Review Essay

Abstract

This essay reviews ecological economist, Giorgos Kallis’ recent book, ‘Why Malthus Was Wrong and Why Environmentalists Should Care’ (2019) to review the debate around population and sustainability. In the name of sustainability and resource scarcity, debates on population tend to blame the poor without adequately problematizing structural inequalities that sustain racial capitalism and stimulate scarcity. This narrative is a remnant of the Malthusian thesis that problematized population growth in relation to food scarcity without problematizing utilitarian human wants. In this essay, I review this book because the author expands on the politics of scarcity and urges us to nurture ethics and the politics of limits. My contribution in this extended review comes in offering a perspective from post-colonial countries like India, and in the global South more broadly, that align with ‘other’ notions of limits, the good life, and sustainability.

Note From the Editor

“…Finally, Nairita Roy Chaudhuri (2022) offers a critical, in‐depth review essay and comment on Giorgos Kallis’ recent book, Limits: Why Malthus Was Wrong and Why Environmentalists Should Care (2019). The review will be of particular interest to those interested in the grounds of environmental policy, as well as its connections with gender issues, from a developing country context.…”