Library

By: Rasmus Steffansen

Abstract: This paper will address a theoretical conceptualisation of one of the clearest symbols of the North’s wealth and picture on unsustainable economic growth: the second home. There is a lack of theoretical knowledge in relation to how to conceptualise a ‘sustainable development’ of second homes in a Norwegian context. Thus this paper will conceptualise sustainability of second home devel...

By: Helena Jeronimo

Abstract: Waste reveals a great deal about values and how we live, the economy that produces it, and our notions of development. An economy driven by the compulsion to make and consume have formed a world in which the lifetime of “durable” products tends to be shortened to that of “consumables,” while nonrenewable natural resource stocks are consumed like renewable production flows. This paper ...

By: Charlotte Knorr

Abstract: The Sharing Economy represents a social and also a media phenomenon, which indicates that people are sharing goods of any kind (material and immaterial) on the Internet for further using, distributing, splitting up, giving away or even sell. This phenomenon is currently experiencing in the media a veritable boom, both in the so-called Social Media (Web 2.0) as well as in the press med...

By: Tiina Schmidt, Kristoffer Wilén

Downshifting, Class, Responsible Careers, Meaningful Work, Degrowth

By: Michal Sedlacko, Inge Røpke

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the process and results of construction of system representations of several respected and widely discussed arguments on sustainable consumption and degrowth, thereby providing new inputs into the debate on societal and economic alternatives and their practical and political implementation. We constructed system representations using analytic...

By: Andreas Siemoneit

Abstract: Producers and distributors as well as consumers are using frequently more technical products that enhance their cost efficiency and their economic (and social) competitiveness. This has sweeping distributive consequences which are inescapable. This effect is not restricted to a certain economic system, but requires only the fact that higher efficiency directs demand toward the more ef...

By: Robert Ulmer

unconditional basic income, modesty, sufficiency

By: Philip Vergragt, Halina Szejnwald Brown

Abstract: Since the end of WWII the USA has transformed itself into a consumer society, with consumerism as a dominant lifestyle. It is a very stable complex system, which emerged through concerted efforts of the manufacturing sector, government policies, and organized labor. The ecological cost of this transformation has been high. Fundamental shifts need to take place in how people satisfy th...

By: Tobias Vogel

growth legitimation by democracic values, comparison of status, unequality, cultural enforcement of growth, consumption

By: Frederik Larsen

Abstract: Solutions to the economic and environmental challenges the world is currently facing often introduce novel ideas and new ways forward. In a conceptual take on degrowth this paper presents an ethnographic study of an existing economic system, the second hand market, and argues that understanding how values are created in this market can contribute to a change towards greater sustainabi...

By: Sylvia Lorek

Abstract: The REDUCTIONS project is designed to identify the potential for absolute resource and energy use reduction of production-consumption systems at all levels and to explore ways to realise this potential. While lots of ideas about reductions are made only few concrete examples of achieved reductions are documented. The REDUCTIONS project intends to fill this gap. It combines the analysi...

By: Stefanie Huertgen

Abstract: I argue that a coincidence of growing profits and growing consumption / wages cannot be presumed any longer. Even if many participants of the Degrowth-Debate do so, the equation of economic Growth of enterprises and consumptive Growth of the population (at least in the Global North) is in itself bound to imaginations coming from the postwar (“fordist”) period and the class-compromise ...

By: Tilman Santarius

Abstract: Research on rebound effects at the consumer level until today has been almost exclusively limited to the realm of economic sciences. Accordingly explanations of how rebound effects arise are restricted to economic theories, namely to income and substitution effects. This article analyzes rebound effects through the lenses of various social and behavioral science theories. The article ...

By: Henrike Rau

Abstract: The emergence of carbon-intensive systems of production, distribution and consumption as part of the modernisation process in Europe and beyond coincided with fundamental changes in how people view and use time. Predictions by advocates of modern time management that time-saving technologies will radically reduce working hours and enhance people’s quality of life did not materialise, ...

By: Edina Vadovics

small-footprint living, change agents, well-being, sustainable lifestyles

By: Filka Sekulova

Abstract:The present article builds upon the results of an empirical study exploring key factors which determine life satisfaction in Barcelona. We look at the way income reductions, associated with the current economic situation in Spain, affect subjective well-being. We find no evidence for a decrease of happiness associated with income declines that have occurred one or two years ago. Recent...

By: Beth Stratford

Abstract: Tradable Energy Quotas (TEQs) is a economy-wide framework designed to shift social norms surrounding energy behaviour and to guarantee equitable access to energy in the context of either a deliberate or involuntary energy descent. This presentation will explore the likely distributional impact, public acceptability and behaviour change potential of the TEQs scheme. While claims in rel...

By: Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers, Katharina Umpfenbach

Abstract: The overall environmental impact of consumption of resources in the EU continues to grow, requiring more biocapacity than is globally available. This appears driven by the dominant economic model putting consumerism and GDP growth at the heart of our economic system, as well as in our cultural and political systems. The paper will presents attempts of the European research project DYN...

By: Hugo Hanbury

Degrowth, environment, consumerism, transition, world food system

By: Blanca Fernandez

Abstract: Sustainable development is an ongoing process based on a set of principles that have to continue to spread throughout all economic activities. Looking at the current economic scenario, the transformation of the financial sector appears crucial. I first define a working definition of sustainable finances. Powerful drivers towards sustainable practices in strong profit-oriented markets ...