Striving for growth is going to destroy us
Economic growth is one of the most basic building blocks of capitalism. It is not always achieved, sometimes even for long times but nevertheless it always stays as one of the major goals of any capitalist system or state. It is entrenched deeply in us that this is the best way to organize the economy and our society. Looking at the world around us it becomes increasingly clear day by day that this is wrong and that it’s time for systematic change on a global level. Capitalism has delivered the good things it was able to deliver but now we need to move on.
To be able to understand and critique capitalism, it can’t be seen as just an economic system but an all-encompassing structure that composes our society. In the words of Nancy Fraser it is “an institutionalized societal order that includes four non-economic conditions for the possibility of a capitalist economy.”1These four preconditions are vital for the rise and continuation of capitalism. First of the preconditions is the historical and continuing extraction of wealth from workers and resources of the Global South. Second is the immense undervaluing of social reproduction or carework that makes it possible for people to keep going to work and live their lives. Third is the exploitation of nature as a source for endless resources and as a place to dump the unwished results or by-products of production. Lastly, is its dependence on public goods provided by states and international organizations such as infrastructure and laws. These four conditions can be seen as reproductive tendencies that uphold the productive forces of capitalism.
Even though these reproductive preconditions are required for a capitalist system and its productive forces to function, it can not seem to appreciate and uphold them. We have long known that to prevent deathly and destructive consequences of climate change we need to stop the exploitation of nature as if it was infinite. We would have already had to stop opening new oil and gas plants, and shift away largely or completely from the usage of fossil fuels but the logic of value is too strong. Companies and investors “are going to be driven by value” as one fossil fuel CEO put it in 2023 when explaining their shift back to fossil fuels from renewables2. As long as fossil fuels exist or they are politically allowed, the requirement of growth will keep companies and investors hooked on them3. If capitalist logic can’t even respect keeping the planet alive, how can we ever expect it to respect the “replaceable” aspects of these necessary reproductive preconditions that it relies on.
The ills of capitalism are not limited to slowly destroying the planet. A quick look outside or at the news reveals that conditions for a good life are slowly deteriorating everywhere. Right now there are 50 million people living in modern slavery, more than at any other point in the history of the world4. Of these people, 28 million are in forced labour. This is not some anomaly, but a direct result of the capitalist imperative for production to be pushed where it can be exploited the most and where workers rights are the weakest.
Due to the contradictions of the reproductive and productive, crises are inherent in a capitalist economy. Continuing economic crises are accepted and seen as an inevitable part of capitalism5. If other parts of critical societal infrastructure would fall apart every decade we wouldn’t just accept that and move on, we would find out the reasons for the issues and fix them. If they couldn’t be fixed we would come up with another solution.
Most often, critique of capitalism is met with a statement that “there is no better alternative”. It is often continued with the usual justifications of how capitalism has lifted people out of absolute poverty, has improved the standard of living for many and has accelerated technological innovation. Unfortunately this is not enough. Capitalism has accomplished positive things but is also causing increasing amounts of harm to the planet and the people living on it. At this point we’re just left with the growing harmful impacts of striving for endless growth on a finite planet. Regrettably “green growth” won’t save us either as it isn’t actually possible right now and doesn’t seem to be in the future either on the scale needed to prevent and solve the climate crisis6. Luckily moving away from capitalism doesn’t mean that we have to leave behind the positive things sometimes associated with it like markets, trade and entrepreneurship which have existed for thousands of years prior to capitalism.
Those who benefit the most from the current system will fight hard to keep it in place. They will come up with “solutions” that sound sustainable and ease us into a false sense of security. They will tell you that there is no other alternative to capitalism. This is all done so that you wouldn’t dare to step outside of the rigid box of capitalist thinking and realise that we could have it so much better. We could build a society that strives towards ecological and social wellbeing as the main goals, not just some afterthoughts that are thrown away if the profits aren’t high enough. We could build a society where every single person on the planet would have their basic needs met, have time for loved ones and the people around them.
Comparing this scenario to the current one might make you think that all this sounds naive and far-fetched. The current direction is something completely opposite where the only thing we’re told we can have is more austerity. Here in Finland it might seem like the only choice we have is to dismantle the welfare state to “save” ourselves. The system is dependent on us thinking that we have to do these unfortunate things because we have no other choice. That is only if we decide to keep living under capitalism where the most important thing is the rising rate of profit for the wealthiest.
It has to be acknowledged that moving away from capitalism isn’t going to be an easy job. There will be many obstacles and entities that are going to work tirelessly to uphold the current system. No matter what these are, this path is necessary if we are to have a planet where we and our future generations can live on. The stopping of endless growth is going to come either way before long, once the planet and the necessary preconditions for capitalism are destroyed by itself. Alternatively we could start the transition before that and make life better for everyone.
The big question all this leads to is what is the solution then? I believe a first crucial step in coming up with the solution is releasing people from the lie that there can be no better alternative. I do not know if there already exists an all encompassing ready to be implemented solution, but what I do know is that we have to start the process of moving towards a better system if we want to uphold the possibility for a good life on a livable planet for us and the future generations. Even more, it is our duty to do so.
One clear objective I can confidently give is that we have to replace the capitalist purpose of production which is to maximise and accumulate profit. It has to be replaced with a purpose that aims to maximise and uphold social progress while respecting the ecological limits set by nature. A concrete example would be replacing the indicator of GDP growth as a standard with something that would reflect these goals. Another objective is to democratise the economy alongside taking back power from the large corporations that heavily influence decision making, policy and our lives on a national and global level.
Democratising the economy might look like a different kind of financial architecture where investments deemed destructive by democratic decision making are penalised while those promoting public good and wellbeing are rewarded7. This would be a major improvement compared to the current one where the most destructive industries like the fossil fuel industry can also be highly profitable. Starting public banks that work towards public good instead of private profit would be a step in the right direction as well. Increasing democratic decision-making in companies could also be a step in the right direction.
Whatever the solution is, it must have democracy at the heart of it as history keeps showing us time and time again that too much power in the hands of the few lead to destructive outcomes. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” as is said. Right now major aspects of decision making that affect every person on the planet is in the hands of a few extremely wealthy people and the story is going no different. That must change now.
Continuing on the current path will lead us to doom but changing course in the present-day world might seem impossible at first when all we have known is the prevailing system and its rigid rules. However, once we let go of the need to uphold capitalism, the world opens up for endless possibilities and we can actually start striving for something new and better. We need to start working towards this better world urgently.
1: Fraser, N. (2021). Cannibal Capitalism: How our system is devouring democracy, care and the planet - and what we can do about it. Verso Books.
2: Malm, A. & Carton, W. (2024). Overshoot: How the World Surrender to Climate Breakdown.
3: Nakhle, K. (2023). Article: “Oil and gas: The investment gap dilemma” https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/oil-gas-investment/
4: Hayes, A. (2025). Are economic recessions inevitable? https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/032015/are-economic-recessions-inevitable.asp
5: European Environmental Bureau (2019). “Decoupling Debunked”, https://eeb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Decoupling-Debunked.pdf
6: Hickel, J. & Vogel, J. (2023). Is green growth happening? An empirical analysis of achieved versus Paris-compliant CO2–GDP decoupling in high-income countries
https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2542-5196%2823%2900174-2
7: The Guardian (12.2.2026). We can move beyond the capitalist model and save the climate - here are the first three steps.
ILO (2022). “Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage”
