I think in the context of these discussions, growth is one thing: "The increase in the inflation-adjusted market value of goods and services produced over time.

I think in the context of these discussions, growth is one thing: "The increase in the inflation-adjusted market value of goods and services produced over time." (e.g. EBITDA of a company or GDP of a country). I don't think anyone is arguing against the word growth in a general sense... Clearly we can "grow" our knowledge, or undertake "personal growth", or whatever. The people who argue against "growth" are, in a way, agreeing with you: They're saying "GDP is a terrible metric to optimize and we should find a way to stop optimizing for it. It creates perverse incentives. Digging oil out of the ground and burning it to make a ski-slope in the desert increases GDP. Selling houses to each other for ever-increasing prices increases GDP. Those things suck. They're saying that perhaps we could make the world better by changing the metrics we optimize for... Perhaps that's population happiness, quality-adjusted life years per person, projected climate change impact, world biodiversity, etc etc. And they're saying that maybe if we optimize on those things, GDP is going to have to drop. And that should be OK. But with the system we have built, it's not OK. So we're in a bind.