The Climate Crisis and Degrowth with Robert Pollin & Jason Hickel

Tech Empire with Michael Kwet and Tshi Malatji

This episode welcomes Robert Pollin and Jason Hickel to discuss the climate crisis and degrowth. The show is divided into four main parts. First, it lays out key concepts and information about the climate crisis. We then discuss solutions, including a global Green New Deal and a post-growth, redistributive solutions for society. Next, we explore the concept of “degrowth”, as understood within the context of colonialism and global inequality. This section includes a conversation between Pollin and Hickel about planetary boundaries and the growing degrowth current within the environmental movement. Finally, we discuss the Biden administration and European policy, as well as workers’ movements and international activism from below. Robert Pollin is Co-Director and Distinguished Professor of Economics of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His most recent book is called Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet, co-authored with Noam Chomsky. Jason Hickel is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the International Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics, and Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. His most recent book is called Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World. You can follow Jason on Twitter at @jasonhickel. Michael Kwet is a Visiting Fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School and received his PhD in Sociology from Rhodes University in South Africa. You can follow Michael on Twitter at @michael_kwet. Robert Pollin at UMass-Amherst: https://www.umass.edu/economics/pollin Jason Hickel at Twitter: https://twitter.com/jasonhickel Michael Kwet at Twitter: https://twitter.com/Michael_Kwet Tech Empire at Twitter: https://twitter.com/techempirecast