IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH? When I was asked to write a post for LOGISTIC MEDIUM, I was not surprised that the publisher expects me to do so for free, without remuneration, because it is an honor to be published by them. However, the time of free work, which no one appreciates, is over. For me, it's a journey back to a time so long ago that many readers didn't experience it, to the 1990s, when I was a freelance editor contributing to websites publishing articles about mobile technology. Every article was paid for and it was normal.

1. IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH?
Michael Rada
HUMAN
Written in 3 days
20. – 22.10. 2023
It reflects 30 years of professional experience

2. IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH?
When I was asked to write a post for LOGISTIC MEDIUM, I was not surprised that the publisher
expects me to do so for free, without remuneration, because it is an honor to be published by them.
However, the time of free work, which no one appreciates, is over.
For me, it's a journey back to a time so long ago that many readers didn't experience it, to the 1990s,
when I was a freelance editor contributing to websites publishing articles about mobile technology.
Every article was paid for and it was normal.
However, I don't want to write about that today.
In a professional logistics magazine that ends month after month in my mailbox, one fact caught my
attention. All of them, without a single distinction, write and talk about GROWTH, considering it to be
the only possible direction for the development of logistics. It is strange not only in terms of the fact
that COVID and subsequently the war in Ukraine and now in Israel and Palestine show that the exact
opposite of growth, which is not stagnation but GROWTH, can come not only unexpectedly, but also
lightning fast, when we go to bed at night with a good feeling about how well we are doing, and in the
morning there is no stone unturned.
This situation surprises me because a LOGISTICIAN should be a person who does not see only the tip
of his nose, but perceives the whole and its complexity, maintaining the ability not only to perceive,
but also to analyze and, above all, to predict developments, and for a long time now, instead of
PERMANENT GROWTH, he has been pointing to PERMANENT UNGROWTH.
As I have been pointing out for several years in the courses of the LOGISTICS ACADEMY, as well as in
lectures on INDUSTRY 5.0 at world universities, conferences and events, it is logistics that will be
increasingly influenced by the aspects of the transition from GLOBALIZATION to GLATION, as well as
the impacts of climate change.
A good example of the latter is the drying up of the Panama Canal or the Amazon River, which was the
main thoroughfare of the Brazilian city of MANAUS, which was one of the few seaports located inland.
There are more and more examples like this every day, but instead of thinking deeply, advertisers and
advertised logisticians are following a dead-end track defined by manufacturers, banks, economists
and politicians who like to talk about work but have never touched it.
After two decades, industrial developers are beating their chests over how they will stop hundreds of
thousands of meters of land and use BROWNFIELDS that they ignored, saying that they are unusable
areas.
AMAZON promotes robotic pickers with the words of increased efficiency, not to mention increased
accident rates in places where imperfect humans are present.
The basic parameter of DEGROWTH is not STAGNATION, but the EXACT OPPOSITE OF GROWTH, which
is very well expressed in English by the term DEGROWTH, for which the dictionary has an interesting
Czech word GROWING UP, which could correspond to the meaning if it were not associated over the
years only with hair and its growth, or the regrowth of dyed parts.
It is a pity that the LOGISTICS INDUSTRY, not only in the Czech Republic, refuses to retreat from the idea
that growth is not a permanent state, it is not sustainable, and most importantly, it is not healthy. The
pursuit of MORE, as the only criterion for success, has become the standard, and if a manager does not
rise on the rising curves of the presented graphs, it often means a fall for him and a replacement by

3. someone who does not question the continuous growth. We'll talk about what GROWTH or GROWING
OUT means for logistics and how to prepare for it next time.
In the birthplace of INDUSTRY 5.0, 20.10.2022 Michael Rada,
Human
IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH? Part II.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that GROWTH is a word blacklisted by many, including
logisticians, the first article of my mini-series evoked an interesting response. The medium that asked
me for an article went silent, industrial developers followed suit, and the number of those asking for
a sequel grew.
Therefore, I decided to first write a list of items of DEGROWTH or DEGROWTH. These will then serve as
individual chapters of our miniseries
1. THE VOLUME OF MEANS OF TRANSPORT ON THE ROAD
2. SIZE AND NUMBER OF STORAGE SPACES
3. NUMBER OF WORKERS IN LOGISTICS
4. TIME
5. COSTS RELATED TO LOGISTICS
6. USER CONDUCT
7. SOCIO-ECONOMIC INFLUENCES
8. POLITICAL INFLUENCES
9. GEOGRAPHICAL-CLIMATIC INFLUENCES
10. PERSONAL INFLUENCES
Although it is not usual, I will start from the end.
What and how, can an individual influence logistics? Many people live with the feeling that they cannot
influence anything as an individual, they often fall into depression because they will not be able to
influence their lives.
Is it really so?
Isn't.
The reason for this is that regardless of where we live, our age, the position we hold or the work we
do, regardless of our gender or educational attainment, there is only one person in our lives who is
responsible for our future.
It may surprise you, because the media and social networks convince you otherwise, but it is not the
Prime Minister, the President, or any other politician, not even your boss, teachers, colleagues, or
parents, or people in your social network. It is a person you meet every day when reflected in a mirror,
whether in artificial, glass or in the one offered to us by nature.
IT'S YOU.
Why do I say that?
The reason for this is the fact that it is you who are responsible for your own behavior and it is YOU
who first understands that GROWTH, or GROWTH, is not the path to poverty and deprivation, but to
freedom and a life without addictions.

