LogFAQs > #927700288

https://hbr.org/ideacast/2019/09/dematerialization-and-what-it-means-for-the-economy-and-climate-change

tl;dr - due to new technologies and processes, entire industries are growing and using less resources to do stuff. Due to new efficiencies gained.

It's not enough to solve climate change but it will be useful and it indicates that economic growth is notnecessarily tied to destroying the climate.

Same trend is seen in energy usage. Example: American economy is much bigger now than in 2007, but our energy usage has flatlined.

I think the downward trend in a lot of materials is going to continue and I think that weve already seen some plateaus. For example, total American energy use in 2018 was only a tick, I think about a quarter of a percent bigger than it was in 2007. The economys a lot bigger than it was in 2007, but yet our energy use has flatlined.
And what I think is going to happen is that that total energy use is actually going to start going down, just like we saw with lots of other resources. And the main reason I believe that is just extremely simple. You highlighted businesses and their relentless quest for growth and their relentless quest for profit. Thats absolutely true. Thats at the heart of the capitalist system.
We need to keep in mind, businesses quest for higher profits is always a simultaneous quest for lower costs. A penny saved is a penny earned. And materials cost money. And what I think is going on is that in this era of amazing technologies, you have the computer, the network, the hardware, the software in this era of amazing technologies, we have this super widespread opportunity to swap out atoms for bits.

@Godnorgosh
@Omnislasher

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