‘The obsession with endless growth can only end in tears’: your questions on extreme weather this summer answered

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/03/the-obsession-with-endless-growth-can-only-end-in-tears-your-questions-on-extreme-weather-this-summer-answered

Quite insightful. If only more people would read this.

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Ajit: More than anything else, I would challenge anyone who feels hopeless to be specific about what’s troubling them. This is obviously easier said than done, but if you take a couple of hours to write down what it is that scares you about climate breakdown, what makes you angry, and what leaves you feeling hopeless, the fears become (hopefully) easier to confront.

In my case, reporting on the climate has made me way less worried about some problems and way more worried about others. In terms of hope, I am, perhaps unpopularly, a firm believer in the idea that we have far more agency than anyone around me seems to realise (with the exception of a handful of scientists). Too many people my age claim a powerlessness that is not backed up by data. Sure, your ability to replace a coal plant with a wind turbine may be limited (it’s still not nothing, if you live in a democracy) but you have power over what you eat, how you get around, how much you buy.

Many people say something like: “I am only one of 83,000,000 Germans, what I do has no effect.”

But this is untrue. Consider these three things:

  • We know perfectly well that this kind of arguments does not hold water for collective matters. Nobody can say “If I do not pay taxes, it does nor matter, I am only one if 83,000,000 citizens.”

  • Second, if you put 83,000,000 as a divisor of your effectivity, you absolutely need to be honest and also consider the numerator of that fraction: Your carbon emissions affect directly each of the 8,300,000,000 habitants of earth. Every kilogram of CO2 which your car emits affects that many people. This is a big multiplicator!

  • Third, Germany for example is part of the third most powrful economic bloc, within it it is the economical most powerful country, and it is currently the only fully democratic bloc where citizens have the ultimaye power what happens.

There is often the argument that individuals cannot change things, but change needs to come from goverments. But while we of course and absolutely need goverment action, individuals do have a big influence on collectives. Here as well, honesty is required: If you are against slavery, why would you continue to keep slaves? Because of convenience? Is this a convincing argument?

The ethics of this sitiation had been clearly laid out in 1783, in the age of enlightenment by the philosopher Immanuel Kant, it is the Categorical Imperative. It states:

Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.

And, if we had a goverment that truly cares about climate change, would not be one of its first actions be to discourage and disallow e.g. needless privste flying to zero? Why do we need a fricking goverment to tell us what is rational and right to do, and what we already know? As an adult, do you still ask your primary school teacher for permission to go out of the room to pee?

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Meanwhile deep value stocks with 50+ percent margins barely attract any money. Just look at mining sector - we supposedly want so called green transformation but investors behave like mining is about to get bankrupt. My question is - where are we going to get all metal needed for these turbines, panels and EV? Not to mention replacing stockpiles of ammo sent to Ukrainians. And there is electrification of large portions of Africa and Asia. Yes, still about 1 billion of people have no access to electricity and about 2 live in energy poverty. Recycling is not going to cover needs for metal.

Ask yourself are elites buying mining stocks while retails sleeps invested in overpriced AI and tech stocks? Who is going to be their exit liquidity?

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’Our’ questions:

  • Desenrasco asked: How scared should I be about wildfires?
  • Sg_plumber asked: How come pretty much everybody (at least on TV) always forgets to mention that yes, the climate crisis is fuelling these extreme weather events?
  • Economy-Fee5830 asked: You’ve written about oil majors profiting as the world heats. But European wildfire deaths and flood deaths are overwhelmingly determined by local building codes, evacuation planning and firefighting budgets. Does the Big Oil accountability framing crowd out the more boring domestic policy failures that actually determine the body count?
  • Owl1917 asked: With climate anxiety on the rise, particularly amongst younger generations, what advice would you give to those who see the future as hopeless?
  • Gold-Loan3142 asked: How do we challenge the mainstream ‘“perpetual growth” economics that infuses almost all discussion of the economy?
  • SurinamPam asked: A lot of carbon is emitted for road transportation, building heating/cooling, and electricity generation. And, the world is quickly switching to EVs, heat pumps, and building out solar, wind, and batteries. If all those carbon sources go to zero, how much of an effect will it have on future climate change?
  • Distracted-Nomad asked: In terms of advocacy, what are the most powerful things you can say to convince individuals that their efforts (ie lifestyle change) are important? Most people I know say whatever they do won’t make a difference and governments and corporations need to change before
  • Karenadona asked: How much longer do we have until we run out of time to save the planet?
  • Szabolcs85 asked: Is there anything to be hopeful about? The future looks very bleak.
  • Fraggin601 asked: How do you think our economic systems must change to cope with climate change?
  • Lightning7Bolt asked: What can a 17-year-old like me do to fight for change?
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What do you mean “obsession”? How does one have an economy based on competition for profits and not have it pursue endless growth? This isn’t a this or that person or group’s obsession, it’s baked into the system’s structure.

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I find degrowth unconvincing. People find inflation untenable, what would happen if that was desired outcome of policy?

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The current system desires inflation of 2% or so.

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The thing is that much of economics is basically just about shuffling imaginary money into billionaire pockets. Without those leeches, the economy can be quite a bit smaller while the masses get wealthier, not poorer.

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