4. I can confirm that this is a reality from my own experience, where at the age of 42 the first step of my
own work was to change my own life. Instead of looking for WHAT I CAN STILL HAVE, I began to
appreciate what I already had. This personal change has allowed me to become a change in itself and
to inadvertently become a role model to be followed in 117 countries around the world.
A description of my own change will be described in the next part of the miniseries, so that you can
see that there is no need to worry.
In the birthplace of INDUSTRY 5.0,21.10.2023 Michael Rada,
Human
IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH? Part III.
The personal level of DEGROWTH, or DEGROWTH, is often the biggest bogeyman. Many people think
of poverty, shortages, homelessness, queues at job centres, or even working on endless production
lines, where people become robots and robots become superiors, looking for weak links to replace
them with new ones.
I don't know if you've ever thought about the volume of robots in warehouses and distribution centers.
AMAZON, which is also one of the largest manufacturers of their products (which is not talked about
much), released an interesting statistic yesterday. While 1,000 robots were deployed in logistics in
2013, there are already 750,000 in warehouses in 2013.
How does this relate to personal DEGROWTH or GROWTH?
As you surely understood, I have been working in logistics for some time, specifically more than 30
years, and I experienced a time when the only ROBOTS in warehouses were children's toys distributed
to the pre-Christmas market.
I think it's a long time in which everything I know, do, and even teach and implement myself, I learned
through personal practice, because unlike many others, I don't have the appropriate logistics
education, because I started my journey after graduating from grammar school as a worker in a steel
mill, and not as a student at a university.
Over the course of three decades, or 23 years, I went from being a laborer to a member of the
management of the domestic logistics division of Japan's third-largest corporation before I left and
became a worker again, spending more time in overalls than in a jacket and tie.
However, unlike at the beginning of my journey, it was not my supervisor who told me what to do, but
myself. I was the one who was responsible for the results, across the entire spectrum.
• The first step of change was to understand that overalls and safety shoes are not an obstacle,
but a tool to achieve greater efficiency and win not only information, but also the hearts of
those I do not elevate above.
• The second step was the purchase of a personal means of transport, which helped me to
understand that 4 wheels and 1 ton or more to transport one person are a mistake, and even
after 80000 km traveled on an electric unicycle, I do not regret my decision, quite the opposite.
• The third step was to change my eating habits, where I started cooking without waste and
switched to a regime where I cook 100% myself and do not use semi-finished products, nor
restaurant and delivery services.
• The fourth step was to understand that sharing is a path that, unlike playing on one's own turf,
brings results, and I am just a part of evolution, which is the first in history to be controlled by
humans.

5. Now let me ask you a question. Do you see aspects somewhere between the lines that you may have
also been worried about? Do you see POVERTY, DEPRIVATION, UNEMPLOYMENT, HOMELESSNESS, or
LONELINESS somewhere?
You can't see because they're not there.
The reality is that if you learn to make better use of WHAT YOU HAVE, you won't have to spend on what
you could have, and you'll be richer economically. If you share, I don't mean just social media posts,
you will find that loneliness is left in your backyard and will not come back, because those you meet
are not with you because you have more than them, but because you are what they are, a HUMAN.
In the birthplace of INDUSTRY 5.0, 21.10.2023 Michael Rada,
Human
IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH? Part IV.
If you have read this far, then you know that it is YOU, yes you, who are responsible for whether
GROWTH or GROWTH will be a reality and a necessity for logistics, or whether we will continue to
prefer to let other tin beauties of industrial real estate run by warehouses and distribution centers
adorn our country.
In order for them to be able to do so, it is necessary to create a need for them, and their existence
would be empty if it were not for the means of transport which fill them and fulfil them and fulfil them,
so that they sometimes take away a part of what other means of transport have brought and thus make
room for further performance.
The most common means of transport that fills warehouses is a truck. The most common loading area
is 13.5 m long, 2.5 m wide and 2.8-3.0 m high. A 40" sea container has similar dimensions, which is 1.5
m shorter and 10 cm narrower inside, and is also lower.
These vehicles are usually supplemented by smaller trucks with or without semi-trailers, vans and
others.
At the bottom are railway wagons, which, not so much due to the lack of infrastructure, but due to an
outdated communication system, coupled with a lack of flexibility, seem to be unusable in today's world
of rapidly changing needs.
In 2016, the European Commission published an interesting study on the filling of means of transport,
i.e. the number of empty, unused means of transport on EU roads and paths. The figure they came up
with in the case of trucks was so alarming that it was better to stop talking about it before it started.
64% of trucks were empty in the EU.
Over time, I found out that for sea containers it is only 55%, and railway wagons run empty in 60% and
sometimes up to 80%. This state of affairs crystallized in the time of COVID, when empty planes flying
between airports only to maintain their "WINDOWS" and reservations at airports according to their
flight "timetable" became the norm.
You may already understand the impact that DEGROWTH or GROWTH can have on these processes.
The result can be primarily twofold
1) The same number of vehicles will remain on the road, but the percentage of unused vehicles
will increase

