Alexandra Krisha D.

De Asis

GE 5 STS – 3064

BSCE/S

Instructor Renelee M. Subsuban

REFLECTION ON THE ARTICLE OF JASON HICKEL

The idea of de-development in high-income nations is justified, and I believed that in

this way, the large amount of excess energy and resources can be turned into renewable
energy that can help our economy to gain its steady state. The development of each country
rapidly increases on an upward scale, but some are on a downward scale. The main objective
of making progress or eliminating poverty in any country could take a hundred years, and still
poverty is alive despite years that passed in working on this problem. So a suggestion of
making a different route on developing every country is the reverse of what has been used in
decades. According to Jason Hickel, scaling down the high-income nations should be de-
develop instead of developing poor countries. The high-income nations and low-income
nations have grown too much to the point that growth is not an option for us, and this growth
caused a global crisis. It is suggested to not push low-income nations to catch up with high-
income nations because this is a theory that will be used in development. Many countries
achieved an upward scale of life expectancy and literacy rates. Though low-income nations
cannot offer resources like how high-income nations can, they achieved different things and
grown in different ways. A sustainable level of happiness indicators is achieved in many
countries, especially in low-income nations or a country that fosters poverty. Therefore, in
looking at this, comparable life expectancy in each country differ, and the sustainability that
can offer is different. The overconsumption of high-income countries contributed largely to
making our planet and society at risk. A level of the current average global consumption made
the Earth have bio-capacity up above the percentage of fifty each year. Thus, the appropriate
development that should be focused on and applied is the action of scaling down the excess
energy and resources used that made the high-income nations achieve massive growth
compared to other countries. It is seen and should be highlighted that excess income and
consumption are not the only things that should be treasured in every nation, but more
important is the quality of life that can be offered within a nation.