Making degrowth cool and glamorous

Dennis started a wonderful thread in the Transformative Adventures group. I’ve started a new thread in the group by copy-pasting a piece of one of Mike Hoag’s comments on it here because I think it merits a separate thread about how do we make degrowth popular? How do we make it super cool and attractive?

Mike’s comment: “Transition to renewables is not possible. Degrowth and reduced consumption are the only realistic strategies, but our governments will never do this. WE must do this.”

So!! How? (I have lots of ideas, which I post about extensively on my blog & other channels. But Mike’s comment prompted me to start a thread here so we can share ideas & come up with all sorts of plans.)

We could start creating “fake ads” — cool Facebook memes promoting degrowth as a fabulous lifestyle. Get fit! Attract wonderful companions! Make your neighborhood so wonderful you will never need to go on vacation! Attain occupational freedom, tell your crap job to take a hike, experience spiritual growth & liberation! All of this and more is easy by getting on the Degrowth train!!

One older guy’s comment about how he has prepped for TSHTF, and how his kids always know they can come live at his place, prompted me to see a “facetious fake-but-real ad” visual of the type that might help
popularize degrowth. There would be two photos:

1) Typical white Boomer dude asking in a cranky voice, “Why don’t my kids and grandkids ever come visit me”?

2) Atypical white Boomer dude, in his well-equipped permie cabin, as the Zombie Apocalypse is hitting: “Ha! I never have that problem! My kids and grandkids always want to come stay at MY place!” (The images could be done in Norman Rockwell style or … ?)

And thank you Dennis for the original thread on how electric cars won’t save the world. A green lala-land myth that refuses to die because people think just buckling down and making changes is too hard. We have to show them it’s more than worth the effort.

Update: Someone in the thread just shared a great resource. Spoof Ads – www.adbusters.org “We’re in the middle of a guerrilla information war for the future of the planet. Conventional weapons are useless — all we have are ideas. Join us in the meme war.”