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This is a conversation with Giulio Mattioli and Julia Steinberger about their article ‘the political economy of car dependence: A systems of provision approach‘ published in the ‘Energy Research & Social Science‘ journal. We also discussed the topics below.

Topics Discussed:

• The five key elements of what we’re calling the ‘car-dependent transport system’: i) the automotive industry; ii) the provision of car infrastructure; iii) the political economy of urban sprawl; iv) the provision of public transport; v) cultures of car consumption
• The problem with focusing too much on consumption and the importance of covering the production side
• How where we live can influence our politics, and how suburban car-oriented lifestyles are actually subsidized by the state
• The importance of network planning
• Looking for decoupling and finding degrowth instead
• The problem with ‘sustainable’ growth
• How the car industry shows the necessity of degrowth
• Why more equitable societies are easier to decarbonize
• The problem with the argument that personal choices do not matter
• Dealing with climate anxiety through activism, work, research, learning
• How come we knew so much and did so little?
• Working with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• What is ecologial economics?

Recommended Books

• Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• Decolonising the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
• Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save The World by Jason Hickel
• Degrowth / Postwachstum zur Einführung by Matthias Schmelzer and Andrea Vetter
• Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth

Episodes referenced:

• 65/ A Rapid and Just Transition of Aviation: Shifting towards climate-just mobility (with Anne Kretzschmar)
• 62/ How to Limit Global Warming to 1.5°C: A Societal Transformation Scenario (with Kai Kuhnhenn and Linda Schneider)

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Music by Tarabeat.

Photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash