Abstract

This essay shows what major restructuring is needed if the organisation of production is to enable all populations to live a decent life without affecting the planet’s habitability. The focus is not on “degrowthµ, but on the way in which what is necessary for human life can be produced. My starting point is the main causes of the destruction of ecological conditions today. Firstly, overconsumption, through competition driving markets to produce everything that can be sold, and to inflate these possibilities through monstrous and intrusive advertising. I give the example of clothes and cars. Secondly, excessive international trade, which imposes polluting international transport for trade guided by the profit maximisation strategy of giant oligopolistic companies. I propose replacing the WTO with a world organisation for the international distribution of labour, promoting equitable cooperation between States – first and foremost between European countries – and aiming to bring territorial sovereignty closer everywhere. With the production of goods that meet real needs, that are not gadgets, that can be repaired, and that last without programmed obsolescence