When the Unspeakable is No Longer Taboo: Growth Without Economic Growth

Protracted and painful economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are still unfolding. They are occurring alongside a crisis of trust in European institutions, the symptoms of which include the UK's exit from the European Union, as well as the spread of divisive, EU-sceptical, and antidemocratic politics in several other EU nations. These developments are taking place on top of wealth disparities exacerbated by the financial crisis of 2008. At the same time, economic growth and affluence, combined with a growing global population, continue to create ever-higher environmental pressures, including climate change, pollution, and an accelerating loss of biodiversity. This amalgam of difficulties challenges the fundamental goal of modern capitalist democracies: continued economic growth. Brexit and Euroscepticism reveal that the promise of economic growth is increasingly less credible as a cure for political discontent. And the idea that economic growth can be decoupled from resource consumption and pollution in a new era of "green growth" remains elusive, despite its political appeal.

[Post-Normal Pandemics: why CoViD-19 requires a new approach to science.] / Pandemie post-normali. Perché CoViD-19 richiede un nuovo approccio alla scienza.

In addressing pandemics, science has never seemed more needed and useful, while at the same time limited and powerless. The existing contract between science and society is falling apart. A new covenant is urgently needed to navigate the days ahead.