Library

Misc • 2014

A development vision for rural Africa

Without trying to give definitions of growth or degrowth everybody knows anyway, I would like to emphasize that these phenomena were always subject to discussions. Even a non-economist knows that it is impossible to talk about growth without mentioning ideas like increases in production factors, industrialization or economic development. Any increase has to come to a […]

Misc • 2014

Degrowth: what?! Summary of our short introductory event

By: Christiane Kliemann

By Chris Ward Despite attending the conference, not everyone will fully understand what ‘Degrowth’ is, or the multitude of related terms that will be mentioned during the conference. Thankfully the first session on the schedule, offered by Federico Demaria and Giacomo D´Alisa was ideally suited for getting your knowledge up to scratch.

Misc • 2014

Alberto Acosta and Naomi Klein call for radical changes in global economy

By: Christiane Kliemann

By Christiane Kliemann Alberto Acosta, economist and father of the Ecuadorian constitution, made very clear in his opening speech, that it is not enough to simply do away with the growth paradigm if we miss to build up a different world altogether. On the example of a news article on the possibility of an economic

Misc • 2014

Different perspectives on degrowth in the light of the global crises

By: Christiane Kliemann

By Christiane Kliemann “Facing the current crises: critique and resistance”: The motto of the second day´s conference programme takes into account that degrowth is mainly a concept from the global North which naturally has a different perspective on the mulitfaceted global crisis than social or ecological movements from other parts of the World. While degrowth

Misc • 2014

Degrowth and history - economics, sustainability, power

By: Christiane Kliemann

By Chris Ward Growth is always a goal in many countries, statistics appear everywhere and it’s always discussed. Even small reductions in GDP are met with bitter disappointment; it’s become one of the most important measures in the modern era. And yet there are surprisingly few discussions or resources on when and why this did

Misc • 2014

Building alliances - equality as basis for sustainability

By: Christiane Kliemann

By Christiane Kliemann When talking about building alliances – the focus of the third conference day – the issue of equality immediately comes into view, as there are many dimensions of inequality deeply rooted in the current growth-based economic model. In order to overcome this model, all these dimensions need to be addressed and all

Misc • 2014

Technological solutions for a degrowth society

By: Christiane Kliemann

By Chris Ward In the scientific paper session on technological solutions for a degrowth society, it was refreshing to hear someone (unsurprisingly an engineer) mention that the degrowth movement could do with more practical projects and methodologies to run alongside the theoretical discussions. The OAE Project: Open Data and Open Source software for a sustainable

Misc • 2014

Degrowth einfangen: Eindrücke und Bilder von der laufenden Konferenz

By: Christiane Kliemann

Von Felicitas Sommer “Ihr wart Teil eines Experiments” sagt einer der beiden Hauptkoordinatoren am ersten Tag der Konferenz, zur Begrüßung der über 2000 zuhörenden Menschen „Ihr konntet zahlen, was ihr wolltet.“ Der Mindestpreis pro Teilnehmer_in betrug 15 Euro. Das ist etwas mehr als die Raummiete der Universität Leipzig für eine Woche, also nur ein Bruchteil

Misc • 2014

The rising of a common vision - reality or utopia?

By: Christiane Kliemann

By Christiane Kliemann When listening to all the keynotes, panels and sessions, or simply joining the lively discussions between conference participants, there is the notion of an overall agreement that a broader new vision for society and the economy is most urgently needed. However, the elephant in the room is that such vision is almost

Misc • 2014

Choose your struggles, look after each other and have fun!

By: Christiane Kliemann

By Christiane Kliemann At the end of a conference like this, there might be as many impressions and insights to take home as there are participants, and so it is almost impossible to nail this rich variety down to a few one-dimensional bullet-points. What seemed to unite the findings of the various reporters, however, was

Misc • 2014

How to sell degrowth: Business models II

By: aboutsource

The workshop “How to sell degrowth: Business models II” was a short paper session following the scientific paper session “How to sell degrowth: Business models I”. Gabriel Trettel Silva as the first presenter rose the question of whether or not profit-making is compatible with the principles of a steady-state economy. His own conclusion was that it […]