6. 2) The systems of use will change, the number of vehicles will decrease, as well as the percentage
of unused vehicles
In the first case, the cost per kilometer of transported goods will increase, as will the negative
environmental impacts.
In the latter case, the situation will be the opposite.
Even though most of you would logically choose the second option, the fact is that most logistics
companies, and not only them, have chosen the first option. Among other things, this is a beautiful
indication of the increase in the number and volume of delivery services, storage boxes and other
"customer services", where playing on one's own turf is seen as the only opportunity for growth.
Growth so unhealthy that the only goal is to exit or sell the company at the moment when it has already
swung from an upward to a rapidly declining curve from the point of view of its own operations, but
the market and investors can still be told that growth is endless.
It is surprising how long it took the first operators of storage boxes growing faster than this year's
mushrooms to realize that instead of a one-way flow, this means could be used for a two-way flow. And
here we have already come to the next point of the chain, more on that next time.
In the birthplace of INDUSTRY 5.0, 21.10.2023 Michael Rada,
Human
IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH? Part V.
When we look in the rear-view mirror of a car, motorcycle, or other means of transport, our goal is
to find out what we have left behind, or what is happening. When we look in the mirror, we want to
know what's happening to us. However, some, including Alice, want to know what's behind the
mirror.
I wonder how industrial real estate developers treat the mirror. These are the ones who transform our
beautifully imperfect EARTH, and with it our own equally imperfect country, into the form predicted by
the artistic movement with the characteristic name of CUBISM, whose representatives, however, I
immediately apologize for this comparison.
Leveling the field with an excavator, pouring concrete over the area, placing higher and higher pillars
in it, and all this surrounded by a fence, roofing and then renting it out until it is sold to another
developer.
Like every year, industrial developers will vote from among them for those who have poured the most
concrete and who will add hundreds of thousands more to hundreds of thousands of meters, with the
goal of reaching millions. In 2008, the area covered by industrial real estate in the Czech Republic was
2.7 million m2, in 2023 it is more than 5 times as much, and there is more than a square meter per
inhabitant.
With the meters, the number of warehouses, distribution centers and other spaces without which
logistics could NOT exist is also increasing. It is interesting that the word COULD not is always uttered
the loudest at every opportunity, despite the fact that the methodology of LEAN, or LEAN
PRODUCTION, as well as KAIZEN, SIX SIGMA and other methods, including TPS from Japan, speak of
WAREHOUSES as places where activities without added value take place.

7. And it is true, 90% of warehouses were created to compensate for the discrepancy and disharmony
between the volume of production and the volume of actual need. They cover up and legalize the
increasing overproduction that has become the norm instead of the exception.
The impact of DEGROWTH or DEGROWTH in this case is likely to be the largest and strongest.
A reduction in the volume of actual consumption will gradually (unfortunately not immediately) lead
to a reduction in the need for intermediate storage of manufactured products. The warehouses will be
gradually emptied, and the change will also be associated with a change in the business policy of the
players who use them. The application of the USE WHAT YOU HAVE approach instead of USE WHAT
YOU CAN HAVE will lead to a reduction in the volume of stored items and thus the need for warehouses.
With regard to the fact that developers and warehouse operators only look in the rear-view mirrors
looking at the profits that are brought to them, not a single one of them solves the question that has
already been asked and left by Mr. JAN NERUDA, WHERE TO PUT IT, or its modified version, respecting
that 100,000 m2 of area cannot be moved to another place, WHAT TO DO WITH IT?
When the tenants or tenants leave the warehouse and the second one is not found, the first change
will be the posting of leaflets WAREHOUSES FOR RENT, the use of which, however, is limited by the fact
that the same people who know that they have empty warehouses tell everyone that the reason for
further construction is not their saturation, but that there are NO EMPTY WAREHOUSES.
The result of NO GROWTH, or GROWTH, in the area of industrial real estate, will be an increase in NEW
BROWNFIELDS belonging to those who did not build them, they will be empty halls without an owner.
The right way to go is to use REPURPOSE or UPCYCLING, but I doubt that those who approve
construction today have an interest in making it a condition that this path be part of the plans.
In the birthplace of INDUSTRY 5.0, 21.10.2023 Michael Rada,
Human

8. IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH? Part VI.
All of the previous sections reflect the impact that DEGROWTH, or REGROWTH, will have on
TECHNOLOGIES and PROCESSES that are a standard part of LOGISTICS CHAINS. However, they still
include, albeit to an ever-lesser extent, PEOPLE, who instead of being called HUMAN RESOURCES.
What is it?
For the first time in this mini-series, I will use a link to an external source, in this case it is WIKIPEDIA.
"Human resources (HR) is a specific activity within an organization that deals with the
management of human capital in an organization, i.e. the management of employees as a whole."
The source is therefore Capital, and I don't know why a work of this name resonates with me when I
read it, the existence of which I was acquainted with during my schooling, during the existence of the
CZECHOSLOVAK SOCIALIST REPUBLIC.
The term capital could also be translated as WEALTH, or in the figurative sense of the word MONEY, but
instead of a positive perception of PEOPLE as those who create that wealth, workers are perceived as
those who only suck from it and reduce it, being a permanent expense who does not only want money,
but also wants to eat, drink, sleep, or even stay somewhere other than the workplace every day. Maybe
with your family or in nature.
If you don't agree, complain to WIKIPEDIA, I believe that the administrators will be as quick as deleting
all references to the term "INDUSTRY 5.0" or to the name "MICHAEL RADA"
After all, they are paid for it. By? Whose money? Or whose interests? It is irrelevant.
So how does NOT GROW, or if you want to GROW OUT, manifest itself here?
It may sound strange to you, but the number of workers will increase, and not only for seasonal help
not only before the Christmas holidays of consumerism associated with the subsequent holidays of
sales.
Workers will be more loyal, not because they will get a percentage higher salary than in the neighboring
hall, or because they will be able to ride the company bus for free, but because they will consider the
work they will do to be MEANINGFUL and not USELESS, as is the case today.
People will still (unfortunately with regard to the economic and social order) work for money, the
difference will be that they will not do their work just for MONEY, but for a deeper meaning that money
will never be able to bring.
Meaningfulness will be the reason that workers will be loyal, just like their employers, and what is
important, more and more positions and activities will be respected and reflected, or the activities will
be held by representatives of the silver generation, those who will create a silver tornado in a few years,
and those who are not ready will be swept away by those who will be ready.
Related to this is the fact that industrial buildings will not only be places of work, but also places of rest
and, for some, places where workers will be able to live without having to commute. I'm not talking
about survival, but about real life with everything that goes with it.
NOT GROWING OUT, or REGROWING, is not connected with the fact that it is necessary to do more,
but better, with quality, as it used to be, when every shoemaker knew for whom he was making shoes
and no baked bread became waste, just as those who made shoes or baked bread did not become so.

