A Toxic Economic System
Launch of Greenpeace’s SystemShift podcast with Tim Jackson
April 2023
In the inaugural episode of Greenpeace’s new podcast SystemShift, CUSP director Tim Jackson and former Swedish politician and Green MEP, Carl Schlyter, engage in a candid conversation about the myth of ‘eternal economic growth’ and the need for rethinking GDP as a measure of social progress. The discussion delves into the pressing issues of energy costs, employment, and inequality, offering fresh perspectives on sustainable solutions for a better future.
From the podcast website:
SystemShift explores how we can create a sustainable, thriving economy that respects the Earth’s capacity to support humankind while putting people and nature at the centre, and provides alternatives to the current failing economic and financial systems that are driving the exploitation of people and planet. Economists, researchers and innovators from around the world offer their solutions for a sustainable, thriving economy that is equitable and serves the interests of all, not just the wealthiest few.
In the first episode, Tim Jackson delivers a thought-provoking exploration of the urgent need to redefine and measure progress in a different way, given that our current economic system is clearly unsustainable and toxic. Jackson challenges the myth of eternal economic growth and its impact on our finite resources and a rapidly warming planet. He questions the predominant measure of progress across the world, Gross Domestic Product, and the popular belief that governments need to continually increase production and consumption to keep GDP rising. Jackson explores alternative ways to think about progress and prosperity that are in balance with our planetary boundaries, highlighting the devastating impact of pursuing GDP growth as a policy goal, including climate destabilisation, financial market meltdowns as well as the loss of forests and natural habitats. He argues that it’s time to change to a new metric, amid ever-louder concerns about the failure of national economies to tackle the multiple threats posed by climate change, spiraling energy costs, insecure employment, and widening inequality.
About
Tim Jackson, an ecological economist and writer, is the Director of the Centre for the Understanding for Sustainable Prosperity at the University of Surrey. Tim is the author of Prosperity Without Growth, Material Concerns and Post Growth—Life After Capitalism.
This episode of SystemShift comes from Greenpeace Nordic and is hosted by Greenpeace campaigner and former Swedish politician and Green MEP, Carl Schlyter, and produced by Alexia Fridén, with additional support from Ariadna Rodrigo, Juliana Costa, Christian Aslund and Attila Kulcsár at Greenpeace.
Links
The podcast is available on the usual platforms, including Spotify, Apple and Youtube.
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