With the constant threat of climate change looming over the world, there is a need for a proposal that can adequately deal with climate change. Current measures seem inadequate to deal with climate...Show moreWith the constant threat of climate change looming over the world, there is a need for a proposal that can adequately deal with climate change. Current measures seem inadequate to deal with climate change. Therefore, a radical change is needed and this can be achieved through degrowth and sufficientarianism. This thesis finds that implementing degrowth in combination with sufficientarianism is better equipped to deal with climate change and the distributional issues it raises, than other proposals such as green growth. Degrowth makes sure that we abide by the earth’s ecological ceiling, while sufficientarianism ensures that everyone has enough and that current resources will be justly distributed.Show less
The world changed rapidly when the Covid-19 virus spread around the globe in early 2020. This led many proponents of degrowth, a post-capitalist ideology that wants to prioritize human and...Show moreThe world changed rapidly when the Covid-19 virus spread around the globe in early 2020. This led many proponents of degrowth, a post-capitalist ideology that wants to prioritize human and planetary wellbeing over economic growth, to believe that the pandemic had opened a window of opportunity to fundamentally transform economies and societies to align with planetary boundaries. In 2023, it is conspicuous that the eco-socialist revolution has not (yet) arrived. This does, however, not mean that the pandemic did not have any effect on attitudes towards degrowth. This thesis examines the prevalence of degrowth as well as the tone and attitudes towards degrowth in the public discourse in the US, based on online articles published between 2017 and 2023 in American news media and finds an increase in coverage, particularly after mid-2022, in which the pandemic likely played a role. After the outbreak, prestigious outlets started writing about degrowth, but overall coverage remained limited. Outlets on the political left were found to be more receptive to the idea. The coverage of the US version of The Guardian stood out due to its high volume of positive articles about degrowth, particularly after the outbreak. The few outlets on the political right that wrote about the topic took a negative tone towards the idea and described it as dangerous.Show less
