I am reading with nervous enjoyment a semi-samizdat French magazine called La Decroissance (De-Growth). An offshoot of the French equivalent of Adbusters, La Decroissance fills a big gap: critical discussion of the politics and economics of environmentalism. The issue I’m reading includes a sharp critique of the myth of ‘transhumanism’ and a mocking review of a right-on new book by Veolia’s head of sustainable development. The reason I’m nervous is that the paper describes as an “ecotartuffe” a leading Le Monde columnist, Eric le Boucher, who has become prominent as “a grand inquisitor of productivist society”. Now a tartuffe is defined in my dictionary as a “religious poseur” and I know there are those who think I’m one of those, too. Tant pis: if my turn comes I’ll take it on the chin. The academic wing of La Decroissance held its first conference last month, in Paris, and there are some english pages online. “De-growth” is a ghastly buzzword but the subject is important and if you can read a bit of French the paper is much livelier.
