Essay by Eric Worrall

Green British academic pushing a non GDP measure of social progress which gives a high score to Cuba.

Green growth or degrowth: what is the right way to tackle climate change?

Published: November 27, 2023 6.20am AEDT
Mark Fabian
Assistant professor of public policy, University of Warwick

Nearly all the world’s governments and vast numbers of its people are convinced that addressing human-induced climate change is essential if healthy societies are to survive. The two solutions most often proposed go by various names but are widely known as “green growth” and “degrowth”. Can these ideas be reconciled? What do both have to say about the climate challenge?

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… We need to shift priorities away from GDP and towards frameworks and budgets – such as those used in New Zealand, the Australian Capital Territory and other places – that do a far better job than GDP does of measuring whether we are using our resources effectively to advance human wellbeing.

And many of these wellbeing goals can be achieved using a fraction of the wealth of advanced nations. For example, Cuba, with about an eighth of the GDP per capita, has similar life expectancy and literacy rates to the United States.

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Read more: https://theconversation.com/green-growth-or-degrowth-what-is-the-right-way-to-tackle-climate-change-218239

By some estimates, around half a million people, 5% of Cuba’s population, has fled political oppression, riots and hardship since 2021. Cuba is also reportedly suffering triple digit inflation.

Do you think it is possible the Communist regime might have lied about their social achievements? And that gullible academics in far away Britain might be accepting these lies at face value?

The Cubans who remain, there are plenty of stories of young men and women selling themselves, trading their bodies for a decent meal or cash pittance.

I think I’d rather stick with GDP as a measure of prosperity and success. Many Cubans obviously feel the same, given how many of them have voted with their feet and relocated to the high carbon economy of the United States.