Review of Kallis G., Paulson, S., D'Alisa, G. & Demaria, F. 2020. The case for degrowth.

2020), is a 120-page primer on the economics and philosophies of degrowth, written by some of its key proponents.The book has the stated aim to "motivate and empower citizens, policy makers, and activists to reorient livelihoods and politics around equitable wellbeing" (p.5), and we review it here according to this purpose.The book states that the ideas and practices of degrowth strive to "halt the growth of material use and market transactions; and build institutions, relationships, and persons to live well without growth" (p.18).After arguing that perpetual and compound growth is neither feasible nor desirable considering the impossibility of sufficient absolute decoupling of carbon emissions from economic growth, and evidence of rising inequality, debt, financial, and ecological crises, the authors survey prefigurative instances of degrowth, before sketching a five-point reform proposal for a degrowth economy.The book finishes with strategies to politically mobilize for degrowth.The authors follow a logical progression from critique to "solution," offering tangible policy ideas alongside philosophical underpinnings.Arguments made in The case for degrowth ultimately hinge on the economics, politics and ontologies of degrowth.Degrowth represents one important way that political ecologists' work in critical social theory can be translated into policy, and as such is a key concern for political and praxis-orientated scholars.The book succinctly synthesizes "seeding" for degrowth futures, but political ecologists' "hatchet" method (Robbins, 2020, p. 99) also sheds light on two avenues for further exploration that we explore here:(1) clarifying the relationship between ontology, environmental science, and economic theory (2) addressing the balance, and potential friction, between the desirability and feasibility of degrowth and green growth.