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.
Given the strategic indeterminacy of the degrowth movement that has been discussed in earlier articles within this series, we will consider the role that policy may play within the broader scope of a degrowth transformation and as one important focus within a plurality of movements. Specifically, working to move the focus of policy towards instruments that shift the rules of the competitive env...
Shortly before the start of the Climate Camp and the Degrowth Summer School, we are changing the venue of our camp. We have found an even better place in close proximity to the open cast mine Garzweiler. Further information is available here
Some people object to the concept of “natural capital” because they say it reduces nature to the status of a commodity to be marketed at its exchange value. This indeed is a danger, well discussed by George Monbiot. Monbiot’s criticism rightly focuses on the monetary pricing of natural capital. But it is worth clarifying that the word “capital” in its original non-monetary sense means “a stock ...