Misc • 2014

How to sell degrowth: Business models I

By: aboutsource

How to sell degrowth is one of the questions of our research and communication project Postwachstumspioniere at the Institute for Ecological Economy Research. In the paper “Successful non-growing companies“, Andrea Liesen, Christian Dietsche and myself are discussing motives and strategies that seem to apply to a variety of non-growing companies. We found that small and medium-sized […]

Misc • 2014

Verleihung des Kapp-Forschungspreises für ökologische Ökonomie im Rahmen der Degrowth-Konferenz

By: Christiane Kliemann

Der Kapp-Forschungspreis für Ökologische Ökonomie ging dieses Jahr an Matthias Schmelzer, Corinna Burkhart und Dirk Posse. Die Verleihung des mit 5.000 Euro dotierten Preises zur wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchsförderung fand am 5. September auf einer feierlichen Veranstaltung im Rahmen der Degrowth-Konferenz statt. Aus den 25 eingereichten Studien wurden drei für einen Preis ausgewählt.

Misc • 2014

A Post Growth Event: Free Money Day

By: aboutsource

This Article was written by Jennifer Hinton and Donnie Maclurcan of the Post Growth Institute for the postconference “Stream towards Degrowth”. An annual event, Free Money Day, was created in 2011 and is run by the Post Growth Institute. Each September 15th, people all over the world hand out their own money to complete strangers, two […]

Misc • 2014

A hitch for degrowth

By: aboutsource

By Christopher Boyce I write this sitting in a service station on the M11 in the UK travelling back from Leipzig after what was an inspiring conference on degrowth. I’ve been hitching for only a couple of years now, but as soon as my talk on money and happiness was accepted for the conference in Leipzig, […]

Misc • 2014

Damit gutes Leben einfacher wird. Für eine Suffizienzpolitik – Interview mit Angelika Zahrnt

By: aboutsource

In ihrem Audio-Interview mit den Organisator/innen der nächsten KarmaKonsum Konferenz macht sich Angelika Zahrnt für eine Suffizienzpolitik stark. Download MP3 (27.4 MB) Hier geht es zum Programm der Konferenz.

Misc • 2014

Die Grenzen des (Post-)Wachstums – ein Reisebericht aus Can Decreix

By: aboutsource

Auf der Suche nach einer Zukunft jenseits des Wachstums haben wir, zwei Studierende aus Berlin, uns auf Reisen gemacht. Wir werden Orte besuchen, die bereits heute weit weg von Berlin und Brüssel gesellschaftliche Alternativen leben. Zuletzt berichteten wir über die Sozialistische Selbsthilfe Mülheim in Köln. In diesem Beitrag teilen wir unsere Eindrücke aus unserer Zeit […]

Misc • 2014

Erfolgreiche Unternehmen zwischen Wachstum und Nachhaltigkeit – Zweiter Unternehmensworkshop

By: aboutsource

Wachstum ist die vorherrschende Zielvorstellung modernen Wirtschaftens, Unternehmenswachstum gilt als Normalfall und Leistungsnachweis: Wer es richtig macht, wird auch wachsen. Dieses Bild eines klaren Zusammenhangs wurde vornehmlich durch den Wachstumsschwung der europäischen Nachkriegszeit geprägt; längst jedoch stößt die Wirtschaft an Grenzen des Wachstums. Stagnierende oder schrumpfende...

Misc • 2014

Post Wachstum?! Unternehmen geben Antworten

By: aboutsource

Im Rahmen des Forschungsprojekts „Postwachstumspioniere“ interviewt das Institut für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung (IÖW) in den nächsten Wochen kleine und mittlere Unternehmen (KMU) zum Thema Wachstum. Gesucht sind Beispielunternehmen mit alternativen Entwicklungsorientierungen, die von Wachstum unabhängig und gleichwohl zukunftsfähig sind. Uns interessieren Positionen und Beweggründe, Ziele...

Misc • 2014

Degrowth im Europa der Krise

By: aboutsource

Während der internationalen Degrowth-Sommerschule an der »Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona« unterhielt sich Felicitas Sommer mit dem Commons-Forscher Aggelos Varvarousis, der Soziologin Lúcia de Oliveira Fernandes und dem Aktivisten und Wissenschaftler der ökologischen Ökonomien Claudio Cattaneo. Felicitas Sommer: In vielen südeuropäischen Ländern brechen die öffentlichen Versorgungssysteme...