3.2 9_int_dg_conf 2023-08-29 2023-09-02 5 00:15 Europe/Berlin https://zagreb.degrowth.net 2023-08-29T18:00:00+02:00 18:00 00:30 MSU-Gorgona 9_int_dg_conf-395-opening_plenary https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/395 false LOC, SG and Zagreb City welcome the participants and introduce the conference Non-academic Session Local Organising Commimttee representatives, Support Group Representatives and City of Zagreb representatives introduce the conference and welcome the participants to Zagreb. Short speech by organisers and host city. Speakers: TBD 2023-08-29T18:30:00+02:00 18:30 01:30 MSU-Gorgona 9_int_dg_conf-403-the_climate_case_for_questioning_our_growth_paradigm https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/403 false Keynote lecture Keynote Special Session en It was in 2022 when the IPCC first mentioned Degrowth and sufficiency in its reports. It is a significant move considering that most IPCC member states still struggle from meeting basic human needs. However, there are many sections in IPCC products that indicate that growth imperatives make meeting ambitious climate goals extremely challenging or risky. An important risk is that pathways towards ambitious climate goals within the growth paradigm, may in the end shift the problems to biodiversity, resource depletion of rare earth minerals and others, microplastics, man-made material exceeding living material, PFAS increase and the like. At the same time, it is questionable how much economic growth has managed to increase our well-being in developed economies in recent decades. With increasingly elaborate planned obsolescence, ever faster and more obscure fashion forcing consumption on us, and with marketing employing more psychologists to rewire our brains and make us addicted to health-damaging consumptions than we have to cure these ailments, it is a question if it is worth it. On the other hand, there are shocking inequalities in emissions, and it is a serious question if we can solve the climate crisis without reducing this inequality. Moving away from our addiction to growth could improve the quality of life for many in the overconsuming North, and can leave more carbon space for the global South to flourish. Degrowth scholarship also needs to consider that the proposed measures for redistribution do not reproduce the mistakes of our communist past as ample evidence shows that some egalitarian measures in the past resulted in even worse resource use and pollution, while others economized resource use. Diana Urge-Vorsatz 2023-08-29T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 MSU-foyer 9_int_dg_conf-394-registration_desk_open https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/394 false pick up your registration credentials for 5 day conference access Non-academic Session registration desk and welcome pack 2023-08-29T20:30:00+02:00 20:30 01:30 MSU-foyer 9_int_dg_conf-396-opening_reception https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/396 false muzak, drinks, nibbles Non-academic Session Cocktail reception for guests and participants Entertainment by: Lovro Baletić https://soundcloud.com/naughty_musician 2023-08-30T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-267-gender_justice_in_the_energy_poverty_challenge https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/267 false Gender and other axes of inequality and vulnerability in manifestations of energy poverty Climate (in)justice Special Session Women in all their diversity are disproportionately affected by energy poverty, yet are strong actors against it. Currently, energy poverty policies are not paying sufficient attention, if any at all, to gender justice. This special session aims to clarify how women in all their diversity are disproportionately affected by energy poverty; explain the gender dimension as an inequality factor, as well as other axes of inequality and vulnerability intersecting gender in manifestations of energy poverty; and propose recommendations on how to make policies against energy poverty gender just. The special session is designed to connect stakeholders from different sectors in a discussion on further solutions and policies for tackling energy poverty in a gender-just manner. Short contributions will be followed by a facilitated discussion of participants with stakeholders, revolving around the following key questions: How can we make energy poverty policies more coherent and gender-just?; What are the roles of the different actors in making energy poverty policies gender-just?; How can the EU lead the way in making energy poverty policies gender-just? Where in the current policy developments (EGD, Fit for 55) do we see entry points to make EP policies gender-just?; How could we bridge the gaps between the silos (e.g. between European Gender Strategy and EGD)? How to find coherence between the policies? Lidija Zivcic Miljenka Kuhar Katharina Habersbrunner Kiara Groneweg EmpowerMed: Empowering women to take action against energy poverty 2023-08-30T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-224-energy_peripheries_in_the_green_transition https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/224 false Possibilities and problems in big projects of renewable energies Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation The paper builds on a 3-years research project about “Climate Park Steinhöfel” (Brandenburg, east Germany), beginning this spring. Climate Park Steinhöfel is one of Germany‘s biggest agro-solar-parc projects which, within