On June 6th we will once more celebrate the Global Degrowth Day (GDD). On this day, like last year, we want to show that there are alternatives to the capitalist growth society and that a good life for all is possible! This time of multiple crisis can be overwhelming, but it is also a crucial moment to re-think how we live and how societies are organized. Degrowth is a powerful tool to examine the origins of the several crises we face. It is time to demand and build new roots for a new future, built around values of solidarity, justice, care, wellbeing and sufficiency. Despite coronavirus, there are Global Degrowth Day events planned around the world. See a full list here. Many of these Global Degrowth Day events will be livestreamed, but some will be live, face-to-face, with the appropriate measures for social distancing.
In the spring of 2019, the Finnish degrowth network (kohtuusliike) undertook an election campaign. The aim of the campaign was to break the silence around degrowth ideas in political discourse. We were also curious to see how much support calls to limit production and consumption could generate within the ‘system’. We wrote a short manifesto outlining policy principles which we c...
Degrowth is usually translated into German as "Postwachstum" (post growth) or "Wachstumsrücknahme" (reversing growth), but it can also be translated as “ausgewachsen” (grown up). This captures two aspects: on the one hand the end of growth and on the other hand the entry into a stage of maturity, namely adulthood. Adults are expected to show increased maturity and responsibility for themselves ...
Until recently terms like “carbon accounting,” “carbon footprint” and “carbon offsetting” would have raised some quizzical eyebrows among the general public. Today, such carbon-based metrics are everywhere, but are they helpful or unhelpful in motivating the necessary action on climate change? Although the case for metrics may seem incontrovertible, what is measured is always a political choic...