On 14 March the last submission period closed for contributions to the conference. After a first quick review it was already clear that all expectations were far exceeded: more than 350 scientific papers were received from a broad range of disciplines such as economics, psychology, geography and urban planning. Further 260 proposals for practice-based activities were submitted by various civil-society organizations and initiatives. The majority of the contributions came from European countries, although there were also submissions from Japan, India,Mexico, Brazil and the United States.
Professor Tim Jackson, author of „Prosperity without Growth“, and member of the conference’s advisory board, sees the conference as an important step towards overcoming the growth paradigm: „I hope that this conference will help shape a positive vision of an equitable and sustainable post-growth society“. Nina Treu, programme coordinator of the conference, is pleased: “The high number of contributions shows the great interest in the topic. I am sure that now we can put together a conference programme with many superb presentations and activities.”
At the conference there will be seven keynote-speeches and more than 20 panel discussions. Around 250 activities will take place on the basis of the received submissions, in addition to an inspiring artistic programme. Confirmed speakers are among others Naomi Klein, Sunita Narain, Alberto Acosta, Esperanza Martinez, Harald Welzer, Joan Martinez-Alier and Angelika Zahrnt.
By Giorgos Kallis The ecomodernist manifesto is the latest and most visionary document under the auspices of the ‘post-environmentalist’ think-tank the Breakthrough Institute. I first heard the Institute’s founders Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger speak at Berkeley some eight years ago, presenting their case for the “death of environmentalism” (hence the ‘post’ prefix). For half of the p...
Europe is exhausted. It is exhausted after long years of what is labeled as the Eurozone crisis. It is exhausted after years of economic success and – now – prolonged years of political failure. Every single attempt of deepening the political union of Europe after the enactment of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 and the [...]
Australia’s two-speed economy, in which those engaged in mineral extraction flourish while the rest flounder, seems to have only one direction: up. Not that people really stop to think why. Most Australians, if you asked them, would stare blankly if you mentioned degrowth, or crack a joke about how it’s tantamount to devolution. It seems [...]
