Keith Akers
@keithakers.bsky.social
Simple living and veganism in a world of limits. Compassion and reverence for life; degrowth. "Embracing Limits"(2023), "Disciples" (2013), "The Lost Religion of Jesus" (2000), "A Vegetarian Sourcebook" (1983). CompassionateSpirit.com.
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Keith Akers
@keithakers.bsky.social
· Mar 1
Compassionate Spirit
Simple living, veganism, and transformation in a world of limits
compassionatespirit.com
My book "Embracing Limits: A Radical and Necessary Approach to the Environmental Crisis" is out. Social justice, simple living, half-earth for wilderness, and plant-based diets. #degrowth #vegan #embracinglimits
compassionatespirit.com/wpblog/
compassionatespirit.com/wpblog/
Too many rich people ("elite overproduction" in Turchin's terminology) and declining popular well-being make social instability and violence more likely. #Degrowth
www.sufficiencywellbeing.com/p/just-a-sho...
www.sufficiencywellbeing.com/p/just-a-sho...
Just a shot away?: Degrowth, cliodynamics, and violence in the USA
The United States has entered a major social crisis.
www.sufficiencywellbeing.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Too many rich people ("elite overproduction" in Turchin's terminology) and declining popular well-being make social instability and violence more likely. #Degrowth
www.sufficiencywellbeing.com/p/just-a-sho...
www.sufficiencywellbeing.com/p/just-a-sho...
Add social media to the list of toxins which we should avoid. #vegan mainstreetvegan.com/whats-slowin...
mainstreetvegan.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Add social media to the list of toxins which we should avoid. #vegan mainstreetvegan.com/whats-slowin...
Our wanton destruction of nature is a one-time, irreversible experiment. Drastic #degrowth of livestock agriculture would fix many of the problems. In "Sufficiency and Wellbeing Magazine": www.sufficiencywellbeing.com/p/half-earth
“Half-Earth”?
Our wanton destruction of nature is a one-time, irreversible experiment on our shared ecosystem—a threat to humans as well as to the natural world.
www.sufficiencywellbeing.com
October 30, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Our wanton destruction of nature is a one-time, irreversible experiment. Drastic #degrowth of livestock agriculture would fix many of the problems. In "Sufficiency and Wellbeing Magazine": www.sufficiencywellbeing.com/p/half-earth
Reposted by Keith Akers
Land sharing or land sparing? It was always going to be both!
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar... and www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/09/the-...
(But there's no avoiding the fact that meat and dairy are by far the most inefficient forms of food production in terms of land use)
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar... and www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/09/the-...
(But there's no avoiding the fact that meat and dairy are by far the most inefficient forms of food production in terms of land use)
September 10, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Land sharing or land sparing? It was always going to be both!
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar... and www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/09/the-...
(But there's no avoiding the fact that meat and dairy are by far the most inefficient forms of food production in terms of land use)
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar... and www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/09/the-...
(But there's no avoiding the fact that meat and dairy are by far the most inefficient forms of food production in terms of land use)
My first post in Sufficiency and Wellbeing: degrowth has a biological dimension.
www.sufficiencywellbeing.com/p/the-biolog...
www.sufficiencywellbeing.com/p/the-biolog...
The biology of limits to growth.
Humans have completely overrun the Earth.
www.sufficiencywellbeing.com
August 21, 2025 at 7:31 PM
My first post in Sufficiency and Wellbeing: degrowth has a biological dimension.
www.sufficiencywellbeing.com/p/the-biolog...
www.sufficiencywellbeing.com/p/the-biolog...
This exposes the problems with a corrupt, decaying society. Slaughterhouses are brutalizing both to terrified animals and traumatized, underpaid workers. Now workers are being deported and the whole industry is in trouble.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/u...
ICE Took Half Their Work Force. What Do They Do Now?
www.nytimes.com
July 27, 2025 at 9:55 PM
This exposes the problems with a corrupt, decaying society. Slaughterhouses are brutalizing both to terrified animals and traumatized, underpaid workers. Now workers are being deported and the whole industry is in trouble.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/u...
