Library

Misc • 2016

Einen großen Schritt weiter auf dem Weg zur Utopie

Die UTOPIKON ist jetzt vorbei und der Beweis ist erbracht: es ist absolut möglich, eine "echte" Konferenz mit Keynotes, Workshops, Verpflegung und allem, was dazugehört, geldfrei, vegan, ökologisch und solidarisch zu organisieren. Gleichzeitig hat die Konferenz auch noch unglaublich viel Spaß gemacht: selber etwas zu erleben, von dem es geheißen hatte, das das ja eigentlich gar nicht geht, hat...

Misc • 2016

Ecommony: Gelebte Alternative zur Alternativlosigkeit

By: Christiane Kliemann

Von Friederike Habermann Die Verletzung demokratischer Prozesse im Zuge der Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise 2007/08 sei als Epochenbruch vergleichbar mit der großen Depression „und allem, was danach kam“, so Georg Diez in seiner vorläufig letzten Kolumne auf spiegel-online.de. Grund für den nunmehr erstarkenden Rassismus in Verbindung mit einer radikalen Rechten sei aber auch die Ratlosigkeit...

Misc • 2016

Premium und das revolutionär utopische Firmenkonzept

By: Christiane Kliemann

Was hat Cola mit gesellschaftlichen Utopien zu tun? Elena Tzara im Interview mit Tobi Rosswog Vom 04. - 06. November fand in Berlin die erste Utopie-Ökonomie-Konferenz UTOPIKON statt. 300 Menschen tauschten sich in 20 Workshops und 5 Keynotes zu Wegen und Herausforderungen in eine geldfrei(er)e Gesellschaft aus. In einer kleinen Inverviewreihe stellen wir einige der Referent*innen vor. Wir...

Misc • 2016

Degrowth in the US: Thinking smaller where everything is big

By: Sam Bliss

Things are big in the United States of America. Returning home after a year away reacquaints me with big detached single-family homes, big single-occupant vehicles, and big single-species grass lawns. I find wider roads, longer distances, larger supermarkets, and more stuff everywhere. As a student of ecological economics, it makes me a little anxious. Such individualistic extravagance isn’t...

Misc • 2016

Wachstumswende: Warum die politische Umsetzung stockt

By: Christiane Kliemann

Von Felix Holtermann 1972 erschien „Grenzen des Wachstums“, der erste Bericht an den Club of Rome. 45 Jahre später ist seine Wachstumskritik aktueller denn je. Während die Industriestaaten immer langsamer wachsen, erlebt die Wachstumsskepsis eine beispiellose Renaissance – in der Forschung, in den Medien, im gesellschaftlichen Diskurs. Eine Sphäre aber bleibt außen vor: die Politik....

Misc • 2016

Radical Ecological Democracy: Some More Reflections from the South on Degrowth

By: Ashish Kothari

From our project "Degrowth in Movement(s)" The multiple crises that humanity is facing are becoming increasingly visible: in the form of disasters related to ecological damage, the stark inequalities between a tiny minority of ultra-rich and the vast numbers of desperately poor, the health epidemics related to both deprivation and affluence, mass refugee migrations in many parts of the world,...

Misc • 2016

Degrowth in the Mexican Art Biennial: Opportunities and Paradoxes

By: Sofia Avila

In October 2016, the FEMSA Foundation launched the XII Biennial of visual arts in the city of Monterrey, Mexico. For the first time in its 22 years of existence, this internationally well-known biennial has included a parallel curatorial program to articulate diverse pieces into a single discourse: The poetics of degrowth. How to live better with less?  This novel project enhances new...

Position paper • 2016

A Proposal for Voluntary Degrowth by Redesigning Money for Sustainability, Justice, and Resilience

By: Alf Hornborg

An European Policy Brief of the European Commission of the project: FINANCIALISATION ECONOMY SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT From the text: What is the fundamental goal of this proposal? The most fundamental idea underlying this proposal is to insulate local human subsistence and livelihood from the vicissitudes of national and international economic cycles and financial ...

