Nimayi Dixit, Content Director at Tusk & Quill, recently sat down with Patrick Heizer—a biomedical engineer by training, but also a man of wide-ranging interests. Patrick lives on and manages a permaculture farm with his young family and writes extensively on his Substack, The Counterpoint. 

The conversation was sparked by Patrick’s essay Steelmanning Degrowth: The Catalytic Society. 

Degrowth refers to a school of thought that views society’s obsession with perpetual economic expansion as fundamentally unsustainable. It advocates for a deliberate slowing of the global economic engine to ensure a livable, long-term future. 

There are, naturally, a range of views within the Degrowth camp—some more refined than others. The entire idea has drawn sharp criticism in recent years, often dismissed as geopolitically naive or lacking technological ambition. Critics argue that growth-oriented societies will inevitably outcompete those that don’t; that technological innovation will allow us to transcend ecological limits; or that slowing growth is a privileged stance in a world where many still live in poverty. 

To put it bluntly: critics often frame Degrowth as naive or defeatist. Degrowthers, in turn, view their critics as short-sighted or even suicidal. 

These debates can get heated because the stakes are so high. Tusk & Quill's recent Annual Creators’ Retreat focused on this exact tension, contrasting what we called "limit-honoring" and "limit-challenging" worldviews. (See the presentation here; read about our Annual Creator's Retreat here.)

Patrick’s essay offers a more nuanced vision: one that embraces Degrowth not as a rejection of technology or modern life, but as a call for greater intentionality. His argument is straightforward: if we become more thoughtful in how we live, we can maintain (or even improve) our quality of life while dramatically reducing the energy and material intensity of that life. 

This isn’t just an abstract hope. Patrick outlines specific, actionable changes across domains like housing, transportation, agriculture, and clothing—demonstrating how we might preserve the core functions of modern life while eliminating much of its waste. 

Such an approach, he argues, improves sustainability while creating a buffer of time and resources. That buffer could prove essential as we pursue the kinds of technological breakthroughs that might eventually help us transcend the ecological limits we currently face. 

In their conversation, Dixit and Heizer explore this social vision in depth and engage with some of its most pressing challenges. At its core, the discussion raises deeper questions about what it means to live a good life—and where material consumption fits into that picture.