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Re-taking Sustainable Development for Degrowth

By: André Reichel

22.03.2016

From the text: In the discourse on degrowth – the deliberate and planned downscaling of production and consumption that increases human well-being and enhances ecological conditions and equity on the planet – the notion of »sustainable development« has sort of a bad rap. In fact, sustainable degrowth is intended to replace sustainable development as the central concept under which ecological and social minded activists and researchers might rally. Serge Latouche, the one who first fired the »missile word« of décroissance into the pubic realm, once held a talk titled »Down with sustainable development! Long live convivial degrowth!« at a conference in Paris in 2002. What are the reasons for such disregard of sustainable development? And could this be a somewhat foolish mistake?

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André Reichel

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Decoupling is dead! Long live degrowth!

Capture d e%cc%81cran 2019 07 10 a%cc%80 10.11.39

By: Timothée Parrique

If making the degrowth case was like baking a cake, disproving the plausibility of green growth would be the equivalent of turning the oven on. Decoupling is only “a myth” or “a fantasy,” some would say, a notorious fallacy that requires as much attention as the confabulations of Flat Earthers. And yet, faith in decoupling is strengthening in environmental agendas all around the world, includin...

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Life in a Bauwagen

Leben im Bauwagen [Life in a Bauwagen (construction trailer)] from Marc Menningmann on Vimeo. During the Degrowth Conference in Leipzig in 2014 the photographer Niko Baumgarten opened his Bauwagen for passers-by. Anyone interested was invited to get some impressions and to look at his picture series "Welcome Home", which deals with alternative ways of housing.

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Degrowth in Action: Call for Courses Open!

Klimacamp2

For our Degrowth in Action - Climate Justice Summer School 2015 we are currently looking for contributors to our courses. The summer school will take place from 9 to 14 August 2015 in the lignite-mining region of the Rhineland in cooperation with the annual climate camp. The courses will be at the centre of the Summer School and run for 4 or 2 days, thus giving the opportunity to dive deeper in...