Thank you Jérôme. Degrowth theory has its imperfections, partly because it is a young doctrine. But degrowth is not the mother of all evil.

And the "only people who don't live in rich societies are allowed to come up with radical ideas" is an argument I get tired of seeing. Being poor in a rich society is not as bad as living off 1$ a day, but it's not necessarily easy either. Why can't I be allowed to support discussions around degrowth? Because I live in France (on a super low budget)? Am I de facto a spoiled brat?

I have no objections to rich kids coming up with radical ideas. Gautama was born of the highest descent ... it's precisely this opulence that made him more aware of the world's problems (once he noticed them). Being a rich kid can make you all the more sensitive to other people's plight, as you know what you have that they don't. And at least it gives you time to develop your ideas, seeing as how you don't have to survive all the time.

Bah, anyhow I'm kind of used to being attacked all the time for things I do or think:

• Being a vegetarian means you always get mocking comments at dinners (example: I'm sitting with people outside, during summer. A bee starts poking at one of their ham sandwiches. Someone says: "Hey Alex, if a bee feeds off a ham sandwich, doesn't that mean that you can no longer eat honey?").

• Not having a driver's licence and riding a bicycle means you get honked at all day by impatient drivers, and get scoffed at by your peers for having "no independence". Even though you carefully decide each move in town, such as "not pressing on the pedestrian traffic light button, so as not to make dozens of cars stop with their engines running while you cross - and instead crossing at your own risk and peril without turning their light red".

• Not having a mobile phone means you get all sorts of unpleasant remarks from technicians who need to do some intervention in your house, or from company people who need to meet you. Such as "You don't have a mobile phone? Jesus that sucks. Makes it harder for me.". "No it doesn't", you say, "I'll be at home all day, don't worry".

• Eating any amount of organic food means you get all sorts of "pff they use the same water that's loaded with chemicals to grow their stuff" or "organic food is madness, all you get from an apple tree are ugly apples and very few of them, thank god this is not the norm".

• Running regularly means you accelerate the ageing of your body.

• Cutting your own hair means you put barbers out of a job and end up with unequal hair (why should hair lengh be equal??).

• Wearing tongs is bad for your back.

• Supporting the exploration of degrowth doctrine means you're a spoiled brat / rich kid.

etc etc