Ezra Klein‘s and Derek Thompson‘s Abundance tackles how those who believe that the world can be better have to achieve more. It isn’t good enough to be just against things, i.e., stopping things getting worse. To make the world better, you need to be for positive progress. What you want also needs to be deliverable on a timetable that human beings might appreciate. If your plan involves a mass spiritual awakening, human nature completely changing for the better, or cool new infrastructure when we are all dead then it doesn’t seem like you are focused on getting things done.
Not A Fan Of Degrowth
Many people don’t see to understand the concept of urgency. When do we want it? Now, is the right answer. If not now, then it is likely to be never, not least because you will have lost the next election.
Related to that I think it is fair to say that Klein and Thompson aren’t fans of the Degrowth movement, and I appreciate the authors’ positions. Degrowthers want to radically reshape the economy and society (and even human nature) in order to make a better world. Even if you agree with their prescriptions, and I generally don’t, there is a fundamental problem of timing behind the aspirations. Degrowth involves a complete reordering of the society and economy from bottom up. It often involves us all changing the entire way we think, feel, and behave. Even if it would be a good thing, it seems reasonable to think this might take a little while to do this. Yet, many of the problems that the degrowthers, often correctly, point to are urgent.
We do not have decades or centuries to convince the world to act on climate change.
Klein and Thompson, 20205, page 58
We need a plan to make progress now. Maybe we can have a nice leisurely chat about how we get to a much better system in a century or two. Maybe we can bring enlightenment to the population of the world, one person at a time. That would be great.
For now, I really want to know how we are going to develop low emission concrete, create renewable energy, and launch high-speed rail in California — or better still between Athens, Georgia and Atlanta, Georgia. (Okay a properly functioning rail system across the US is probably more of a pipe dream than reimagining the entire social and economic system of the world and/or fundamentally altering human nature).
Can We Have A List Please?
To achieve progress you need a plan. Maybe even a list.
Klein and Thompson’s abundance is very good book, but it does fall a bit flat at the end. The authors say they want to provide a lens not a list. It is a way of thinking, not a series of policy prescriptions.
But I personally could have done with a bit more of a list. What exactly do they want us to do? Who will be upset by these changes? Why are we not doing this already? Surely, people have wanted action for a while now.
I feared the authors were avoiding hard choices, almost that they were worried that they might upset people if they were too specific. As such, you won’t have a good idea exactly what to do to get to abundance beyond being angry about the failures of California’s high-speed rail and cheering when you see new houses being built. That is a pretty good start but if you are right in saying that the degrowthers don’t have a proper plan, it seems you should provide a bit more of a plan yourself.
For more on progress see Denial, Doom, Or Informed Optimism, How To Make The World Better, What Type Of Green Are You?, Progress Exists And Is A Good Thing, and Are We Making Any Progress On Sustainability?
For more on Degrowth see An Ineffective Defense Of Degrowth, Limits And Self-Limits, Messaging About Sustainability, Sustainability And Grand Historical Sweeps, and Modern Business And Sustainability
Read: Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (2025) Abundance, Simon & Schuster
