Aug 11, 2026 · 25 min · 14 segments
Degrowth advocates say we’re overusing Earth’s resources, which will degrade living standards and harm the environment, so we must reduce. Ecomodernists say we’re fine: Technology, agriculture and…
Ted NordhausGuest
Josh FarleyGuest
Scott TinkerHost
Let's just start for our listeners with a real punchy, high-level overview of things we're gonna dive into as we go.
Well, ecomodernists believe that growth, development, and technology are the keys to saving the environment in the 21st century.
So degrowth, it's basically the understanding that the ecological and social costs of growth currently overwhelm the, uh, economic benefits, and a rededication of our economy towards the mutual flourishing of humans and the rest of nature.
So I think that our global ecosystems capture solar energy to create, uh, more material flows of timber and, uh, fish and the life support functions we need.
And if we exceed the rate at which nature creates new resources and absorbs our waste, we are exceeding our carrying capacity.
The planet that we started with could support through its primary productivity perhaps a few million human beings.
Today, we live on a planet that supports eight billion people, many of them, increasing numbers of them, living modern lives and much longer and healthier lives.
So I think both of us probably agree that what we really want is human flourishing, and in my perspective, that depends on, uh, preserving the global ecosystems that generate the life support functions that humans and all other species depend on, and that, uh, obsession with growth detracts us from the things that really do lead to flourishing.
Let's just start for our listeners with a real punchy, high-level overview of things we're gonna dive into as we go.
Well, ecomodernists believe that growth, development, and technology are the keys to saving the environment in the 21st century.
So degrowth, it's basically the understanding that the ecological and social costs of growth currently overwhelm the, uh, economic benefits, and a rededication of our economy towards the mutual flourishing of humans and the rest of nature.
So I think that our global ecosystems capture solar energy to create, uh, more material flows of timber and, uh, fish and the life support functions we need.
And if we exceed the rate at which nature creates new resources and absorbs our waste, we are exceeding our carrying capacity.
The planet that we started with could support through its primary productivity perhaps a few million human beings.
Today, we live on a planet that supports eight billion people, many of them, increasing numbers of them, living modern lives and much longer and healthier lives.
So I think both of us probably agree that what we really want is human flourishing, and in my perspective, that depends on, uh, preserving the global ecosystems that generate the life support functions that humans and all other species depend on, and that, uh, obsession with growth detracts us from the things that really do lead to flourishing.
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