Reposted by Keith Akers
Short and long-term effects of disruptive animal rights protest
#AnimalRights #AnimalActivists #AnimalWelfare #DirectAction #AnimalSaveMovement #Vegan #AnimalRescue #FoodSystems #IntensiveAnimalAgriculture #FactoryFarming #ClimateChange #Sentience #Plantbased #Science
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#AnimalRights #AnimalActivists #AnimalWelfare #DirectAction #AnimalSaveMovement #Vegan #AnimalRescue #FoodSystems #IntensiveAnimalAgriculture #FactoryFarming #ClimateChange #Sentience #Plantbased #Science
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
July 18, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Short and long-term effects of disruptive animal rights protest
#AnimalRights #AnimalActivists #AnimalWelfare #DirectAction #AnimalSaveMovement #Vegan #AnimalRescue #FoodSystems #IntensiveAnimalAgriculture #FactoryFarming #ClimateChange #Sentience #Plantbased #Science
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#AnimalRights #AnimalActivists #AnimalWelfare #DirectAction #AnimalSaveMovement #Vegan #AnimalRescue #FoodSystems #IntensiveAnimalAgriculture #FactoryFarming #ClimateChange #Sentience #Plantbased #Science
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Veganism implies degrowth:
". . . if the whole world went vegan, we could then rewild, you know, three quarters of our agricultural lands. Which would draw down enormous amounts of carbon. It would restore biodiversity. It'd be super helpful."
". . . if the whole world went vegan, we could then rewild, you know, three quarters of our agricultural lands. Which would draw down enormous amounts of carbon. It would restore biodiversity. It'd be super helpful."
“So what this ultimately means is that we’re turning more of nature into dead commodities so we can sell them. So that we can grow GDP. Like, it’s literally consuming the nature on which we depend.”
#Degrowth Through Social Movements - @erinremblance.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/realprog...
#Degrowth Through Social Movements - @erinremblance.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/realprog...
Degrowth Through Social Movements
Erin Remblance talks with Steve about degrowth, capitalism, and the choices we face.
open.substack.com
July 10, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Veganism implies degrowth:
". . . if the whole world went vegan, we could then rewild, you know, three quarters of our agricultural lands. Which would draw down enormous amounts of carbon. It would restore biodiversity. It'd be super helpful."
". . . if the whole world went vegan, we could then rewild, you know, three quarters of our agricultural lands. Which would draw down enormous amounts of carbon. It would restore biodiversity. It'd be super helpful."
"Embracing Limits" compassionatespirit.com/wpblog/
June 26, 2025 at 2:29 PM
"Embracing Limits" compassionatespirit.com/wpblog/
Excellent suggestion. It looks like the whole world may be nonviolently moving towards something like China's one-child policy. We could at 1-2 billion in a century. Use our capital for degrowth instead of overpopulation.
Capitalism borrows from future growth to fund the present.
What if the future is contraction instead of growth?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clynq459wxgo
Is managed de-growth to a smaller global population possible? Say, 1b instead of 8.2b over 500 years.
What if the future is contraction instead of growth?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clynq459wxgo
Is managed de-growth to a smaller global population possible? Say, 1b instead of 8.2b over 500 years.
World fertility rates in 'unprecedented decline', UN says
Hundreds of millions of people are not able to have the number of children they want, the UN warns.
www.bbc.co.uk
June 12, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Excellent suggestion. It looks like the whole world may be nonviolently moving towards something like China's one-child policy. We could at 1-2 billion in a century. Use our capital for degrowth instead of overpopulation.
www.theguardian.com/environment/... Ecological collapse. Surely degrowth also means veganism, and veganism is already degrowth in terms of human biological domination.
‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects
A new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species’ collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticides
www.theguardian.com
June 3, 2025 at 10:54 AM
www.theguardian.com/environment/... Ecological collapse. Surely degrowth also means veganism, and veganism is already degrowth in terms of human biological domination.
Reposted by Keith Akers
These net zero beef claims are corporate-funded messaging - hidden behind industry funded academics - with a simple goal to protect beef supply chains... not to deliver real environmental solutions.
My comments: www.foodfacts.org/articles/net...
My comments: www.foodfacts.org/articles/net...
“Net Zero Beef?” Why Sustainability Claims Need More Than Headlines | Feature | Foodfacts.org
Fact checking ‘net zero beef’ claims. Is this greenwashing or something that holds validity behind corporate-sponsored sustainability narratives.
www.foodfacts.org
May 29, 2025 at 2:10 PM
These net zero beef claims are corporate-funded messaging - hidden behind industry funded academics - with a simple goal to protect beef supply chains... not to deliver real environmental solutions.
My comments: www.foodfacts.org/articles/net...
My comments: www.foodfacts.org/articles/net...
