
growth has produced many benefits, its side effects are now producing
existential problems that are rapidly getting worse. Robert Costanza
considers lessons from what works at the individual level to overcome
addictions and applies them to a societal scale. Costanza recognises
that the first step to recovery is recognising the addiction and that it
is leading to disaster; however, simply pointing out the dire
consequences of our societal addiction is only the first step and can be
counterproductive by itself in motivating change. The key next step is
creating a truly shared vision of the kind of world we all want, and the
book explores creative ways to implement this societal therapy. The
final step is using that shared vision to motivate the changes needed to
achieve it, including adaptive transformations of our economic systems,
property rights regimes, and governance institutions.
An exciting contribution from a key thinker in the field, this book will
be a valuable resource to students and scholars of public policy and
sustainability studies, and anyone interested in understanding and
overcoming our societal addiction to growth.
