"Instead of growth at all costs, a new economic model allows us to thrive while saving the planet."

We've "been there," and only recently.

What do you know? Chance the gardener was right, after all.

Now, to continue the doughnut riff:

Finally, a breakthrough alternative to growth economics – the doughnut, by George Monbiot (The Guardian)

So what are we going to do about it? This is the only question worth asking. But the answers appear elusive. Faced with a multifaceted crisis – the capture of governments by billionaires and their lobbyists, extreme inequality, the rise of demagogues, above all the collapse of the living world – those to whom we look for leadership appear stunned, voiceless, clueless. Even if they had the right courage to act, they have no idea what to do.

The most they tend to offer is more economic growth: the fairy dust supposed to make all the bad stuff disappear. Never mind that it drives ecological destruction; that it has failed to relieve structural unemployment or soaring inequality; that, in some recent years, almost all the increment in incomes has been harvested by the top 1%. As values, principles and moral purpose are lost, the promise of growth is all that’s left ...