Degrowth At Home
Welcome to Degrowth At Home, a website dedicated to personal and community Degrowth efforts. You don't need to ask permission to start taking action for yourself, your community, and our collective future. We are focused on the Ulster County area of New York State, but all materials are free to use for anyone.
What is Degrowth?
Degrowth is the philosophical, economic, and social concept that posits we ought to restructure our economy around getting every person fed, housed, and healed instead of focusing on growing the number in a shareholder's bank account. We can live within the means of our planet and live good, fulfilling lives if we focus on what matters - a connected community, nourishing food, safe housing, and stewardship of nature.
What Can I do?
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Choices in Food
1) Eat beef only as a rare treat, if at all. It is the worst polluter of any food. Eating one 4oz burger emits the equivalent of almost 40lbs of coal. Lamb and mutton is also fairly high. Eat pork instead (which emits just around the equivalent of 10lbs of coal for the same amount of meat).
2) Poultry is the least polluting meat (around the equivalent of 2lbs of coal per 4oz). Eggs are the least polluting animal product. Replace as much red meat as you can with these.
3) Make as many of your meals meatless as you will realistically stick with. Meatless Mondays? Great! Half veg meals? Even better! Remember: Eat real food, not too much, mostly plants.
4) Buying from local, small-scale farmers. This is best for your body, the community and the planet.
2
Choices in non-food purchases
When making a purchase ask yourself these questions. It'll save you money and undermine the flow of money out of your community.
Does this purchase actually support my well-being? Do I really need this?
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Do I already have something that does this? Can a broken item be repaired?
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Can I get this second-hand?
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If buying new, can I support a small business?
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Only when the above has been exhausted should you consider purchasing from a big corporation. When you do, consider if you can buy a durable version that will continuously solve the problem or last to be traded or gifted when you no longer need it.
3
Social Choices
1) Bank local / invest local. Where you park your money matters.
2) Focus recreation on community and spending time with people you like. In person, if possible. This is healthier than the small bursts of dopamine from purchases.
3) Carry a collapsible, reusable versions of things you find yourself consuming on a single-use basis such as coffee cup and bags. It's really not that difficult when you get in the habit.
4) Aggressively ignore ads. Make a game of making fun of them. Dissect their empty promises of happiness through consumption. Avoid entirety if possible.
5) Do not doom scroll. Delete all algorithm-run social media. We are social animals and respond to social messages.