In the lastest episode of the Impact x The Intersection Podcast, Dori Pap, managing director of the Institute for Leadership and Social Impact, sits down with John Mulrow, director of the Degrowth Institute and adjunct assistant professor of Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University, and Joe Bozeman, assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the College of Engineering at Georgia Tech. They explore the social context of degrwoth and what it could mean for our future.
Murrow emphasizes the importance of global cooperation in addressing environmental challenges. “If we want to reduce environmental impacts, we will have a confrontation with growth at a global scale,” he said. “We live in a global economy, a global society – we have to work together.”
Bozeman discusses the social implications of degrowth and highlights the need for it, aligning his current research on developing equitable solutions for socioecological and urban carbon management challenges.
“We need to stop using and consuming at the same levels and also need global signals to encourage us to stop doing those things if we really want to get to a place of haivng social justices, social equity, and economic justice,” Bozemna said.
Murrow and Bozeman stress the importance of understanding many misconceptions surrounding degrowth. To overcome these misconceptions, they believe there must be a challenge to these issues and a deep dive into degrowth research to understand its strengths and misconceptions.
Tune in to the full episode to hear more about how degrowth can shape our future and join us for an Earth Day celebration at the Kendeda Building on April 17. The event will feature a global panel of speakers exploring the ecological and social realities of economic growth on a finite planet.