Last week, La Première, a Belgian public radio station, has proposed a talk show about Economic Decreasing.

The speakers' comments were so interesting that everybody should be challenged by the ecological cause seen under this angle.

To be brief, the decreasing is a concept which affirms that infinite economic growth, i.e. the perpetual increase of an economic indicator, is simply not acceptable by the ecosystem of the Earth.

The decreasing comes from the fact that the planetary resources are not inexhaustible. A simple figure: 80% of the resources are exploited per 20% of the world population. It's almost the end of fossil resources (gas, oil): one speaks about 20 or 30 years. And thus the infinite growth is not possible for the limited Earth.

Serge Latouche, highly skilled professor of economy at the University of Paris-Sud :

The decreasing is a provocative slogan which aims to fight with the set language: for the growth, always more... While we know very well that the growth brings us right in the wall . Thus behind this word, there is the questioning, the change of direction for our growth society [...] This is about finding what the experts call a bearable ecological footprint, i.e. a way of life more frugal (does not mean antiquated) to be compatible with the regeneration of the biosphere.

Space available on the planet is 126 billion acres but useful space, bio-productive, is only 30 billion. And since we're about 6 billion, it makes 4.5 acres available to nourish us, to dress us, for all our consumption and especially (it is often forgotten) to recycle our waste. Because each time we burn 1 liter of gasoline, 50 square feet are necessary to absorb emitted CO2. This space, we exceed it of 30%. Globally, if everyone was European, we would need three planets. And if everyone was Australian or American, we would need six of them. It's still possible for the moment because, contrary to the generally accepted idea, the South countries give us a considerable technical aid since if everyone was from Burkina Faso, a tenth of the planet would be enough.

Vincent Cheynet, founder of "casseurs de pub" and chief of the magazine "La Décroissance":

We approach the peak oil, from the moment we will extract the maximum of oil from the ground. After that, the oil extraction will decline, one imagines 3% per year and today, there is no alternative source of energy which has the same capacity as oil. Thus if we do nothing, quite naturally, the regulation is likely to be done by chaos and will create major socio-economic problems. And that's also an enormous stake of the decrease: vis-a-vis this rarefaction of the natural resources, today we must anticipate this movement. [...]

That's the reason why, for example, we fight for the suppression of the Grand Prix de France de Formule1. Obviously, a Grand Prix like this one does not represent an extraordinary pollution (it is certainly a consequent pollution), but we especially attack the symbol which the Grand Prix de France represents, i.e. a kind of paroxysm of pollution, plundering of natural resources, wasting and we think that we will manage also to transform the society by attacking this type of symbol. This way, we'll make understand people that this insane race to technics, growth and wasting cannot continue eternally.

Alain Gras, professor of sociology in La Sorbonne :

It is only in 1900, therefore hardly more than one century ago, that fossil energy won against renewable energy. Today, we just know the fossil energy as a mean of development. Thus, I think that it would be necessary to try to return to other energy, obviously to renewable energy. And try all of them. And indeed, a new frugality in the use of energy. [...] To modify our behaviour with energy, it's obviously to have less comfort in the everyday life and in particular also to decrease mobility. Because mobility is the large greedy one, it's the big catastrophe on the energy level .

Integral script of the show (in French) (many thanks to the speech recognition)

"It's now time to understand how much the desire of going quick is insane when we turn around " (Albert Jacquard)