the next few years, will devote 550 hectares of agricultural space to combined solar energy and agricultural production. Examining from a degrowth perspective the potentials and challenges of this development, the paper will explore the following questions: In which ways may the tax money and the Climate Bonus (that according to German law will be paid to the local community) be used to strengthen degrowth-oriented regional development, e.g., by installing a citizens’ budget? Which roles do networks of commons-oriented housing projects and intentional communities play in pracitizing transformational art, education, and community-supported agriculture in the region? Which role does the local citizens’ energy cooperative play in finding technical ways to use the energy produced locally, e.g., for a local heating network? How can a degrowth position be articulated in this structurally weak, post-socialist area with a high voting affinity for right wing populists parties, denying the fact of climate crisis altogether? It also adresses questions of degrowth methodology: The author holds a post-doc position at a regional university for this project. She is also a decade-long degrowth activist as well as organizer and co-founder of a local housing project, devoting itself to anarchist regional development. How can we as scientists with a degrowth perspective find our way through these politically contested times without betraying our political, scientific and congenial communities? Andrea Vetter 2023-08-30T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-159-peak-oil_definition_key_dimensions_and_relevance_for_degrowth_horizons https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/159 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation Some of the most prominent Degrowth authors have once been criticized for their apparent lack of understanding of energy and ‘thermodynamic price tags’. Since then, we have seen an intensification of the antagonistic battle between Degrowth and Decoupling supporters waged at the empiricist level with biophysical data and published in the highest ranked journals. While most welcome for the movement, the above criticism still stands. The supportive theoretical framework is either lacking completely or remains a poorly connected patchwork stemming from highly inhomogeneous fields (Ecological Economics, Social Metabolism, Systems Ecology, Energy Studies, etc.) and authors (Georgescu-Roegen, Holling, Odum, Hall, Tainter, etc.). What’s more, a reconciliation of the ‘biophysical’ with the ‘political is still missing, despite notable efforts of eco-socialists like Alf Hornborg. In this article we argue that the almost forgotten and still often poorly understood concept of Peak-Oil may be an important building block for the above challenge. What is needed for the concept to unfold its full explanatory power is a solid definition, conceptualization, and theoretical backing. We revisit the so far most comprehensive definition of Peak-Oil supported by a causal loop diagram of four key dimensions (quality vs. quantity and supply vs. demand) and set within a solid theoretical framework integrating the above fields and authors. This approach goes beyond Hubbert’s Peak; bell-shaped production curves and net energy to do justice to the fact that Peak-Oil is an inherently socio-ecological phenomenon and may help to populate the theoretical vacuum of some of the most recent empiricist debates. /system/events/logos/000/000/159/large/Nodding-Donkey-toy.jpg?1673790344 Christian Kerschner 2023-08-30T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-155-energy_communities_as_facilitators_of_energy_sufficiency https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/155 false A framework for degrowth Alternative economies Paper Presentation The world is consuming energy beyond what can be considered sustainable, owing mostly to the persisting mantra of limitless economic growth. The need to downscale matter-energy throughput to sustainable levels is widely agreed. However, what shapes such a reduction in energy demand and ultimately consumption could take beyond the usual choir of eco-efficiency and renewables. A more radical rethinking of energy consumption is called for. In the past few decades, energy communities have emerged as a powerful organisational form to facilitate the democratisation of energy production, distribution and consumption in society. We posit that they may also formulate the foundation for reconceptualising energy away from the current growth-oriented logic of ever increasing throughput. Instead, energy communities may provide the organisational element of a needs-based framework for energy sufficiency. Owing to their direct-democratic modus operandi, their coordinated behavioural changes, and their willingness to experiment with innovative technologies, energy communities can mediate in processes of designing locally-rooted energy sufficiency policies. In these characteristics energy communities highlight a potentially strong overlap with degrowth values/literature. However, previous literature connecting these two topics is piecemeal. We therefore seek to explore firstly how energy communities fit degrowth conceptualisations and how they could help reduce matter-energy throughput. Ultimately, expanding upon commons-oriented literature on innovation and organisation studies we propose a framework for energy as a communal resource in line with degrowth. This framework embodies the main principle ingrained in