Pre-made mashed potato and out-of-season avocados won’t last forever. In this second part of Ben’s conversation with James William Harrup, we explore how a drive for perpetual growth and boundless consumption could be linked to an underlying trauma. It looks a lot like addiction, so if we can address that need to consume – and say a fond farewell to the things we used to take for granted – we can work towards a more relaxed cycle of growth and change.

Links

• The story of growth part 1: Why things need to die – Episode 22
• At Work in the Ruins – Episode 18, with Dougald Hine
• The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, by David Graeber and David Wengrow
• In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, by Gabor Mate