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.
Degrowth scholars and activists often turn to past cases of social or socioecological transformation for inspiration to inform transformative action in the present. Yet, there has so far been insufficient awareness of the bias that comes with using any historical analogy. The insights provided by historical analogies are limited, but can fruitfully complement analyses of the present and future-...
By Christopher Boyce I write this sitting in a service station on the M11 in the UK travelling back from Leipzig after what was an inspiring conference on degrowth. I’ve been hitching for only a couple of years now, but as soon as my talk on money and happiness was accepted for the conference in Leipzig, [...]
The workshop “How to sell degrowth: Business models II” was a short paper session following the scientific paper session “How to sell degrowth: Business models I”. Gabriel Trettel Silva as the first presenter rose the question of whether or not profit-making is compatible with the principles of a steady-state economy. His own conclusion was that it [...]
