Short Abstract:

This talk calls into question the imperative of economic growth, tracing out the collateral effects of this disposition. The discussion unfolds a series of linked examples of fundamental needs (water, food, mobility, energy) that have been reworked around growth in the southern African nation of Botswana. It discusses how the systems to provide these needs become harnessed to growth and linked in a web of consumption that are part of a system of unfolding environmental catastrophes that threaten long-term harm and deprivation. Though the talk will use Botswana, as an example to reveal the system, it traces commodity chains that are global in their reach, and draws parallels to show that this growth machine is everywhere and it is unsustainable.