“It’s unclear what “unnecessary economic growth” might look like to someone who’s unemployed. It’s also unclear what “energy overuse” looks like to a family living without electricity. What is clear is this: the Sierra Club’s opposition to economic growth-and therefore, energy consumption, employment, and human development-stands in stark contrast to what the people of the planet need right now.

Economic growth is essential if we are to have enough tax dollars to fund our schools and universities, which have long been incubators of innovation. Economic growth allows governments to have more revenue, which can be used to support research in health care, energy, and other sectors. Economic growth means more employment, which leads to more optimism about the future. That optimism, in turn, en­courages investment in new technologies.

The alternative is pessimism. Believing in degrowth means believ­ing in poverty. Believing in degrowth means rejecting technology. It’s time to move past Ehrlich, the Sierra Club, McKibben, Klein, Green­peace, and the rest of the neo-Malthusians.”

Robert Bryce, Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper, 2014.