Ep 154 Anisa Rogers & Michaela from the Degrowth Network - Downsizing for perpetuity in a new world!

Summary
In a world dominated by a striving for endless growth, it can be hard to see that while a drive towards money and individualism is great for the economy, it is fundamentally destructive for humanity, community & ecology. This conversation tackles us relearning our ability to grow our environment with each other & to meet our own needs rather than outsourcing to those who will make the divisions based on profit. It asks us to opt for less transactions & more relationships, it addresses the epidemic of loneliness and it settles on the idea that a little bit of debt is a good thing - relational debt that is.
The time to navigate difficult & complex divisions  to make us anti fragile is now but it requires us to heal our hurt hearts so we can do the work we need to do in our current system.
Degrowth is the salve, held by love that is the container for our path forward as humanity.

Links You'll Love
Tools for Conviviality - Ivan Illich
National Degrowth Network
The Overstory - Richard Powers

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We talked about:
Poverty is political 
Building action into your everyday existence
Seeking inspiration from socialist countries
Building an obsession with nature 
Composting as a gateway drug 
Evolving from being individuals to being change making huddles
Making academic theories approachable & practical
Finding collective inspiration for criticising growth
Creating coalitions of the unlikely by side stepping black & white 
Creating containers for people who are looking to connect despite the inevitable conflicts that will arise
We need more spaces to hold respected disagreements
Despite relationships being thorny, we are going to have to work this out.
The hardest skills of all are the soft skills of really working wth humans - meeting people with what they need to unpack the complexity 
Being part of groups where the hard stuff can be held
Building the ‘neighbourhood’ - learning the name of the person next door, even when they are different to you
Being materially dependent on one another is a good thing
Our mobility has meant we are avoiding our ability to learn to manage conflict.
Why cleverness is disarming
The role of grief & gratitude in this journey
Slow is smooth & smooth is fast
Instead of air conditioners - lets have an afternoon nap
Returning us to our natural cycles & building our life around it
Side stepping linear, capitalist striving.
Connection to the earth is not lost on us - it’s in our ancestral knowledge, but we need to sit still, reskill & really want to relearn 
Learning to be comfortable with a lack of control

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