People are able to organize very complex distribution and exchange mechanisms in a very short time without the intervention of state institutions.
Even if one didn’t have an immediate experience of disaster at the doorstep — like flood, storm or wildfire, which are happening globally on a weekly basis affecting many millions of people — we all share an experience of global surge of mutual aid during the COVID-19 pandemic. In many places, it implied a different relation to material reality such as provision of food, medics and, in peculiar cases, toilet paper. In non middle-and-up-class contexts, the pandemic increased risk of losing the roof over head or being stuck below dignifying conditions in at home.
This intense period became a sharp reminder of local sufficiency, the scale of our community, and the importance of understanding a home as space that goes beyond our rented or owned four walls. While asked to distance ourselves for solidarity, we soon understood what are the outlines of our dependency on others, including both closest circles and large global supply chains. What role will these dependencies and material sufficiency have in a degrowth future? When speaking of degrowth, I optimistically account collective action to mitigate coming disasters and to reorganize society around a different material reality — one that recognizes limits.