Library

Scientific paper • 2014

Refining Degrowth: Reducing societal growth capacity to exploit natural resources and humans

There is no paper for this media entry. This was a contribution to a paper session at the 4th International Degrowth Conference in Leipzig in 2014, which doesn't exist in written format. You can find more Information about this session here.

Scientific paper • 2014

Teko Arandu: New Paths Towards a Sustainable Future. A case-study about the Brazilian Guarani-Kaiowás

By: Andressa Schröder

cultural diversity, sustainability, indigenous heritage

Scientific paper • 2014

The Potential of Complementary Currencies: Boon or Bane for Degrowth?

By: Rolf F.H. Schroeder

complementary currencies; alternative economy; boundaries; monetarism; payment technologies

Scientific paper • 2014

System representations of degrowth and sustainable consumption arguments for telling more empowering stories

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...

Scientific paper • 2014

Acceptance of Mobile Phone Return Programmes for Increased Resource Efficiency by Young People—Experiences from a German Research Project

By: Alexandra Seibt, Julia Nordmann

Abstract: The need of recycling obsolete mobile phones has significantly increased with a rapidly growing worldwide distribution of mobile phones (Geyer, 2010; Hagelüken, 2010). Mobile phones have a high environmental impact throughout the whole value chain; so far, individual use and recycling behaviour do not show any trends towards more sustainable patterns. Most communication measures for...

Scientific paper • 2014

Happiness and income decrease: an empirical study from Barcelona

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...

Scientific paper • 2014

Prevention of Degradation Through Community Participation: A Pragmatic Approach for Environmental Governance in Northeast India

By: Alok Sen

Abstract: Environmental governance is the most daunting task faced by most of developing countries today specially where poverty is widespread and natural resources abundant. Poor people there depend heavily on the environmental resources for their livelihood and the resultant degradation in turn depletes the food stock for the poor thus further aggravates poverty. The growth oriented...

Scientific paper • 2014

Culture and communication of a de-growth project. Some lessons from the case of the Brazilian Fora do Eixo Circuit

By: Maximiliano Vila Seoane

Abstract: Culture and communication are areas under the all-embracing infinite growth and development discourse, like the popular "creative industries" approach. However, such frameworks generate in many developing countries dynamics against de-growth projects, because they favor concentration and cultural dominance of small regions over larger ones. This justifies the need to increase research...

Scientific paper • 2014

Reconsidering the transition role of education

By: Mònica Serlavós

degrowth, education, transition, values

Scientific paper • 2014

Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) as a transitional path towards a degrowth society

By: Mònica Serlavós

Abstract: In the current context of multidimensional crises, this paper aims to evaluate the potential of Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) as a transitional path towards a degrowth society. This research is motivated by the urgent need to find alternative ways to build a fairer and more responsible society in harmony with Nature. While recognizing the limitations of the Geneva case developed...

Scientific paper • 2014

Growth forces: Material rent and efficiency consumption

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...

Scientific paper • 2014

The relationship between intragenerational and intergenerational justice in the use of ecosystems and their services

By: Stefanie Sievers-Glotzbach, Stefan Baumgärtner, Martin Quaas

Abstract: Most scientific research on a “degrowth-economy” is motivated by finding pathways to build a just society, in terms of both intragenerational justice and intergenerational justice. As conflicts in attaining the two justices (may) arise in the design and implementation of sustainability policy, the relationship between the objectives of intragenerational and intergenerational justice...

Scientific paper • 2014

Is Profit-Making Compatible with the Principles of a Steady-State Economy?

By: Daniel O'Neill, Gabriel Trettel Silva

Profit; capitalism; steady-state economy; social enterprises

Scientific paper • 2014

Degrowth and payments for ecosystem services: highlighting the tensions

By: Rodrigo Silva

(De)commodification of nature; Society-nature relations; Planetary boundaries and environmental justice

Scientific paper • 2014

Growing through the Cracks - A multi-case study of two alternative food networks in Cluj-Napoca, Romania

By: Josefin Smeds

Abstract: As a response to limitations of the conventional food system, alternative food networks such as community supported agriculture and direct selling box schemes have emerged in Romania, involving close producer-consumer connections and an emphasis on local and organic produce. Through a multi-case study of two such networks in the city of Cluj-Napoca, their contribution to the...

Scientific paper • 2014

How should degrowth address the issue of “planetary boundaries”?

By: Tone Smith-Spash

planetary boundaries, intrinsic value, democratic decision-making, objective knowledge, critical realism

Scientific paper • 2014

The economics of slow growth

By: Sjak Smulders

Abstract: We document two stylized facts. First, most periods in history have been characterized by per capita GDP growth that was an order of magnitude slower than modern growth in the “old world”. Second, most countries with capitalists institutions have grown steadily and relatively fast. This presents us with a puzzle: does the recent growth slowdown in the capitalist old world mean that...

Scientific paper • 2014

Ethical implications of efficiency in climate economics

By: Ida Andrea Braathen Sognnaes

Abstract: Global climate change brings up fundamental questions related to intragenerational and intergenerational equity. Economists have traditionally drawn a sharp distinction between efficiency and equity, but more recent studies in ecological economics have argued that the two are intimately linked (Corbera, Brown, & Adger, 2007; Howarth & Norgaard, 1992; Muradian, Corbera,...

Scientific paper • 2014

Economic versus ecological world view – ontologies as reality blinder

By: Joachim H. Spangenberg

Abstract: The standard economists’ worldview comprises an ontology according to which the environment is as part of the economic system, implying a distinction between useful and not useful nature (as today frequently in ecosystem service discussions), an anthropology of selfish individuals and an axiology of utilitarism. This worldview determines the “solutions” developed: no limitation to...

Scientific paper • 2014

Degrowth, the financial system and the pension system

By: Joachim H. Spangenberg

Abstract: It has been argued that degrowth would lead to a catastrophic economic collapse triggered by a collapse of stock exchange values. However, this analysis rests on several flawed assumptions: (i) an outdated view on stock market mechanisms and values (ii) the assumption that the stock market mechanisms would remain unchanged in a degrowth economy (iii) unchanged expectations of benefits...