Zero Growth & Degrowth

The Green Charter states "unlimited material growth is impossible".

Tim Jackson asserts that what many people call decoupling is a myth. It is only relative decoupling. He points out that non material economy is theoretically plausible but has never been done before. (“Prosperity Without Growth” around page 51).

"Bob" provides a useful overview of the Steady State economy as a response to a Mitchell post on August 16, 2011 at 15:10 Four issues:  The first three are political/ policy items not an economic question
 * Earth is a closed system with respect to matter.  This is a technical definition which means matter cannot enter or leave the system
 * Earth is NOT a closed system with respect to energy.  A closed system does not have inputs and outputs (like solar radiation)

(1) Population growth — steady state will never be achievable with a growing population (2) Physical resources — steady state requires true sustainability (ultimately, complete recycling) (3) Energy resources — steady state requires true sustainability (dependence only on completely renewable sources) (4) Economic growth — steady state is irrelevant, as long as the preceding three conditions are met: intangible money can grow or retract depending on all sorts of things (efficiency, innovation, etc.), without having any impact on finite resources mentioned above