Library

By: Matthias Schmelzer, Andrea Vetter, Aaron Vansintjan

We need to break free from the capitalist economy. Degrowth gives us the tools to bend its bars. Economic growth isn’t working, and it cannot be made to work. Offering a counter-history of how economic growth emerged in the context of colonialism, fossil-fueled industrialization, and capitalist modernity, The Future Is Degrowth argues that the ideology of growth conceals the rising inequalitie...

By: Giorgos Kallis, Angelos Varvarousis, Panos Petridis

By: Gibran Vita

Presentation [Part of the standard session "Practicing Degrowth"] The present work aims to contribute in three major ways- 1) By connecting fundamental human needs by Max-Neef et al to global carbon emissions and their satisfaction. 2) By employing an Environmentally Extended MultiRegional Input-Output (EE-MRIO) to assess the outcomes of massive consumption-related lifestyles changes envisio...

By: Johannes Brossmann

Presentation [Part of the standard session "Practicing Degrowth"] Based on recently published research using performative methods Johannes will discuss (i) what it could mean to “live degrowth” by portraying a diverse range of interrelated practices and (ii) attempt to answer how “living degrowth” could be conceptualized as a transformative endeavour. Presenters: Johannes Brossmann (actin...

By: Damaris Castro, Johannes Brossmann, Tobias Froese, Gibran Vita

Standard session (discussion following 4 presentations)  A sufficiency assessment: do people think they have enough? Video We investigate how individuals think about ‘having enough’ and ‘wanting more’ in the contemporary society on a financial, material and leisure level. Furthermore, we analyze how this relates to people’s relative preference for income versus leisure. Result...

By: Sarah Fromm, Simon Schöning

Workshop Civil disobedience is emerging as a key element employed in the fight for environmental and climate justice and for raising awareness about some of the most urgent crises. The aim of the session is to develop a better understanding of civil disobedience and how it may be used strategically in the degrowth process. Nonviolent protest played a fundamental role in the anti-apartheid mo...

By: Maša Hawlina, Asja Hrvatin, Nicoleta Nour, Sara Pistotnik, Lana Zdravković, Ajda Pistotnik

Special session Bursting Platform is bringing under a spotlight feminization of politics and exploration of possibilities of co-creating and opening a new political space – a platform for building stronger connections between various initiatives, places, women activists covering diverse, but relevant topics that bring into effect needed new alliances. Five themes will be presented by five ac...

By: Timmo Krüger

Presentation [part of the standard session "Regional Transformations"] Buen Vivir goes beyond criticism and rejection. It has an utopian surplus. European activists adopted it to make positive visions thinkable and expressible. The fluctuating relevance of Buen Vivir can be traced back to the course of political struggles both in the Andean countries and in Europe. Presenters: Timmo Krüge...

By: Justus Baumann, Vegard Beyer

Presentation [part of the standard session "Communicating Degrowth"] We argue that strategic, motivation-oriented communications and scalable, mission-centric organising are crucial bottlenecks for the degrowth movement’s success. We have three key recommendations for the movement to master the challenges that climate change communication has struggled with. Presenters: Justus Baumann (Fu...

By: Ruth Falkenberg, David Fox

Presentation [part of the standard session "Theories of Degrowth Practices"] In this session we explore how growth logics are embedded in research practices. Then, we critically discuss perspectives from Science and Technology Studies and from the Degrowth community on how to enable the practice and organisation of science that is required for socio-ecological transformations. Presenters:...

By: Ruth Falkenberg, David Fox

Standard session (discussion following 2 presentations) Social Work, Ecoanxiety, and Peer Pressure Ecoanxiety is a significant component of the global climate crisis; yet it is mostly absent from collective understanding regarding the Grand Challenge to create social responses to the changing environment. Social work has an opportunity to employ positive peer pressure throughout the disci...

By: Mira Pütz

Presentation [part of the standard session "Theories of Transformation"] In order to develop and implement socio-ecological (economic) policies the processes and structural conditions of representation in democracies today need to be rethought, re-imagined and changed. Citizens’ assemblies can help us to do just that, starting now. Presenters: Mira Pütz (Sciences Po) Language: English ...

By: Nathan Barlow, Panos Petridis, Nilda Inkermann, Katya Chertkovskaya

Panel debate This panel aims to give an overview of different strategic approaches for degrowth. Panelists will discuss frameworks or typologies of strategic approaches to assist the discussions on strategy that place in the following days of the conference. Further, challenges and weaknesses of different strategic approaches, as well as inter-linkages between strategies will be discussed. ...

By: Naomi Klein, Astra Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Lia Rose

An online teach-in with Naomi Klein, Astra Taylor, and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, with a musical performance by Lia Rose. The current crisis is laying bare the extreme injustices and inequalities of our economic and social system. We are in a battle of visions for how we’re going to respond to this crisis. We will either be catapulted backward to an even more brutal winner-takes-all system — o...

By: Aaron Timms

Aaron Timms shares his impressions of the Degrowth Summer school, and life at Can Decreix in Cerbère. This article appeared in The New Republic, on January 27th 2020

By: Mark Sutton

Mark Cramer, commentator on the subject of cycling into later life and best practice infrastructure has released a new book filled with incredible stories of how cycling contributes positively to society the world over.

By: Dennis Eversberg

This contribution draws on empirical evidence from the 2016 wave of the survey “Environmental Consciousness in Germany” to identify the potential social bases of both support for and resistance to attempts to overcome the current socio-ecological crisis by way of a broad social-ecological transformation. Firstly, the results of factor and cluster analyses of the survey’s items on attitudes ...

By: Stefanie Sievers-Glotzbach, Julia Tschersich

A fundamental transformation towards sustainability in face of complex social-ecological challenges needs to initiate deep changes of those incumbent system structures that support unsustainable trajectories, while at the same time encouraging a diversity of alternative practices. A review of transformation approaches towards sustainability shows that these do not (sufficiently) link processe...

By: Lilian Pungas

Abstract: Agriculture is not only an essential nexus between society and nature but in its current industrial form also a possible threat to ecological stability. This article explores how a supplement to the conventional agrifood system alleviates the negative consequences of the industrial food production system that manifest through the metabolic rift (Marx, 1981). During fieldwork in Eston...

By: Jakob Sparn

This presentation explains what the SHRUB coop does to reduce & re-use "waste", to educate the public, and to create community.