Toxic Plants

Does the Pope understand overshoot? This month I am going to depart from my usual gardening theme in order to explore “Conversations about perpetual growth”.  Politicians, economists and media people love talking about it , but ever since I was a child I have felt uneasy about the idea.  Surely nothing can grow forever, and everything must stop growing at some point?  However, I have found it surprisingly difficult to have conversations about this.  Whenever I suggest that perpetual growth may be impossible, people act as though they didn’t hear what I said, or change the subject, or look embarrassed as though I’ve said something socially unacceptable.  If I post a comment about it online, I either get no response, or I get “downvoted” which means other readers click on a “thumbs down” symbol to show they don’t like the comment - although they never explain why.  If I write to politicians or economists about it, they usually don’t reply. However, during my ...