How can we build a sustainable economy if the money system used depends on perpetually accelerating growth?

THanks for invitation,

As most of economisits are agrred, the shift to the sustinable  economy requires to change in three critical ways:

1- The first cretical shift toward new business models that generate shared value, which goes beyond the conventional notion of "corporate social responsibility" or in which a company might donate some of its profits to charity or adopt a fair-trade policy but still pursue activities that are fundamentally damaging to society or the environment. Instead of taking responsible actions only as an afterthought, businesses would be driven by a sense of purpose to enhance the communities and conserve the ecological systems where they operate.

2- The second critical change is towards ownership structures that are less prone to growth than shareholder-owned corporations i.e. co-operatives are to be better positioned to achieve objectives beyond the balance sheet in order to outperform conventional corporate structures and achieve desired results for society.

3- The third critical change involves new indicators of progress. Although indicators of financial value such as the FTSE and Dow Jones Industrial Average have been climbing to impressive heights, indicators of social and environmental health have been falling off the cliff.

In order to preserve the future of generations, we propose to limit our ecological footprint on production and consumption to the satisfaction of essential needs. These activities will be useful to the community. 1. Fight against global warming and reduce waste of energy and raw material. The engineers will be responsible for making the products, useful, solid, durable and quality. The production of these products in large series, through economies of scale and productivity gains, production costs and selling prices and reducing the waste of energy and raw materials. - Make an inventory of all the goods and services we produce and consume. - Determine the real utility of the goods and services we produce and consume. - Limit the supply of goods and services. - Limit the width and depth of the commercial offer marketed in hypermarkets and product ranges with 3 or 2 references. - Slow the acceleration of the process of destruction / creation of innovations. - Prohibit scheduled obsolescence of products. - Slow down the acceleration of the rhythms of fashion. . - The choice of the goods and services that we wish to produce to satisfy our essential needs and a minimum of comfort must be dictated by a collective citizen. 2. Limit energy waste and CO2 emissions from commercial transport. In France, the transport sector does not represent 91% of transport costs, contributes to 23.96% of CO2 emissions. - Relocate economic activity. - Produce locally all the goods and services we need to meet our basic needs and a minimum of material comfort. 3. Limit energy waste and CO2 emissions from individual transport. In 80% of cases, we use our car to get our work and shopping centers to the outskirts of cities. To reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions, we limit the working day to 3 days. - Encourage the use of public transport by lowering the price of train, bus, tramway and metro tickets. - Densifier the network of public transport throughout the territory. Open new ones and set up new bus stops. - Limit trips to 5 or 10 km between the home and the workplace. Beneficiaries will have the choice to walk, bike or transit. - Promote the opening of local shops in the city. Lower the price of the products of these businesses by setting a maximum margin rate of 5%. 4. End social dumping and offshoring. - Harmonize, at European and global level, taxation, social protection and labor law at the highest level. - Ban tax havens. - Submit countries that do not comply with these rules to a customs tax. - Prohibit transfer pricing practices. 5. Reduce CO2 emissions from electricity generation by 20%. - Exit nuclear power in renewable energies and reduce electricity consumption. - Reduce electricity consumption by helping households finance the insulation of their homes. - Reduce consumption by limiting industrial production to goods and services that are intended to satisfy basic needs. - Build buildings and houses with positive energy. - Reduce the energy consumption of electrical appliances. - Promote the installation of individual and collective renewable energy production infrastructure (photovoltaic, wind, geothermal, etc.). 6. Regulator and stabilizer the financial system. - Prohibit monetary speculation. - Separate deposit banks and investment banks (Glass-Steagall law). - Restore to states the prerogatives of monetary creation. - Prohibit to commercial sales. - Prohibit the fractional reserve system that allows the multiplier effect of credit. 7. Promote local and quality agriculture. - Food safety in a food and agriculture accessible for all. - Limit the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. - Prohibit agricultural production from genetically modified organisms (GMOs). - Promote local agriculture with land. - Promote organic farmers (cattle, vola

Hi! It is a very important question!! It  makes us to think about what really matters!! As a Geoscientist and first of it an Earth inhabitant, each one of us should to think in an answer for it. We all know about this growth. First thing is work with more  recycled materials and improve environmental education . Second is to develop new technologies to reuse most of  materials which were produce but haven't an specific destination. Also, to have a strong control on manufacturing and sustainable practices; To control more efficiently effluents from industries, speccialy those which woek with contaminants (metals and organic compounds). To have a reverse logistic from eletronic  and cleaning companies , beyond the others industries. There are alot of things ,but the main is think what can I do for my planet, for the environment where I live... We have the answers. I know we have.