Understanding the Double Binds Created by Undifferentiated Growth

We now face two classic double binds.iii First, we want to preserve our ecosystems and natural environment, but everything we do to grow our economies and preserve our material rates of consumption disrupts our relationships with the natural systems on which we depend. 

"Everything we do to grow our economies and preserve our material rates of consumption disrupts our relationships with the natural systems on which we depend."

Second, we also face a social double bind. We are in a situation of severe social inequality. The most widely proposed solution is to grow the economy in the same mode as we have done previously. However, the result of growing the economy in hypercapitalist mode is more inequality (the rich get richer). Growth is no guarantee of jobs, since many new enterprises are automated, with as few human workers as possible. Proceeds flow upwards to a small minority of shareholders and top executives.

A double-bind does not mean that there is no hope of resolution; but we have to seek answers from a different angle. We have to break out of the level of consciousness that keeps us stuck in a model that does not work. - Anne B. Ryan