Jason Hickel: Rethinking Growth for a Regenerative Future
Jason Hickel is an economic anthropologist and author whose research focuses on global inequality, ecological economics, and pathways beyond capitalism.
The dominant economic system is based on endless growth, extraction, and consumption. This model drives climate breakdown, deepens inequality, and pushes humanity beyond planetary boundaries.
Hickel is one of the leading voices for degrowth, a framework that centres sufficiency, justice, and ecological repair over GDP expansion. Through his books Less Is More and The Divide, and his academic work at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, he challenges growth-driven narratives and shows that well-being can flourish within ecological limits. His approach reflects emergence by aligning human systems with the regenerative cycles of the Earth.
As ecological tipping points accelerate, the urgency to move beyond extractive economics grows. Hickel’s work offers clarity and direction at a moment when both people and planet are strained by unsustainable systems.
The New Earth Vision
If degrowth principles spread, economies could be designed around equity, care, and ecological balance. Resources would be shared more fairly, ecosystems would regenerate, and societies could thrive within safe limits.
Jason Hickel offers a grounded, systemic lens for building life-affirming futures. This is the kind of leader we want to be in Circle with at Emergence: voices who can help us reimagine prosperity in alignment with the living world.
Explore Jason’s Work
