Library

Scientific paper • 2014

ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES IN DEALING WITH WASTE IN A WORLD OF FINITE RESOURCES

Abstract: Waste reveals a great deal about values and how we live, the economy that produces it, and our notions of development. An economy driven by the compulsion to make and consume have formed a world in which the lifetime of “durable” products tends to be shortened to that of “consumables,” while nonrenewable natural resource stocks are consumed like renewable production flows. This paper...

Scientific paper • 2014

Meteorological Considerations in Energy and Livelihood from Strange Attractors of Wind

By: Matt Ji

Abstract: Renewable energy has some challenges due to its variability and incompatibility with the modern electricity grid. However, novel methods of extracting valuable fractal behavior of wind speeds show very powerful spatially and temporally correlated features. Further investigation shows that energy can be quite readily quantified given this approach and its implications are deep reaching...

Scientific paper • 2014

The relevance of the phenomenon of Peak-Oil for the Degrowth paradigm

By: Christian Kerschner

Abstract: This paper is part of an effort to compile a vocabulary for Degrowth. Such a collection of concepts for the paradigm is important for the creation of a common language and knowledge base. This article is the first one, which tries to offer a universal definition of resource peaks and explains de main basics behind such phenomena. Peak-Oil is one of the most central elements in the...

Scientific paper • 2014

The Resource Cap Coalition - Advocating for policy tools, which set limits to unsustainable consumption and production

By: Veronika Kiss

Abstract: The Resource Cap Coalition - Advocating for policy tools, which set limits to unsustainable consumption and production Special Session: Respecting planetary boundaries while enhancing the well-being of all Today we face growing global competition over resources and price increase, which hits the poorest the most mainly in impoverished countries, but also in the rich. Policy efforts...

Scientific paper • 2014

The Absolute Reductions Project

By: Sylvia Lorek

Abstract: The REDUCTIONS project is designed to identify the potential for absolute resource and energy use reduction of production-consumption systems at all levels and to explore ways to realise this potential. While lots of ideas about reductions are made only few concrete examples of achieved reductions are documented. The REDUCTIONS project intends to fill this gap. It combines the...

Scientific paper • 2014

Extractivism, neocolonialism and redistribution

By: Esperanza Martinez

Abstract: Our era is characterized by the end of easy-to-extract oil reserves. Unconventional and risky extraction techniques are proliferating. Oil extraction as motor of an economy has always had significant consequences for social and political organization, which are best understood if one looks at the different stages of oil exploitation, from prospection through production, processing and...

Scientific paper • 2014

Equity and emissions. How are household emissions distributed, what are their drivers and what are possible implications for future climate mitigation?

By: Jonas Pohlmann, Nils Ohlendorf

Abstract: This paper analyses the distribution of CO2 emissions over households in Germany, identifies their socio-economic drivers and discusses the policy implications. On the basis of an environmentally extended input output model, the CO2 intensities for consumption-based emissions from different categories are calculated and allocated to the expenditure data of a representative survey of...

Scientific paper • 2014

The distribution and drivers of CO2 emissions on a consumption basis and implications for a degrowth economy – the case of Germany

By: Jonas Pohlmann, Nils Ohlendorf

Abstract: This paper analyses the distribution of CO2 emissions over households in Germany, identifies their socio-economic drivers and discusses the policy implications. On the basis of an environmentally extended input output model, the CO2 intensities for consumption-based emissions from different categories are calculated and allocated to the expenditure data of a representative survey of...

Scientific paper • 2014

Dangers of promoting ultra-water-saver-showers. Considering the Cautionary Principle and the Khazzoom–Brookes postulate.

By: Mario Buenfil R.

Abstract: In developed and developing nations household water consumption increased exponentially during the last and present century; the same can be said of the individual water footprint of each inhabitant. The most worrisome part is not individual households and personal consumption, but the collective, aggregate, ones. There are nations in grave overshoot not only considering their total...

Scientific paper • 2014

Where do all the hours go? Time use, resource consumption and the dematerialisation of everyday practices

By: Henrike Rau

Abstract: The emergence of carbon-intensive systems of production, distribution and consumption as part of the modernisation process in Europe and beyond coincided with fundamental changes in how people view and use time. Predictions by advocates of modern time management that time-saving technologies will radically reduce working hours and enhance people’s quality of life did not materialise,...

Scientific paper • 2014

The Knowledge Economy: Key to Sustainable Development?

By: Lukáš Režný, James Buchanan White

Knowledge economy, Sustainability, Economic growth, Nonrenewable natural resources consumption, Peak oil

Scientific paper • 2014

Resource efficiency, concepts and indicators

By: Philipp Schepelmann

Abstract:Economic growth was the basis for the social reconciliation between capital owners and the working class. In industrialized countries it was coupled with a growth of material flows of geological proportions. It is quite remarkable that within the framework of the growth-oriented Europe 2020 Strategy for a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy the European Commission has launched a...

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

Well-being and resource-efficiency at the meso level

By: Konstantin Stadler, Edgar Hertwich, Richard Wood, Stefan Pauliuk

Abstract: A resource efficient society should provide high well-being at a low cost to the environment while preserving the natural system/natural resources for future generations. Traditionally, well-being has always been assessed on the national level. In contrast, the economic system consists of specific sector with specific functions for the society ranging from providing food to education...

Misc • 2014

FUTURZWEI Zukunftsalmanach 2015/16

By: Harald Welzer, Dana Giesecke, Luise Tremel (Hrsg.)

Untertitel: Geschichten vom guten Umgang mit der Welt Verlag: "Alternativlos? Gibt es nicht. Der zweite FUTURZWEI-Zukunftsalmanach erzählt in 83 Geschichten von gelebten Gegenentwürfen zur Leitkultur des Wachstums und der Verschwendung. Das Schwerpunktthema ist Material – es geht um Rohstoffgewinnung und Güterproduktion, um Hyperkonsum und Abfall. Der Blick richtet sich auf das Politische und...

Scientific paper • 2014

Potentials for prosperity without growth: Ecological sustainability, social inclusion and the quality of life in 38 countries

By: Max Koch, Martin Fritz

Prosperity, Steady-state economy, Ecological sustainability, Social inclusion, Wellbeing, GDP

Position paper • 2014

GAP working group 2014 - Resources and Extraction

By: Degrowth Conference Leipzig 2014

Results from the GAP (Group Assembly Process) Group Resources and Extraction at the Degrowth Conference in Leipzig 2014 > Rethinking technology – towards sufficiency and a sustainable production. > Technology transfer towards renewable energies. > Introduce resource issues into trade unions and job issues (p.e. RSA: one million climate jobs). > Re-politicize Renewable Energies,...

Position paper • 2014

Resources & Extraction

By: Ulrich Brand

This media entry is a stirring paper of the Group Assembly Process (GAP) at the Degrowth Conference in Leipzig in 2014. This paper belongs the group Resources and Extraction.

Position paper • 2014

Initiative on socially responsible mobility – saying no to traffic madness

By: Sabine Leidig

This media entry is a stirring paper of the Group Assembly Process (GAP) at the Degrowth Conference in Leipzig in 2014. This paper belongs the group Transport and Mobility.

Presentation • 2014

Social metabolism and the degrowth society

By: Katharine Farrel, Anke Schaffartzik

Scientific lecture at the 4th International Degrowth Conference for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity in Leipzig in 2014. Presentations by Katharine Farrel and Anke Schaffartzik. Katharine Farrel: Living Systems and (de)Growth: a matter of life and death Anke Schaffartzik: Scenarios for a biophysical degrowth of industrial metabolism