"Food systems are the top/key drivers of all Planetary Boundaries, with animal ag playing the biggest part." #degrowth #vegan #plantbased
A talk prof Paul Behrens gave today on 'Food Transformations' has been recorded, so I'll post a link soon.
Some of his arguments:
🧵
1) Food systems are the top/key drivers of all Planetary Boundaries, with animal ag playing the biggest part (+ top driver of antibiotic resistance, pandemics, etc)
Some of his arguments:
🧵
1) Food systems are the top/key drivers of all Planetary Boundaries, with animal ag playing the biggest part (+ top driver of antibiotic resistance, pandemics, etc)
May 28, 2025 at 5:51 PM
"Food systems are the top/key drivers of all Planetary Boundaries, with animal ag playing the biggest part." #degrowth #vegan #plantbased
Yes! They have completely lost their minds. Here's a novel idea: stop the spread of bird flu by not raising, killing, and eating billions and billions of birds. Bonus: health benefits! Just a thought! #degrowth #vegan
Now they're talking about vaccinating wild birds. Have they completely lost their minds???
As usual, they're willing to consider anything, except dealing with the cause rather than the symptoms.
As usual, they're willing to consider anything, except dealing with the cause rather than the symptoms.
We should consider vaccinating wild birds, say some scientists.
Imagine if instead we shifted en masse to healthy plant-based diets, thus saving two birds with one stone, so to speak?
thebulletin.org/2025/05/why-...
Imagine if instead we shifted en masse to healthy plant-based diets, thus saving two birds with one stone, so to speak?
thebulletin.org/2025/05/why-...
May 28, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Colorado River basin is now steadily LOSING water. And here is most of it going? Livestock agriculture. #vegan #degrowth #plantbased
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Colorado River basin has lost nearly the equivalent of an underground Lake Mead
Reservoir lost 27.8m acre-feet of groundwater in 20 years, study finds, vanishing ‘twice as fast as surface water’
www.theguardian.com
May 28, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Colorado River basin is now steadily LOSING water. And here is most of it going? Livestock agriculture. #vegan #degrowth #plantbased
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Good message from a direction I wasn't expecting: "We need a new relationship with energy that includes respect for Nature and our place in it, humility and restraint." Perhaps #degrowth?
www.artberman.com/blog/the-red...
www.artberman.com/blog/the-red...
The Reductionist Delusion: How We Got Climate Change Wrong | Art Berman
The failure of the climate movement isn’t just political or scientific—it’s philosophical. At its core is a reductionist mindset: isolate one culprit, pursue one goal, rally around one fix. Fossil fue...
www.artberman.com
May 28, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Good message from a direction I wasn't expecting: "We need a new relationship with energy that includes respect for Nature and our place in it, humility and restraint." Perhaps #degrowth?
www.artberman.com/blog/the-red...
www.artberman.com/blog/the-red...
Reposted by Keith Akers
“After all if our atmosphere wasn’t finite we’d not be capable of elevating atmospheric CO2 concentrations to record levels.
& here’s the rub: humanity has expressly done these things in its quest for abundance, or what economists call growth.” #degrowth
the-climate-laundry.ghost.io/this-is-abun...
& here’s the rub: humanity has expressly done these things in its quest for abundance, or what economists call growth.” #degrowth
the-climate-laundry.ghost.io/this-is-abun...
This Is Abundance
American author Ezra Klein has written a book about his vision for the future. The Climate Laundry conducted a rudimentary analysis to determine if he knows what he's talking about. Spoiler alert: he ...
the-climate-laundry.ghost.io
May 18, 2025 at 2:20 PM
“After all if our atmosphere wasn’t finite we’d not be capable of elevating atmospheric CO2 concentrations to record levels.
& here’s the rub: humanity has expressly done these things in its quest for abundance, or what economists call growth.” #degrowth
the-climate-laundry.ghost.io/this-is-abun...
& here’s the rub: humanity has expressly done these things in its quest for abundance, or what economists call growth.” #degrowth
the-climate-laundry.ghost.io/this-is-abun...
Degrowth urgently needed in the livestock sector. #vegan #degrowth www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
New reports tell us cattle and sheep farming can be sustainable – don’t believe them, it’s all bull | George Monbiot
Feeding the world sustainably is an incredibly complex challenge, yet some people are trying to sell us a bucolic fairytale, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
May 12, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Degrowth urgently needed in the livestock sector. #vegan #degrowth www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Keith Akers
“The ecological crisis we are in cannot be decoupled from distributional aspects.
