Library

By: Rolf F.H. Schroeder

This article sheds new light on the development of complementary currencies. Based on a comprehensive survey of the literature, the study questions conventional interpretations of these social innovations. The article challenges the view that money is the only feature that complementary currencies have in common. The author argues that in addition to the ways in which connectivity takes place, ...

By: Julianna Fehlinger, Olivier De Schutter, Genevieve Savigny, Armin Bernhard, Line Rise Nielsen

Panel debate The aim of the panel is to develop a common understanding of how a socially and ecologically sustainable food systems can look like. To achieve this, we draw on existing practices and strategies of local and regional initiatives which promote sustainable food systems. There exists already a variety of collectives, networks, and food system approaches, which create opportunities ...

By: Vasilis Kostakis, Chris Giotitsas

Cosmolocalism emerges from technology initiatives that are small-scale and oriented towards addressing local problems, but simultaneously engage with globally asynchronous collaborative production through digital commoning. We thus connect such a discussion with two ongoing grassroots developments: first, a cosmolocal response to the coronavirus pandemic; and, second, an ongoing effort of Frenc...

By: Elisabetta Mocca

Degrowth is establishing itself as a theory within the ecological and post-development scholarship. At the core of degrowth is a local-centric perspective, whereby small urban agglomerations are considered as the key actors of the political and economic system of an imagined post-consumerist and post-capitalist society. Degrowth proponents thus argue that the fundamental steps to achieve a trul...

By: Giacomo D'Alisa, Gabriel Weber, Ignazio Cabras, Maria Calaf-Forn, Ignasi Puig-Ventosa

This paper investigates the introduction of unit-pricing (UP) schemes in waste management with regard to grassroots initiatives promoting bottom-up participatory processes in local communities, addressing several issues concerning environmental justice and degrowth. As waste service charges and fees increase in proportion of waste generated in presence of UP schemes, the paper explores and eval...

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: David Gibbs, Kirstie O'Neill

Future green economies and regional development: a research agenda. Regional Studies. The past 30 years have seen an explosion of interest and concern over the detrimental impacts of economic and industrial development. Despite this, the environmental agenda has not featured substantially in the regional studies literature. This paper explores a range of options for regional futures from a ‘cle...

By: Alf Hornborg

Keywords: Resilience, money, degrowth, capitalism

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: Alf Hornborg

From the text: The solution requires us to recognise that the operation of markets and money is socially constructed. The rules of the game can be rewritten. To acknowledge the extent to which the destiny of human society and the biosphere has been delegated to the mindless logic of objects like money and technology is like snapping out of a delusion. To fathom the implications of this delusion...

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: Willi Haas, Eva Fraňková, Ines Marco Lafuente, Juan Cadillo Benalcazar, Eneko Garmendia

During the last century, we have witnessed an unprecedented growth in both global food production and associated environmental, social, and economic problems connected to the increasingly industrialized and globalised food production system; projections for the future foresee a continuation of the rising food demand. While sustainable food production is a global challenge, it has an inevitable ...

By: Mathieu Le Dû

In 2012, the NGO Virage-énergie Nord-Pas de Calais started a research project focused on energetic, societal and economic transitions within the Nord-Pas de Calais region in France, in partnership with two academic laboratories: TVES (University of Lille 1 - Science and Technologies) and Ceraps (University of Lille 2 - Health and Law). The aim of this research was to evaluate, using data models...

By: David Korten

Teaser: “How do we grow the economy?” is an obsolete question. Local initiatives across the world are looking for maturity instead as they rebuild caring, place-based communities and economies. From the text: . . . But children and adolescents grow. Adults mature. It is time to reframe the debate to recognize that we have pushed growth in material consumption beyond Earth’s environmental li...

By: Ruby Russell

From the text: At the Cyclonomia bike kitchen in Budapest, all tools and equipment are communally owned. The around 300 members drop in to the basement workshop to not only fix up their rides, but also to build them - cargo bikes in particular. It's part of an experiment in "new ways of re-localizing the economy," says co-founder Adrien Despoisse. Re-localization, Despoisse explains, is about...

By: Serge Latouche

Keywords: Autonomy, Common Goods, Degrowth, Deindustrialization, Reterritorialization

By: Michel Bauwens, Kostas Latoufis, Vasilis Kostakis, Minas Liarokapis

Keywords: Commons; Open source; Degrowth; Open hardware; Localization

By: Peter Bierl

Aus dem Artikel: . . . Die Degrowth-Bewegung versteht sich mehrheitlich als links, die meisten Vertreter grenzen sich nach rechts ab, gegen Alain de Benoist, einen Vordenker der sogenannten Neuen Rechten, oder den konservativen Meinhard Miegel, der unter dem Deckmantel des Postwachstums den Sozialabbau vorantreiben will. Dennoch gibt es Positionen in der Bewegung, die nach rechts tendieren oder...

By: Alexander Nabert

Der Autor beschreibt und kritisiert rechte Strömungen, die sich für eine Postwachstumswirtschaft einsetzen. Er fordert eine stärkere Abgrenzung linker Postwachstums Stimmen von diesen rechten Diskursen. Jungle World Nr. 6, 11. Februar 2016 Weitere Artikel zum Thema in der Jungel World: > Böses Wachstum > Intellektuelles Minuswachstum > Antikapitalistische Querfront

By: Vincent Liegey, Stéphane Madelaine, Christophe Ondet, Anisabel Veillot

From the text: Will they call for a return to protectionism? Try to regulate the markets? Attempt to rein in unemployment by prioritizing economic growth, regardless of the cost? The Left seems to have run out of ideas for social and economic initiatives that are at once sound, liberating, and environmentally sustainable. Faced with such lack of vision, calls to “relocalize” the economy start t...