Growth v. Development

Finally, more about the evolution/revolution that is that thing called "sustainability".


What is it? Well, at this point in my progression I have boiled it down in my mind to this: Growth v. Development. Mind you, this is not a new idea. Search the interwebs, you'll find oodles of info about it. But the idea is certainly not a part of the daily discussion about our economic situation. And I believe it has to be. 


Grow - the 1st definition that appears in Websters online is: to spring up and develop to maturity. 


OK, that sounds harmless enough. 


Development, from the same source uses the word grow in it and there are a lot of nuanced definitions. One says: "...to work out the possibilities" and another, "...to cause to unfold gradually" and only one of the deeper definitions used the word "expand" which implies  "bigger". 


The problem is that when the talk turns to Economic Growth there seems to be no maturity point or discussion of natural cycles...and so the growth is then (and this is what we THINK we want in order to get rich) unfettered growth...without a natural cycle and this is the goal of investors and businesses.


I have some experience with this. As a sales manager there was no room for discussions of natural business cycles and time after time I saw business owners and other managers talking about growth only as more and more and not smarter and smarter. Sure, lip service was paid to being smart about it. But the "it" was always more and more. The only time there was action regarding smart development (and it was not called that) was after 2008. And what ended up happening was relentless layoffs and lowered standards. 


So - here's what I think. EVERYONE has to start substituting the word DEVELOPMENT for the word GROWTH. We do not need unfettered GROWTH to save our economy. We need SMART DEVELOPMENT. We do  not need MORE AND MORE STUFF...because that is the result of unfettered economic growth. We need SMARTER STUFF. We need SMALLER STUFF. And there has to be LESS STUFF. If you haven't seen The Story of Stuff take some time to do it.


Growth, Growth, Growth...that's is the mantra of people when they are talking about "fixing" the economy. Here's another way to put it: "...progressive and uncontrolled growth..." but wait, this is in the definition of cancerous growth. Hmmmmmm...


Our Government needs to make this change. The President, Congress, Treasury, everyone. Growth is the buzzword that Democrats will use to try and get the attention of moderate Republicans, business people, etc, that think that Democrats want to take their money and give it to poor people. Republicans use it as a mantra...all business people do. It is ingrained in us to grow. And what we really ought to be doing is "to develop" the economy. I believe if it is viewed through the lens of triple bottom line economics - People, Planet, Profits, then that growth, that development will be slower, more sustained, multi-dimensional, more inclusive and, well, better.