Escaping Growthism: Wendigo Economics, Mystery Houses, and Becoming the Bear

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Grow or die. It's the governing principle of companies, investment portfolios, national economies, and even philanthropic foundations. Oh, and cancer. Asher, Jason, and Rob lay bare the stats on everything from human population, energy consumption, global GDP, greenhouse gas emissions, and the size of cars and cruise ships, before concluding that the global economy should be named after the Wendigo from Algonquian folklore. They turn to the natural world for examples of self-regulation, along with promising new economic frameworks and on-the-ground models, for how to end Wendigo economics before it ends us.

Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

Sources/Links/Notes:

• Timeline of Sarah Winchester's story
• Timeline of the largest passenger boats
• Parks and Rec clip on soda sizes
• Kaitlin Smith, "More Than Monsters: The Deeper Significance of Wendigo Stories"
• Winona LaDuke discusses Wendigo economics in a Yes! Magazine online conversation.
• Hannah and Kevin Salwen, The Power of Half: One Family's Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back
• CBS news story about a family giving away half their income
• SparkToro, an unusual tech company that doesn't believe bigger is better
• Report: Resilient Biocultural Heritage Landscapes for Sustainable Mountain Development, which contains information about Peru's Potato Park
• Krystyna Swiderska, "Here's why Indigenous economics is the key to saving nature"
• Al Bartlett lecturing on exponential growth

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