Therefore, we must engage in discussions regarding what we consider an acceptable level of wealth for individuals & its subsequent contribution to the climate crisis.” #degrowth
open.substack.com/pub/hanssteg...
Therefore, we must engage in discussions regarding what we consider an acceptable level of wealth for individuals & its subsequent contribution to the climate crisis.” #degrowth
open.substack.com/pub/hanssteg...
Why limits to wealth are more urgent than ever
A system failure that is difficult to discuss
open.substack.com
May 9, 2025 at 3:03 PM
“The ecological crisis we are in cannot be decoupled from distributional aspects.
Therefore, we must engage in discussions regarding what we consider an acceptable level of wealth for individuals & its subsequent contribution to the climate crisis.” #degrowth
open.substack.com/pub/hanssteg...
Therefore, we must engage in discussions regarding what we consider an acceptable level of wealth for individuals & its subsequent contribution to the climate crisis.” #degrowth
open.substack.com/pub/hanssteg...
Reposted by Keith Akers
“We can continue to evolve, to develop intellectually, emotionally, artistically & spiritually—but we can’t keep growing materially, which is what inevitably happens if the economy grows.” #PostGrowth #Degrowth
12 economic growth myths & how to counter them
degrowthuk.org/2024/12/12/1...
12 economic growth myths & how to counter them
degrowthuk.org/2024/12/12/1...
12 economic growth myths and how to counter them
By Dave Darby. Reproduced with permission from lowimpact.org published there 29 October, 2024. It’s essential that we stabilise the global economy. More people understand this every year, but corpo…
degrowthuk.org
April 27, 2025 at 3:44 PM
“We can continue to evolve, to develop intellectually, emotionally, artistically & spiritually—but we can’t keep growing materially, which is what inevitably happens if the economy grows.” #PostGrowth #Degrowth
12 economic growth myths & how to counter them
degrowthuk.org/2024/12/12/1...
12 economic growth myths & how to counter them
degrowthuk.org/2024/12/12/1...
Reposted by Keith Akers
If you keep telling people that renewables are useless, people will search for something else, and, no, it will not be degrowth or Socialism.
senecaeffect.substack.com/p/wishing-fo...
senecaeffect.substack.com/p/wishing-fo...
Wishing for Collapse: The Unintended Path of Depletionism
Be careful with what you ask for. Because you might not be happy with what you get
senecaeffect.substack.com
April 27, 2025 at 4:08 PM
If you keep telling people that renewables are useless, people will search for something else, and, no, it will not be degrowth or Socialism.
senecaeffect.substack.com/p/wishing-fo...
senecaeffect.substack.com/p/wishing-fo...
Reposted by Keith Akers
The legacy of Pope Francis in one article: theconversation.com/pope-francis...
Pope Francis and Laudato Si’: an ecological turning point for the Catholic Church
Pope Francis has died at the age of 88, the Vatican has announced. 10 years ago, his encyclical, Laudato Si’, was published. This environmental text sought to move the Catholic Church and its concern ...
theconversation.com
April 21, 2025 at 8:26 AM
The legacy of Pope Francis in one article: theconversation.com/pope-francis...
Reposted by Keith Akers
What if growth is the problem?
Heikkurinen urges us to confront ecological limits and embrace a finite world—before it’s too late.
Within our collection: Pasi Heikkurinen's DEGROWTH: An experience of being finite.
Download the free PDF: mayflybooks.org/degrowth-an-...
#openaccess #edusky
Heikkurinen urges us to confront ecological limits and embrace a finite world—before it’s too late.
Within our collection: Pasi Heikkurinen's DEGROWTH: An experience of being finite.
Download the free PDF: mayflybooks.org/degrowth-an-...
#openaccess #edusky
March 24, 2025 at 1:43 PM
What if growth is the problem?
Heikkurinen urges us to confront ecological limits and embrace a finite world—before it’s too late.
Within our collection: Pasi Heikkurinen's DEGROWTH: An experience of being finite.
Download the free PDF: mayflybooks.org/degrowth-an-...
#openaccess #edusky
Heikkurinen urges us to confront ecological limits and embrace a finite world—before it’s too late.
Within our collection: Pasi Heikkurinen's DEGROWTH: An experience of being finite.
Download the free PDF: mayflybooks.org/degrowth-an-...
#openaccess #edusky