Library

By: Giuliano Cannata

Introduction: What is really happening to the humanity beyond the crysis that touch a part of western economy and the transformation of energetic and communication technologies. Within a scenario of deep social uncertainty and structural crisis in advanced economies, there could be an underestimation of the present real revolution: i.e. the end of growth of human species on earth. Actually this...

By: Daniela Danna

Abstract: This paper presents a critical analysis of the scientific and popular debate (the one on the journalistic debate is in progress) on the fall in the fertility rate of Italian women in the last two decades, from 1992 to 2012. The paper wants to denounce the dominant ideology of experts in demography and the family - prisoners without a global view of nationalism and of the anti-scient...

By: Roberto Pellerey

Contribution to the 3rd International Degrowth Conference for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity in Venice in 2012. - only available in Italian

By: Graziano Pini

Premise: Years ago some small innovative companies began to replace the petrochemical surfactants with biodegradable ingredients, fatty acids of palm oil. All the major manufacturers utilized the biodegradability with the result that huge areas of rainforest have been converted to intensive cultivation of oil palm. These activities taking out the orangutan habitat, chimpanzees and many other sp...

By: Ole Busck

Economic degrowth and job growth can and should go hand in hand. What is the role of trade unions in a degrowth economy? It may be difficult to imagine trade unions fighting for something else than economic growth, since they have always done so - with some success at least for a time. However, if their core business really is to secure jobs the present situation calls urgently for an alterna...

By: Cecilia Ferrari

Introduction: Unlike other sciences, e.g. IT or Physics, whose experts’ high level of specialization is regarded as the major key to success, Medicine actually maintains the prerogative of a traditional knowledge, in which a deep understanding is reachable only with practice in at least several of its branches. Besides, since it affects the whole of life of people devoting to it, Medicine is al...

By: Eduardo Missoni, Alice Russel

Abstract: The economic crisis the world is living through shows us the ineffectiveness of the capitalist development model and of the current financial systems. The real economy is superseded by an ephemeral one which increases inequalities between and within countries, while at the same time emphasizing the need for new social and economic frameworks that are open, inclusive, just, and environ...

By: Samuel Alexander

Keywords: degrowth, uneconomic growth, threshold hypothesis, voluntary simplicity

By: Pascal van Griethuysen

Keywords: Degrowth; Property economics; Capitalist rationality; Eco-social rationale

By: Kristin Leismann, Martina Schmitt, Holger Rohn, Carolin Baedeker

Es gibt einen neuen Trend, der nicht nur in Deutschland, sondern weltweit Einzug hält: Gemeinschaftlicher Konsum heißt er und umfasst so unterschiedliche Praktiken wie Wohnungstausch, Kleidertauschparties, Autogemeinschaften, Gemeinschaftsgärten, Tauschringe für Werkzeuge, Drucker oder DVDs und vieles andere mehr. Das Time Magazin hat diese neue Konsumform sogar zu einer der zehn großen Ideen e...

By: Francesco Mele

From the text: The possible answers are virtually infinite. Here I’d like to suggest one that may appear simplistic: education signifies providing tools to make people live better. True, this means that any argument based only on quantity is instantly incomplete: the idea that education is a matter of accumulating notions and skills (“the more I know the better I’ll be”) risks being inadequate,...

By: Angelo Marino

Contribution to the 3rd International Degrowth Conference for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity in Venice in 2012. - only available in Italian

By: Roberta Sassatelli

From the text: In his widely known work La société de consommation, the French cultural critic Jean Baudrillard thus summed up contemporary society: ‘Just as medieval society was balanced on God and the Devil, so ours is balanced on consumption and its denunciation’. The notion of the consumer, contested as it has always been, has itself become an important cultural category. Especially from th...

By: Sergi Nuss

Abstract: Between October 2011 and April 2012 the author has conducted research with ICLEI Europe on the Green Economy approach of 6 cities active in local climate change and energy, namely: Almada (Portugal), Arendal (Norway), Bologna (Italy), Girona (Spain), Jerusalem (Israel) and Turku (Finland). These cities not only cover a wide geographical area, but also a broad cultural, economical and ...

By: Jerry van den Berge

Summary: The United Nations have recognised the universal human right to water and sanitation on 28 July 2010, through Resolution 64/292. In this resolution the UN acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are key factors to the accomplishment of all human rights. The Resolution calls upon States and international organisations to provide financial resources, help in capacity-buildi...

By: Mario Agostinelli

Contribution to the 3rd International Degrowth Conference for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity in Venice in 2012. - only available in Italian

By: Guido dalla Casa

Abstract: The ecological thinking requires particular awareness of being part of a much larger complex, the Ecosystem, which perhaps is a sentient being (or, if you like, a Great Unconscious): the need for good health of this complex is the first value. The words used to convey concepts are very important: the currently used language is strongly influenced by the dominant anthropocentric paradi...

By: Mildred Gustack Delambre, Alan Ainer Boccato-Franco, Edson Franco

Keywords: Solidarity Economy, Political strategy, participatory transition, degrowth process, social movements

By: Marco Boffi

Abstract: Degrowth supports a sober and convivial vision of life through principles encouraging equality and social relations. The cultural perspective it proposes is conceived also as the starting point for a concrete political action, and political subjects based on such ideas has risen in several countries. These principles play a key role in favoring citizens’ participation in public life, ...

By: Luigi Gaudio

Abstract: Since the 1973’s oil crisis everyone on the planet was well aware of the economic development’s dependence from fossil fuels supply and their producers. Nowadays, just like then, an economic and energy crisis has once again highlighted this unsolved dependence. Dealing with such a complex dynamic implies a substantial shift in every country’s societal structure aspects: economic, poli...