Library

By: Ted Trainer

Abstract: A sustainable and just world cannot be achieved without enormous structural and cultural change. The argument presented below is that when our situation is understood in terms of resource and ecological limits, it is evident firstly that getting rid of capitalism is not sufficient. A satisfactory alternative society cannot be highly industrialised or centralised, and it must involve ...

By: Kevin Karaca

Review from Kevin Karaca on the book "Entropia - Life beyond Industrial Civilisation" by Samuel Alexander Introduction: Peak Oil is around the corner. The rise in the political-right sends hints that the neoliberal project is coming to an end. Economic growth is being questioned by many. What could a post-growth society look like?

By: José Luís Garcia, Helena Mateus Jerónimo, Tiago Mesquita Carvalho

Keywords: Degrowth; Methodological Luddism; Technology assessment; Reform of technology; Responsibility; Focal things and practices

By: Amy Cox Hall

Key Words: De-growth, neo-monasticism, emerging church, millennial generation, Christianity, sharing economy

By: Ted Trainer

Summary: In his contribution to the series Ecology after capitalism, Ted Trainer argues that ecosocialism is not the answer and calls for the left and degrowthers to embrace all the radical implications of the “limits to growth” analysis. This implies following “the simpler way”, his own proposal for achieving a post-capitalist society based on the principles of eco-anarchism.

By: Alain Gras, Joaquim Sempere, Ernest Garcia, Mercedes Martinez-Iglesias, John Wiseman, Samuel Alexander, Rebecca Bramall, Jorge Riechmann, Peadar Kirby, Laurence Raineau, Climent Sanjuán, Ignasi Lerma Montero, Jesús Vicens

Subtitle: Degrowth, Austerity and Wellbeing Editors: Ernest Garcia, Mercedes Martinez-Iglesias, Peadar Kirby From the introduction: . . . This stark choice confronts humanity with what is perhaps the greatest dilemma it has ever faced in its history: can we try to mobilize our resources in the most unprecedented ways over a short time span of no more than half a century to avoid the wors...

By: Frank Adler, Ulrich Brand, Felix Ekardt, Uta von Winterfeld, Corinna Burkhart, Matthias Schmelzer, Nina Treu, Dagmar Comtesse, Christoph Sanders, Maik Hosang, Jana Flemming, Frank Adloff, Fritz Reheis, Oliver Richters, Andreas Siemoneit, Steffen Liebig, Christoph Köhler, Robert Koepp, Ulrich Schachtschneider, Helge Peukert, Damian Ludewig, Jana Gebauer, Steffen Lange, Dirk Posse, Harald Bender, Norbert Bernholt, Eva Lang, Theresia Wintergerst, Hans-Peter Studer, Daniel Fuhrhop, Michael Kopatz

Herausgeber_innen: Wie werden demokratische Übergänge zu einem Leben und Wirtschaften möglich, deren Qualität und Stabilität nicht vom permanenten ökonomischen Wachstum abhängen? Reicht dafür eine Bottom-up-Strategie? Reichen all die Non-profit-Unternehmen, Tauschläden und Kulturen des Selbermachens als Keime einer im Entstehen begriffenen Postwachstumsökonomie und -gesellschaft? Wir meinen: Ne...

By: György Folk

Presentation by György Folk Degrowth may appear for the majority in the developed world a sacrifice of the human comfort we live in, a loss of the present standard of life or well-being. Weal proposes a radical reorientation of our understanding about the human good. Biological and social research produced a multitude of partial results that shed light on how humans live well. Equating the lev...

By: Uwe Schneidewind, Elmar Altvater, Nico Paech, Felix Werdermann

Heft 10 des Magazins movum> zum Thema Effizienz und Suffizienz Kurzbeschreibung: Effizienz allein bringt keine substanzielle Reduktion von Ressourcenverbrauch, Emissionen und Abfällen. Wir brauchen auch Suffizienz – die Befreiung vom "Immer mehr". Und zwar nicht individuell, sondern als Politik. Das Heft als PDF

By: Adam Cajka

An average village in India does not really benefit from the current economic system. The story of Kuthumbakkam, a village in Tamil Nadu, shows how people can locally create viable economy based on the regional sources and inter-village exchange. Main charasteristics of the Network growth economy are high localisation of production and consumption and focus on self-sufficiency. Initial concept...

By: Angelika Zahrnt, Felix Ekardt, Anja Humburg, Joachim Spangenberg, Joachim Spangenberg

Sufficiency is the anti-thesis to the dominant orientation towards getting ever “more, further and faster”. Often treated as a lifestyle issue for the better-off, it essentially requires (1) a fundamental policy change to offering new opportunity spaces, from advertisement- and commerce free spaces via repairable design to reverting work intensification, and (2) a change in societal standards a...

By: Åsa Callmer

Sufficiency as a mind-set - as in “good enough” rather than voluntary simplicity - is indeed a challenging thought in a society of consumption-driven individuals taught to equate materialistic accomplishments with status as well as with identity. However, to upgrade the value of sufficiency in the affluent society brings about potential for a reorientation towards sustainability. This paper aim...

By: AG Kritischer Konsum

RLS: Wachsende Müllberge, steigender Meeresspiegel, vergiftete Böden, Kriege um Ressourcen, tote ArbeiterInnen in Fabriken und Bergwerken: Produktion, Transport, Bewerbung, Vertrieb und Entsorgung unserer täglich konsumierten Güter und Dienstleistungen haben schwerwiegende Folgen. Gegenwehr scheint aussichtslos. Denn die Welt wirkt unendlich komplex und die Möglichkeit, politisch Einfluss auszu...

By: Dirk Posse

Herausgeber_innen: Eine Wirtschaft ohne Wachstum wird durch Entwicklungen wie sinkende Wachstumsraten, ökologische Grenzen und sich verstärkende soziale Schieflagen zur realen Herausforderung - fpr die Zukunftsfähigkeit einer funktionierenden Gesellschaft, aber gleichfalls für Unternehmen als Problemverursacher und potenzielle Problemlöser Aus Postwachstum folgt allerdings kein Wachstumverbot....

By: Uwe Schneidewind

Kurzes Interview mit Uwe Schneidewind zu Fragen wie "Was verstehen Sie unter Wachstum?" oder "Wie sieht für Sie eine Postwachstumsgesellschaft aus?".

By: Joachim Spangenberg

Keywords: Sustainable consumption, sufficiency, Great Transformation, satisfiers and needs, good life, labour, design, human rights Sustainable Consumption Transitions Series Issue 6, 25

By: Samuel Alexander

Abstract: How would the ordinary middle-class citizen deal with a lifestyle of radical simplicity? Radical simplicity does not mean poverty, which is involuntary and full of suffering and anxiety, and thus universally undesirable. Rather, it means a very low but biophysically sufficient material standard of living. This chapter directly addresses the issue of “two types of austerity”, arguing t...

By: Samuel Alexander

This text provides a deep but accessible introduction to the life and ideas of one of the simple living movement's greatest pioneers - Henry David Thoreau.

By: Nick Meynen

From the text: Reporting from The 5th International Degrowth Conference in Budapest - which continues today and tomorrow - NICK MEYNEN explores the new narrative of ‘sufficiency' being discussed and and asks will it catch on before it's too late?

By: Samuel Alexander, Paul Yacoumis

Keywords: Low-tech; Appropriate technology; Energy descent; Degrowth; Resilience; Techno-optimism