According to Wironen (2007), sustainable development is a fundamentally contested concept. He quotes the conclusion of Paul Ekins that sustainable development is "economically and technologically feasible, but requires lifestyle changes and guiding or fixing of the economy" (as cited in Wironen, p. 9). For some this has meant rejection of the dominant paradigm of sustainable development with its linkage to growth in favor of "de-growth." In this critical view, by promising to reconcile growth with environmental preservation, national governments and international organizations fail to recognize that the economic principle of endless growth that has caused environmental destruction in the first place (Fournier, 2008). In response to this the de-growth movement that started in France in the last decade is rooted in a critique of growth-oriented solutions to environmental degradation and economic inequalities.

As we have seen, policies built on the currently favored sustainable development paradigm would seek to promote economic growth while at the same time addressing environmental and social concerns. Advocates of de-growth (this somewhat awkward English term is derived from the French word decroissance) reject the notion that economic growth is an unquestionable societal objective. Instead they advocate "sustainable de-growth" that has as its core a downscaling of economies and economic growth. Here it is important to distinguish between depression, unplanned de-growth within a growth regime, and sustainable de-growth. In contrast to a depression sustainable de-growth is seen as a voluntary, smooth and equitable transition to a system of lower production and consumption (Schneider, Kallis, & Martinez-Alier, 2010).

We define sustainable de-growth as a smooth, voluntary and equitable downscaling of production and consumption that insure human well-being and ecological sustainability locally as well as globally on the short and long term. (Kallis, Schneider, & Martinez-Alier, 2009, p. 2).

Advocates of sustainable de-growth believe that economic growth, even if done under the rationale of sustainable development, will ultimately lead to economic and social collapse. Despite two decades of discourse about sustainable development, they argue, we still live in a world of unchecked consumerism, excessive use of resources, and addition to fossil fuel (Martinez-Alier et al., 2010). Both governments and international institutions have been unable to create and implement the needed policies and changes in behavior. Thus, in this view only through decreasing resource flows can we ensure that resources are not depleted, and that this must be accompanied by strengthened social and ecological values (European Commission DG Environment News, 2010). "The paradmigmatic propositions of de-growth are that economic growth is not sustainable and that human progress without economic growth is possible" (Schneider et al., 2010, p. 511).