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
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