9. This fact is associated with a change that, although unperceived, has already begun, a change that the
minority fears and the majority welcomes because it comes at the highest time.
In the birthplace of INDUSTRY 5.0, 21.10.2023 Michael Rada,
Human

10. IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH? Part VII.
To write about time in the context of DEGROWTH, or GROWTH, if you will, is strange. Especially if
you do it one day before your daughter's twentieth birthday and your company's ninth birthday. They
were both born on the same date, just in a different year, and neither could influence or choose this
date.
TIME seems to be uncontrollable, and one thing is true, it cannot be bribed.
I think I'm not the only one who's heard the phrase "IT'S TIME TO GROW" more than once.
But I'm afraid I'm not the only one who's never heard IT'S TIME TO GROW UP.
The reason is simple, the modern economy and the entire economic system is based on the erroneous
assumption that the mark of a successful civilization is continuous growth and that this can only be
ensured by continuous economic growth. The authors of these theories often did not concern
themselves with trifles such as time or the meaning of life, and considered them unimportant in view
of the difficulty of empirical measurement, cutting and folding.
Logistics has adopted these opinions, even though it has also taken time in the form of, for example,
the delivery date from the order, as one of the key measures of its success.
Companies are competing to deliver a roll within six hours or a pizza within 30 minutes.
Faster is better.
After all, it looks good in each of the increasing commercials.
In times of DEGROWTH, or OUTGROWTH, the speed of delivery loses its meaning.
The reason is that those who order are once again learning, often from scratch, to plan and work with
time as generations before them did and as nature has done for a few million or billions of years.
Changing the perception of time and returning to the roots is more important and especially more
effective than having the smartest or most expensive watch on my wrist, which will only waste my time.
Four years ago, I found out that I was addicted to my smartphone, because I unlocked it 357 times a
day according to a new counter. I exchanged it for a mobile phone, which was the only one in the world
to be declared the best business mobile phone in the world, it is called NOKIA 6310i and was produced
many years before the first SMARTPHONE appeared on the market. Two months were enough and I
knew what caused my addiction, it was app notifications, and when I turned them off all 165 apps one
by one, I started to be the master of my time and my phone again.
Such a change will cause a change in the behavior of logistics and logisticians towards time.
Faster, ceases to mean better.
A sufficient number of customers will be the first to realize this, and then manufacturers, retailers, and
eventually logisticians will begin to adapt. I know it should be the other way around, but unfortunately
it isn't. Logisticians have become firefighters who extinguish one fire by starting another, and this will
gradually end with the onset of DEGROWTH or DEGROWTH.
I believe that it will be the logisticians who will regain the ability to perceive time differently and not
only it. They will once again be able to perceive space in dimensions that they did not even know existed
due to the unsteady rush forward. One of the advantages will be the ability to increase profit without
increasing speed.

11. In the birthplace of INDUSTRY 5.0, 21.10.2023 Michael Rada,
Human
IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH? Part VIII.
In connection with DEGROWTH, GROWTH, or the term DEGROWTH, voices are often heard that warn
of negative impacts on the economy of the state, companies and societies. They are spoken by
economists, business gurus and world-famous celebrities who, thanks to growth, have not only made
a name for themselves, but also filled their nests with golden eggs.
I mentioned at the beginning of our mini-series that LESS CAN BE MORE, and there was a reason for
that.
None of the above-mentioned experts understands this sentence, or rather does not want to
understand it, because it would be in complete contradiction to what he or she has been saying until
now. It would turn the truth into a lie, and that cannot be allowed.
I have thought about their reasons many times and almost always come to the same conclusion. The
reason is quite the opposite. It is the fear that the truth will come out, and with it the fact that a lie,
even though it has been repeated a thousand times, will never become the truth and will remain a lie.
As in the previous chapters, I will take the liberty of presenting proof of my claim and stick to logistics.
Imagine you're the owner of a shipping company. You have several trucks that are regularly transported
by various clients, all of which mean another trip and with it money, but the workload is sad and even
tragic to the extent that the driver points out the possibility, the improvement of loading and the
possibility of transporting the goods with one delivery instead of two.
What do you do?
Will you keep quiet and continue to cash in, or will you tell your client this idea even at the risk of losing
one delivery?
In times of growth, most choose the first way, after all, certainty is certainty and the customer knows
best what he is doing.
However, in times of DEGROWTH or GROWTH, cooperation does not mean just a dysfunctional
subcontractor relationship, but real transparent cooperation. You discuss the idea and the customer is
interested. With regard to the higher load, you will increase the price of one transport by 35% and the
client will save 40% of the costs. You will then use the second, freed up vehicle for a new client who
wants to work with you.
Which of the two modules is more economical?
It is the one based on DEGROWTH or GROWTH.
However, the condition is to have the same DNA instead of NDA (credit: Kateřina Černá (Fořtová))
It is just one of the many possibilities that make NON-GROWTH, or GROWTH, if you want to GROW in
logistics chains, economically much more interesting than staying in a cocoon of closed habits that will
not change even if the devil jumps on the goat.
To put it simply, it takes little to improve the economy, such as not wasting it.

