Theme year 2024: People and growth

All living things are small at the beginning of their development. Their growth is a sign of viability, strength, and health. In animals and humans, growth is limited in time: once a certain stage of development and size has been reached, only individual components continue to grow, such as nails and hair, hooves and fur.

Some species are even able to regrow individual body parts when they are lost: salamanders can regrow their tails, and patients can regrow their arms.

Plants can theoretically grow forever due to their tissue, but they are not genetically designed to do so. The fact that growth is finite seems to be a law of nature. Even the highest mountains in the world cannot be pushed infinitely into the sky by tectonics. The heavier they are, the more they are pressed into the ground.

It also seems to be a given that growth needs breaks. For babies and toddlers, regular sleep phases are essential for development. Hibernation and winter rest help some animals get through the cold and food-scarce season. Muscles do not grow during training, but in the regeneration phase afterwards. Those who want to grow mentally need breaks so that the brain can process what it has learned and store it permanently.

Humans have been able to partially circumvent these laws: Medications not only enable us to shorten recovery phases. Certain substances (albeit illegal) support our muscle growth or improve our concentration. Farm animals are bred to grow particularly quickly and put on a lot of meat, give more milk, and lay more eggs. The yields of crops are also increased through breeding, but also through fertilization, enabling several harvests per year. Economic growth seems to know no upper limits.

But the idea of eternal growth, of limitless expansion, comes at a price: resources are not infinite. They can be exhausted, but not increased at will. Exploiting them beyond their limits leads to destruction – the radical opposite of growth.

This principle can be seen on a small scale, for example when body cells divide and proliferate unchecked, or when wild populations grow disproportionately and severely disrupt the balance between food supply and demand. On a larger scale, it is primarily the steady growth of the economy that places excessive strain on natural and human resources. We are increasingly feeling the effects on nature and the environment – and ultimately on ourselves as humans.