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Article by Kelly White for Environmental Graffiti

Well, we hope this documentary makes its way to Australia! It looks at our dependence on growth at all costs - even in the face of the harm we are doing to our environment by continually expanding.

Do concerns about water shortages, peak oil, species extinction, and deforestation keep you up at night? Do you experience dread thinking about overpopulation and unchecked consumption? Have you or your family ever wondered if there is a better gauge of happiness and success than the accumulation of more stuff and a rising GDP? If the answer is yes than don't wait another minute, contact the professionals: GrowthBusters!

The Ghostbusters had it easy; they were up against ghosts that could be locked in “containment units.” Dave Gardner, producer, writer and director of the upcoming documentary, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, on the other hand, is battling the intangible — the core beliefs and behaviors that keep us addicted to perpetual growth in a world with limits.

“I watched my hometown going to great lengths to turbocharge its growth, even as we were rationing water and watching traffic delays quadruple,” said Gardner. “That made me wonder what we were expecting to get from growth? Why were we willing to give up quality of life, clean air and abundant water? As I began to dig into this, I unearthed a monster: a nearly universal worship of growth everlasting. A film had to be made.”

GrowthBusters is unique among environmental documentaries in that it does not dispense facts about global warming, biodiversity loss or peaking resources; instead it examines the cultural barriers that prevent us from acting rationally in the face of these crises. The film explores the taboo around discussing population and why we have placed more value in a booming economy than a healthy, sustainable planet.

Click here to read the rest of the article in Environmental Graffiti