12. Although it seems logical, it is not, or rather, the volume of waste, as the previous chapters show, is so
great that it is difficult to believe. However, it is a reality that I encounter every day. A larger volume at
the input generates a larger volume at the outlet ending up in waste containers.
Unfortunately, the scissors have been opening for decades, and the gap between Production and
Consumption, or if you like, between PRODUCED and CONSUMED, is so great that fast fashion is
expected to be 50% waste.
In the birthplace of INDUSTRY 5.0, 21.10, 2023 Michael Rada,
Human
IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH? Part IX.
Yes, this is indeed true, a buyer in a fast fashion chain expects that 2 will be sold at full price, 3 at
reduced price and five will be thrown away. Even so, he makes the order. Why? Because the margins
on those 5 units sold will turn the purchase into the plus.
Don't look for logic in this, there's no time for that.
If you do try to find it, try to look around and find the answer to the question of why 75% of the harvest
and food is thrown away before the second stage of processing. Yes, you heard it right, we throw away
three-quarters of our food, and the solution is to declare in 2019 that September 29 will be Food Waste
Awareness Day.
Why does this happen?
I have already explained the reason in the second chapter.
Because we, as consumers, have allowed it. Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in an
international discussion in which the organizer showed the result of a survey of consumer behavior, or
the result of a question about how important the logistics chain of the thing they have purchased is for
consumers. 43% of respondents said that it was very important, 57% that they were not interested.
What surprised me was not the 57%, but the first 43%.
The reason for this is a fact that I encounter in almost every project I implement. Even the employees
of companies, including logisticians, do not know and cannot describe the entire logistics chain. In the
best case, they describe their part, but the follow-up ones remain in the fog. It is then fascinating to
compile information. I imagine that this is how the first maps were created, only at that time without
flipcharts, presentations, organiograms and, of course, computers. In all cases, however, the result took
the breath away from all participants.
The reason was not the complexity or size, but the chaos of the resulting structure.
When I saw the result of the poll among consumers, I wondered how they could know the LOGISTICS
CHAIN when they are part of it before the very end, which is formed by the moment when the product
becomes waste.
However, the positive answer itself also indicates a change in consumer behaviour, and especially
Generation "Z", born shortly after the beginning of the new millennium, not only has knowledge and
skills that we older people do not have, but they are not averse to using them. One is the ability to
search for information quickly, and the other is to share it, very effectively and on a large scale. Social
networks are a good tool for them, and considering that they often work better with a mobile phone
than with a computer, the ability to share is instantaneous, without wasting time.

13. In addition, this generation does not often spread positive news, but is highly critical and does not
always mince words.
A much more important aspect, however, is that users are able to wake up and stay awake, not just in
one country or location, but in all the places where I have had the opportunity to lecture, and there
have been quite a few of them. Consumers are able to realize that being just a CONSUMER is equal to
being DEPENDENT on someone or something is not a sign of freedom, but of LACK of freedom, and
being a voluntary slave is not something that anyone, regardless of age or status, wants to do.
The position of individuals is the basis of the composition of society. So what will be the impact of
DEGROWTH on society?
In the birthplace of INDUSTRY 5.0, 20.10.2023 Michael Rada,
Human
IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH? Part X
Society is made up of individuals. At the time of my studies, it was said that the basis of society is not
a person, but a family. In this case, too, the basis was man, although for some reason it was not
discussed, as well as the fact that there is a second "pillar", which is the economy.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that the name suggests that the person should come first, this is not
the case, and money plays the first fiddle.
How will money react to DEGROWTH?
I think they will respond better than people who have made money their life and their only goal. They
are so afraid of GROWTH that they point out the dangers that GROWING UP will cause to people.
Socio-economic influences are the reason for change, for the shift from the theory of permanent
growth to the practice of GROWTH, or GROWTH, if you will. It is not the influences themselves, but
their gradual transformation into Economic-Social influences, where by changing priorities, money, not
people, became the basis of society.
Money, unlike humans, can only be handled in two ways.
The first is to accumulate.
The other is to spend.
While the first way is presented as the correct one, the second way is followed and demanded, and
because there is a natural resistance to it in society, instead of mere spending, it has become the basis
of the economies of states, instead of mere spending, a blanket waste of money, in volumes that create,
maintain and constantly increase one of the modern pillars of every state, the NATIONAL DEBT. How
does DEGROWTH or GROWTH relate to the national debt and logistics?
It is very closely interconnected because, among other things, the movement of money is actually its
logistical chain, in which, however, one-off currency has begun to prevail instead of currency. It is
targeted, artificially created with the justification that it is for the good of the population, and it is
accompanied, among other things, by the fact that instead of physical money, digital currencies are
being introduced, respectively. virtual. Their burning and wasting is not as blatant as the waste and
destruction of physical currency.

