Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
4 - The transition to a
post-growth society
Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss
The Australian economy has grown strongly for the last 50 years. What we now need
to do is concentrate on the balance between the economy, the well-being of the com-
munity and the sustainability of the natural environment. A reduction in the rate of
economic growth would not imply that our standard of living would decline. On the
contrary, abandonment of economic growth as an end in itself is a prerequisite to a
sustainable future Australia. In the words of John Stuart Mill 'a stationary condition
of capital and population implies no stationary state of human improvement … there
would be as much scope as ever for all kinds of mental culture and moral and social
progress; as much room for improving the Art of living, and much more likelihood of
its being improved, when minds ceased to be engrossed by the Art of getting on.'
Economic growth refers to expansion in the volume of goods and serv-
ices produced by a country. It is typically measured by the annual rate of
increase of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), that is, the value of final goods
and services produced each year. The economy is said to have grown by 4 per
cent in a year when the value of goods and services included in GDP expands
by 4 per cent. Economic growth has the potential to solve many of the prob-
lems faced by individuals, regions and countries.
The potential for growth to solve problems should not, however, be con-
fused with an inevitability that it will solve problems. Nor can economic
growth solve problems that are not economic in nature; indeed, it may exac-
erbate some social and environmental problems. The housing industry has
been growing rapidly in Australia in recent years, but new houses are not
