ABSTRACT

Environmental conflicts are on the rise worldwide, and calls for ‘prosperity without growth’ have strengthened. In this chapter, we explore the possibility of an alliance between those groups involved in the myriad of conflicts for environmental justice and the degrowth movement. Degrowth refers to a radical politico-economic reorganization that leads to a diminished and more equitable use of resources worldwide while increasing well-being and equity. The alliance between degrowth and environmental justice is discussed via the observation that these contrasting movements both spring from material concerns, but both are also more than just materialist in scope. Their common aim is to reconfigure the ecological basis of our economies in combination with more justice and democracy. Besides their similarities, we argue that degrowth and environmental justice are also complementary: while environmental justice has not yet developed a unified and broader theoretical roadmap, degrowth has largely failed to connect with a wider social movement. We conclude that an alliance between degrowth and environmental justice is not only possible, but also necessary.