14. Despite the fact that the flow of money is logistics, with a few exceptions, it is not managed or managed
by logisticians. Exceptions are the transport of money to and from banks by armoured vehicles or the
filling of ATMs.
Not so long ago, the creators and promoters of BLOCKCHAIN technology and closely related
cryptocurrencies talked about the transparency of the flow of goods and money. This was before they
began to steal volumes of resources unseen in the entire history of mankind. It has always been virtual
money, but it had real value for owners investing in cryptocurrencies before it turned into an incredibly
high loss.
Despite these experiences, the first states are trying to introduce virtual currencies locally, as the only
form of economy, with the aim of a complete loss of control by society and individuals.
However, they are beginning to encounter the change in behavior that comes about with NO GROWTH
or GROWTH. The most significant one is the decrease in the need to buy new and instead more
intensive and systematic use of the existing one. This change undermines the whole essence of the
economic-social system, which is based on dependence on spending. In the near future, the effort to
keep the reins will lead to the penalization of "withholding" money in the accounts of individuals using
the advantage that you will not hide virtual money under the mattress.
In the birthplace of INDUSTRY 5.0, 22.10.2023 Michael Rada,
Human
IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH? Part XI
From the point of view of the development of society, the role of the individual is played by the states
and their elected representatives, who form the political structure established historically to lead the
state in the right direction. The problem is that the definition of "RIGHT" has long been determined
by those in power, and their interests are often personal.
It is possible that, as in the previous chapter, you are asking what is the connection between POLITICS
and LOGISTICS. It's bigger than expected. Politicians, like logisticians, should be able to perceive the
whole and work with it, unfortunately, like a large number of logisticians, members of governments are
just firefighters putting out one fire by starting another. It is only fortunate that neither the former nor
the latter use water to extinguish fires, but only money, because long ago all countries without
distinction would have been nothing but an arid desert, while today they are only an economic vassal
of those who lend money to states with such relish, rubbing their hands at their own growing profits.
Not so long ago, top logisticians offered government members in the country support with the
organization of logistics during the pandemic and were ignored. The result was the largest economic
cut-off in the state's history.
There are no logisticians in the Czech Republic or in any other government, and they are lacking in
supranational organizations such as the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank,
and many others. This is not a mistake, but the intention of the owners.
It is here that GROWTH, or GROWTH, will begin to intervene very soon, in fact, it has already begun to
interfere. This is shown by the statements of ministers speaking on behalf of their government, which
says that INDUSTRY 5.0 is one of the most important tools for the future development of the state.
These words have already been spoken at the highest level and are resonating more and more at lower
levels in INDIA, INDONESIA, ITALY, BRAZIL, ARGENTINA, NIGERIA and most recently in AUSTRALIA,

15. where it has been stated by a minister of the government of SOUTH AUSTRALIA, as well as the
government of the Indian state of KARNATAKA has included INDUSTRY 5.0 among the 9 priorities of the
state, doing so in the same week as South Australia.
This step is the first step towards straightening out highly unhealthy political developments. The above-
mentioned states and their politicians have begun to realize that if they do not actively respond to
DEGROWTH, or if you want to GROW UP, they themselves will be the first to become redundant and
lose at best "only" their lucrative positions on the ladder of power, not realizing that the function of a
politician is no longer to make decisions, but to present them to the people, instead of That those who
have long held power in their hands, but wish not to be known, may show their faces. No matter who,
the change will affect everyone.
One of the "negative" consequences will be the reverse logistics of the national debt, where it, instead
of uncontrollable growth, will begin to decrease, up to the state of the so-called NATIONAL or STATE
SURPLUS, which is a state that has completely disappeared from dictionaries at the time of the
degradation of the concept of POLITICS and you will not find it in WIKIPEDIA and often not even in
economic textbooks and textbooks, or in recognized lectures. Or just popular economists who have
found that a celebrity makes profits without the risk of personal responsibility for what they say.
These will be political influences that, although initially unintentional, will lead to a recovery associated
with the weakening or reduction of the political-administrative apparatus of the state from the highest
to the lowest level. Among other things, the system by which the "people's representatives" are elected
to their positions will change, in order to gain inviolability associated with a complete absence of
responsibility, coupled with the certainty of attractive earnings throughout a long electoral period. This
will also be significantly shortened and individual representatives, as well as, for example, logisticians,
will not only submit plans, but will also bear full responsibility for their implementation, at all stages.
This is where the function of logistics in politics will be crucial, responding to geo-climate change.
In the birthplace of INDUSTRY 5.0, 22.10.2023 Michael Rada,
Human
IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH? Part XII.
In addition to socio-economic and political influences, the economy is and will continue to be affected
by influences that it itself is short on. However, they are so strong that if it does not react in time, it
will no longer be able to react at all, because it will cease to exist in the form in which it exists today.
The chapter you are just beginning to read is the twelfth chapter, and you may remember that on the
face of a hand clock, twelve is usually (not always) the highest number, just as in the calendar, the
twelfth month, the last month.
This is no coincidence.
The goal of my work is not an end, but a new beginning, but it is often associated with dissatisfaction
with the existing state of affairs and shock, which not only awakens the participants, but also allows
them to be carriers of change, not only those who dully accept change, considering it the only possible
way.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the influences I talk about in the introduction, we cannot directly
influence or stop, it is necessary to prepare for them and react to them before they become another
fire, which, however, even the best logistician-firefighter cannot extinguish, because it will be too late.
These are GEO-CLIMATIC influences.

