Degrowth is an experience. It is about fathoming that being-in-nature is finite. Experiencing finitude offers the long-awaited theoretical foundation for the degrowth movement.

In this book, Pasi Heikkurinen argues that we must understand limits ‘from within’ in order to effectively reduce matter-energy throughput. He coins the metabolic cutback as the minimalist definition of degrowth. He also provides a lucid critique on how technology, transformations, and nature are perceived in cultures of growth.

To overcome the shortfalls of our perception, experiential notions of releasement, metamorphosis and the core of nature are propounded. Heikkurinen calls for a collective experience of degrowing in practice while avoiding overinclusive rhetoric.

Pasi Heikkurinen is Professor at LUT University and Chair of the Finnish Society for Environmental Social Science. He is a co-founder of the Sustainable Change Research Network and the author of numerous articles and books, including Sustainability beyond Technology, Strongly Sustainable Societies, and Sustainability and Peaceful Coexistence for the Anthropocene.