Misc • 2016

Time for degrowth: to save the planet, we must shrink the economy

By: Jason Hickel

From the text: . . . SDG 8 calls for improving “global resource efficiency” and “decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation”. Unfortunately, there are no signs that this is possible at anything near the necessary pace. Global material extraction and consumption grew by 94% between 1980 and 2010, accelerating in the last decade to reach as high as 70 billion tonnes per year. And...

Misc • 2016

Not Markets Alone but Creativity and Innovation for Development

By: Mateo Pimentel

From the text: As human beings, we are naturally social and creative. The inherent curiosity that drives us to innovate is ultimately a testament to the creative impetus that resides within all of us. And the richness and flexibility of human behavior, including our capacity for cooperation and adaptation, further allow us to envisage and create a world that far outstrips the current economic...

Misc • 2016

Degrowth - is it time for a new kind of economics?

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...

Misc • 2016

Just enough is plenty: Thoreau's alternative economics

By: Samuel Alexander

This text provides a deep but accessible introduction to the life and ideas of one of the simple living movement's greatest pioneers - Henry David Thoreau.

Scientific paper • 2016

De-[Constructing] Growth

By: Nicholas A. Ashford

Keywords: degrowth; sustainable consumption; sustainable production; inequality; sustainability; employment

Misc • 2016

Naming the radical movement for alternative economics: D.E.growth

By: Miklós Antal

Critique of the term "degrowth" From the text: . . . However, there are serious downsides. First, degrowth has a downward orientation, and “down is bad” according to a primary metaphor rooted in physical experiences. Already in ancient Rome, down meant death. We feel down and need to be cheered up. Hell is below us, heaven is above. The association of up with good and down with bad will not...

Misc • 2016

Degrowth Is Punk as Fuck

By: Sam Bliss, Aaron Vansintjan

We’re not trying to sound nice. Take your positivity and shove it.

Misc • 2016

Ausstieg aus der Megamaschine. Einstieg in die Gemeinwohl-Ökonomie

By: Fabian Scheidler, Christian Felber

Veranstaltung mit Christian Felber und Fabian Scheidler Wie können wir die Wirtschaft aus der Profitlogik befreien und dem Gemeinwohl verpflichten? Welche Rolle spielen dabei Staat, Eigentum und das Geldsystem? In der gemeinsamen Diskussion entwerfen Christian Felber, Mitbegründer der "Gemeinwohl-Ökonomie", und Fabian Scheidler, Autor des Buches "Das Ende der Megamaschine. Geschichte einer...

Presentation • 2016

Ausstieg aus der Megamaschine - Vortrag

By: Fabian Scheidler

Vortrag vom 23.9.2016 bei der Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Systemische Therapie an der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt/M. Der Vortrag fasst den zweiten Teil des Buches "Das Ende der Megamaschine. Geschichte einer scheiternden Zivilisation" in sieben Punkten zusammen: 1. Das Verhältnis von Markt, Staat und ideologischer Macht im modernen Weltsystem 2. Der Mythos des Westens 3. Dr....

Scientific paper • 2016

Biophysical limits of current debates on degrowth and the knowledge economy

By: Jesus Ramos-Martin

Keywords: Degrowth, knowledge, sustainability, complexity, societal metabolism

Scientific paper • 2016

Metamorphosis I: A study of Degrowth, investigating conceptual sustainability in theory and transformative potential in practice

By: J.E. Vetter

keywords: Degrowth, Sustainability, Anthropocentrism, Ecocentrism, Triple-Bottom Line, Whole-Systems, Transformation, System's Change, Transition Management, Ecovillages, Ecovillage, Tamera, Damanhur

Scientific paper • 2016

De-growth and critical community psychology: Contributions towards individual and social well-being

By: Alfredo Natale, Salvatore Di Martino, Fortuna Procentese, Caterina Arcidiacono

Keywords: Degrowth; Critical community psychology; Well-being; Decolonisation of the imaginary; Reciprocity; Social justice