16. You may be wondering why I added the word GEO, or the abbreviation GEO, to the word CLIMATE,
which is on the plate every day. The reason is the realization that one is not without the other, has not
been, and will not be.
Although it has never been possible to command the wind or rain, the sun could not be turned on or
off when it was needed, there is still investment in the creation of new CLIMATE INSTITUTES, RESEARCH,
PUBLICATIONS, REPORTS, which bring information over and over again about how bad we are and will
be even worse, without once mentioning that we humans cannot change the climate, but we can
change our own behavior.
And here we have already touched on the topic hidden under the abbreviation "GEO" or GEOLOGY. As
you can see, the term is a combination of the two terms GEOLOGY and LOGIC. Unfortunately, by
focusing on the first part, forgetting about the second, and by uncontrolled pursuit of MORE, we have
turned a solid, resilient and life-friendly base into an inhospitable and eaten ball in many places, more
reminiscent of woodworms than the base I was talking about.
GROWTH, or GROWTH if you like, is and will be associated with the necessity to close the old ones
instead of creating "new holes", preferably in the form of a new efficient and not only economically
advantageous use, which is presented, for example, by industrial developers or transport infrastructure
builders under the term USE OF BROWNFIELDS, from whom you will never hear that there are already
enough roads, highways, rails and other paths, and it is time to just start using them properly.
In one of the previous chapters, I mentioned the drying up of the Panama Canal or the Amazon River,
but we don't have to go to our backyard for the effects of geo-climate change, just look at the state of
our own streams and water bodies and, if possible, the state of groundwater, which, instead of
continuous replenishment, is cut off from the water source by a network of amelioration pipes installed
under the landscape in the past, When there was too much water and pipes buried underground was
not only a quick but also an effective solution based on the assumption that the climate would never
change.
It has changed and will continue to change, whether we like it or not. It is therefore necessary to accept
this fact and focus on changing our own behavior and approach to the space that has been given to us
for life, not for death.
In the birthplace of INDUSTRY 5.0, 22.10.2023 Michael Rada,
Human
IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH? Part XIII.
Despite the fact that most dials have twelve as the highest number, there are also those where
thirteen also appears. It is a special number or digit, many are afraid of it and assign it negative
qualities and influence, if you will, even bad luck, it even has its own phobia called
TRISKADECAPHOBIA.
Despite this, this publication will have thirteen chapters, and to make things more difficult, part of the
last chapter was part of the second chapter and, in fact, all the others. It's not because I'm trying to
apply the principles of the circular economy, which has been chasing its own tail for six decades,
concentrating more on personal profit (the economy) than on circularity, or circularity, or the flow that
its experts always talk about with such passion.
This is due to the fact that the content simply filled one A4 page thirteen times, using a size 11 font.
However, nothing is a coincidence, not even this state.

17. In the past, and by that I mean a very distant time, thirteen, for example, was considered a sacred
number in Central America, and to this day it is considered a lucky number in Sikhism because it shares
the word YOURS.
And that's it.
DEGROWTH or REGROWTH is related to ourselves, to each of us, to our behavior, because it has a direct
effect on everything that has been described in the previous chapters. It is very possible that the
Thirteen has been artificially and thus purposefully negated because its positive contribution would
disrupt the continuity of the interests of a few based on the assumption that MY, MINE, or MINE, is the
key to success and wealth.
In a society where the selfishness represented by the above expressions is taken as the basis of
behavior, the expression YOUR, YOUR, or YOURS would be distracting, and therefore it was necessary
to give it a negative connotation, and a means as simple as the insertion of a number, as an association
of bad luck, would serve well for this.
Over the last 10 years of my life, since I decided to build a WORLD WITHOUT WASTE AND WASTE FOR
ALL, I have had the privilege of meeting people on all continents and not only meeting and lecturing,
but also discussing and talking about topics that were often raised for the first time in their lives or in
their presence. Each of the discussions was different, each was enriching and each aroused interest in
knowing more and ended with an agreement on further cooperation.
In many cases, I have come across the phrase "BUT I AM ONLY..."
And I consider its existence to be a fault of the system of the self, as well as the one-offness, which,
unlike the material, is a real evil, introduced into the system with a single goal, an infinitely growing
profitability, conditioned by addiction comparable to drug addiction.
I start each of my lectures, no matter who or what I am lecturing to, with the sentence: "HELLO, I'M
MICHAEL RADA AND I'M HUMAN" and every time, regardless of the place, condition and time,
goosebumps appear on my hands, and often not only there.
I will be glad if this publication will help everyone not only to start their lectures or presentations in the
same way with a single change, it will replace my name with its own, because BEING HUMAN is the
highest honour and we are all born with it and we will all die by it, but the most important thing is to
BE HUMAN DURING OUR LIVES. I thank you and I believe that the thirteen chapters ON DEGROWTH
will help you GROW and change the future.
In the birthplace of INDUSTRY 5.0, 22.10.2023 Michael Rada,
Human
WARNING
Do not consume more than one chapter per day
Content causes awakening and the will to change
E=mc2

18. ECONOMY = MONEY x CORRUPTION2
ECONOMY = MONEY x CORRUPTION squared
FACTS
95% OF ALL MATERIALS ARE RECYCLABLE, BUT ONLY 13.5% ARE RECYCLED.
75% OF THE HARVEST AND FOOD IS WASTED BEFORE THE SECOND STAGE OF PROCESSING
64% OF TRUCKS ARE EMPTY
55% OF SEA CONTAINERS CARRY ONLY AIR
50% OF RAILWAY WAGONS ARE STATIONARY OR RUNNING UNLOADED
46% IS THE STANDARD SPACE UTILIZATION OF WAREHOUSE SPACE
30% OF FAST FASHION ORDERED IS SOLD AT FULL PRICE
20% OF HUMANITARIAN AID GOES TO THOSE IN NEED
12% OF SORTED WASTE IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC IS RECYCLED (92% IS SORTED)
2% OF THE PEOPLE ON EARTH HAVE ASSETS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF THE ASSETS OF 98% OF THE
POPULATION
I wrote this text after 10 years of building a WORLD WITHOUT WASTE AND WASTE FOR ALL. It will be
translated into the national languages of all countries where my ideas and the principles of INDUSTRY
5.0, of which I am the founder, are represented by INDUSTRY 5.0 AMBASSADORS. As of 1.11.2023, there
were 117 of them.
The aim of the publication is not to frighten, but to provide a basis for deciding whether we will continue
to follow the path of endless growth, which resembles a runaway express train running on tracks ending
in compact rock, or whether we will change ourselves to help change those who, if we are role models,
will follow us.
The tools of change have been described, it is up to you whether you use them.
Michael Rada, Human
Reader Comments
Luděk Fencl, ECOENGINEERING TŘINEC
The whole topic is excellently chosen, it grows not only through the topic of logistics, but logically
permeates almost all areas of current life around and inside us.

