A fundamental part of sharing the planet is economics - how people all over the planet earn money, and what they then do with it. The article that forms the basis of this page deals with the important issue of growth, of how economics insists that a healthy economy needs to expand constantly. The article reports on a trend of ideas which opposes this orthodox view - indeed, says that it is dangerous.

The purpose of the material is to start discussion about growth, a subject which is important for all of us. The discussion need not be very sophisticated - this is not an Economics lesson - but it can be approached with basic commonsense understanding, and the two handouts should supply material to help form students' ideas and arguments.

So, first of all, the students should read each text, and work to develop comprehension of what is stated. The texts are quite complex and sophisticated, which involves good practice in deciphering challenging texts. Some students will read them fairly easily, but others may need helping to sort out the essential ideas.

Note that the two text extracts are actually quite complex, both in terms of the subject matter, and in terms of the sophisticated language used. It may be best to use these texts only with quite advanced students.

The texts

There are two texts: the first introduces the term 'degrowth' - while the second develops the arguments and considers counter arguments. The first is fundamental to start the lesson's discussions; use the second if the students seem to have become involved in the whole topic.

Degrowth introduced ..... As suggested above, this is quite a complex text, not least because of the sophisticated vocabulary used at times. Once the students have read the text for the first time, ask for any questions about words OR refer them immediately to the MCQ exercise.

The MCQ exercise is useful for students to practise their skill at deducing meaning from context. The exercise focuses on words which are central to understanding the argument, so clarifying these for all the students will make their grasp of the argument better, and so support the discussion.

Anyway, the expected answers are these -

1. ...B....... 2. ...A........ 3. ...C......... 4. ...B........... 5. ...A.......

There are a number of areas to be developed in discussion:

** the idea of overall growth - "perpetual growth on a planet with finite resources is either possible or desirable" ?  (l.9)

** the question of who benefits from growth (see l.8)

** how growth is achieved - what does one produce?   "...£1m worth of teargas is considered exactly the same as producing £1m worth of affordable housing or healthcare.”  (ll.19-21)

Degrowth discussed .......As I have stated, this extract is usable if the students have become involved in the topic.

It has the strength and value that it is a good example of a developed argument. After the introduction of the idea of Degrowth in the first extract, it then turns to the other side of the case: the counter-arguments of sceptic. However, in turn, the author then analyses and critiques these counter-arguments, drawing in commentaries by other experts. So, you may point out to the students two basic principles for developing an argument

balance - provide the other side of the case, the counter-argument

critical thinking - apply critical thinking to this as well

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