19. We waste everywhere and everything, and unfortunately often none of us even realize it, and at the
same time it alarms us negatively from newspaper headlines and articles, where we are shouted at
similar words such as recession, stagnation, devaluation, price increases and even the
aforementioned degrowth.
But not all the words that we ourselves often do not fully understand are negative, and it must be said
that we are specifically talking about degrowth here.
That is, we take stock, evaluate, plan and so on. Degrowth is not a negative finding at all, it has little
to do with recession and instability - on the contrary, it leads to stability and is basically a positive
assessment of the current state with the addition of "well, finally". ugh... This lasted...
It is necessary to finally stop, after all, we have a clearly demarcated space on our earth, which has its
limits!!
So where do we want to grow indefinitely? Endless growth is meaningless if we look at our real needs
and a dying planet.
We are talking about the green deal, sustainability, but in the European Union's view, these are just
purposeful words for further pouring money into nonsensically emerging new industries such as CO2
capture and storage, so that astronomical sums of money are only being diverted into new economic
growth.
So... Isn't it really time to think and stop chasing steep growth? Let's make the most of what we have
and let's appreciate it, as well as other people, and ultimately ourselves. That will be enough to get
you started!
Rudolf Malý, FUTURELOGISTICS
Thoughts after reading the material IS LOGISTICS READY FOR DEGROWTH?
by Michael Rada 20.-22.10 2023
I can't say that I fully identify with all the information and ideas that are in the material, but it doesn't
stop me from accepting the basic idea of the whole material. And what is that idea, of course, only in my opinion?
Inspired by nature, which knows very well that it is not possible to grow indefinitely and certainly not
at the same speed throughout "life". Every living organism, or at least the ones we know so far, alternates
periods of sometimes rapid growth and development with periods of stabilization, or let's call it
strengthening, or we can even mature. And in this period there is no need to grow completely, better solved
in nature it does not even happen.
Unfortunately, humanity usually perceives growth as growth in turnover, profit, capital, simply
something linked to a means of payment, in any form. And what about trying to look at growth as a
potential that can create real abundance, not just a dodgy sense of wealth? Well, maybe because we may not
even know what wealth is and how it differs from abundance.
So what exactly is being rich, or when am I actually rich? I don't know if we are even able to agree on
this in the wider collective. Rather, I don't think so, if only because we will all be looking at it from a different
place or angle. One finds out very quickly if one comes into contact with people who, according to us "civilized",
live in poor conditions. Of course, I don't mean only from the point of view of a tourist staying in a resort on
vacation. However, they usually have, but not in general, exactly what they need and what is of real value to
them. Not the "veneer of civilization" that we can have everything we can think of because we can go and buy it,
and almost at any time. Or better yet, someone will bring it right under our noses.

20. We lack humility and willingness to reach an agreement and cooperate, everything is actually a
constant struggle for money and power. Very often, any business cooperation begins with NDA (non-disclosure)
negotiations, without looking for a way to tune in to the same frequency. This dodgy and often unenforceable
document is not necessary at all when we are looking for a partnership and do not see everything as primarily
competitive. There is a beautiful mention in the material that a matching DNA is better than an NDA. And we're
not people, so we're basically built on the same DNA? I guess we just forgot about it!
Other terms, such as GREENDEAL, which is mentioned in the material, is a really big "invention". Just
break the word down into two basic parts and it's actually quite obvious what it's all about, unfortunately.
And I'm not an opponent of the basic idea, i.e. supporting nature and environmental friendliness, it' s
just that the DEAL is a bit extra, don't you think?
We logisticians have it a bit complicated, or so we think and often say it out loud, because our
professional deformity is to have everything resolved quickly, comprehensively and, of course, effectively. Well,
it is necessary to come up with and think it through, so we can't do without searching. But many times the
solution appears at the exact moment when we are not trying to search, but we give space for discovery.
The moment we throw off the blinders of operational blindness and look at everything as a blank sheet
of paper where all the solutions in the world are, it can come. If it sounds too esoteric to you, try it from time to
time and you will be very surprised how practical it is and how it works quite well. Sometimes we excuse our own
blindness by saying that I don't accept some esoteric or other gibberish. I'd rather use my well-worn deck of
cards, which I all know well.
However, if I am looking for a solution to any logistical assignment only in the usual range of
solutions that I have already tried, I have very little chance of coming up with something new or even
innovative.
Believe me, logistics, but not only it, the de facto world and the environment around us, needs such
different and innovative solutions a lot. This is also what this material, although quite controversial, but I think
interesting, worth reading and thinking about, is about.
Thanks to Michael Rada for, if nothing else, food for thought and stepping out into the unexplored, or a
bit of a leap into the unknown for new information. Whether I use them or change something is up to each of us.
The decision is always up to each of us.
The author of the ideas Rudolf Malý, wrote them on 18.2. 2024