the commons: commoners collectively self-limiting their consumption to ensure sufficiency for all. Chris Giotitsas Chris Vrettos Ben Robra Dimitris Kitsikopoulos Alex Pazaitis 2023-08-30T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-104-climate-economy_modelling_and_degrowth_s_counter-hegemonic_struggle https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/104 false How Heterodox Climate-Economy Models Gain Traction in Science and Policy Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation This paper looks at the politics of climate-economy modelling to understand how degrowth models can gain more traction in science and policy. Neo-classical economics’ hegemonic role in reducing the climate and environmental crises to a problem of market-based, technocratic fixes is centered around so-called “integrated assessment modelling” (IAM). These models are the legitimizing backbone of any green growth narrative. Antithetically, as a tool – invented by Jay Forrester, adopted by the Club of Rome – IAMs pioneered the criticism of perpetual economic growth and reinforced the 1970s environmental movement. Only over the last 40 years IAMs became a tool to thwart rather than to promote radical change. Today, growth-critical models struggle to find traction in the political economy of knowledge production. I conducted 20 expert interviews with both orthodox and heterodox modelers, high-ranking EU-bureaucrats and politicians as well as with experts skeptical of modelling altogether. Using the critical lens of science and technology studies (STS), I analyze the role that current, hegemonic models play in legitimizing an unsustainable and unjust social and political regime. On six levels – from political-bureaucratic centers of power to everyday scientific practice – I Identify nine concrete obstacles that degrowth modelers encounter in gaining traction. From their experiences of struggle and occasional breakthrough, I derive strategic conclusions on how to confront each of those obstacles. These findings are also relevant for degrowth’s counter-hegemonic struggle in general. Using Helmut Kuhn’s theory of scientific revolutions, my findings point to pertinent conclusions about the relationship between scientific and political change. Dominik Buhl 2023-08-30T16:45:00+02:00 16:45 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-302-avenues_for_a_safe_climate_remove_carbon_from_the_atmosphere_or_reduce_energy_use https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/302 false Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation Existing climate mitigation scenarios describe a range of potential futures, from a rapidly decreasing dependence on fossil fuels and lower global energy consumption to large-scale negative emissions that allow for the continued growth of global energy consumption. Here, we show that the difference in energy use between these two transitions has been exaggerated due to an unrealistic representation of negative emissions in existing scenarios. We find the realistic mitigation potential of negative emissions from bioenergy to be much lower than suggested in existing scenarios, with our estimates at 300 GtCO2 compared to the cross-scenario average of 650 GtCO2. Moreover, realising negative emissions at scale with alternative options may be highly energy intensive and could reduce the amount of energy available to society by more than 20%. Aljoša Slameršak Daniel O'Neill 2023-08-30T17:00:00+02:00 17:00 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-107-how_payments_for_ecosystem_services_can_undermine_indigenous_institutions_the_case_of_peru_s_ampiyacu-apayacu_watershed https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/107 false Climate reparations and guaranteed basic services as part of a degrowth vision for solidarity with Indigenous forest protectors Alternative economies Paper Presentation Payments for ecosystem services have come to dominate international policies for addressing tropical deforestation. Political ecologists, degrowth scholars, and Indigenous activists have critiqued these approaches on the grounds that by centering economic growth, they can disrupt local conservation systems and compromise forest-dwelling communities' ability to protect forests and live well. Meanwhile, Indigenous groups have developed positive alternatives to ‘green growth’ strategies, including buen vivir (good living) in Latin America. In Peru, the National Forest Conservation Program (NFCP) serves as the state's flagship initiative to address tropical deforestation in Indigenous communities by paying communities for demonstrated reductions in deforestation, so long as they invest those funds according to an agreed up on management plan. We analyzed how the NFCP has interacted with quality-of-life plans, Indigenous planning tools rooted in buen vivir. Our findings suggest that the NFCP has eroded local systems for conservation, including the minga, an Amazonian tradition of mutual aid and shared labor for subsistence livelihoods, pushing communities to replace these systems with commodity production and employer-employee relationships. We argue that instead of imposing onerous conditions and steering communities towards evermore commodity production, conservation initiatives should support the implementation of quality-of-life plans. We suggest that climate justice organizers, political ecologists, and degrowth scholars explore and advocate for such initiatives. Ashwin Ravikumar Ashwin Ravikumar Esperanza Chairez Manuscript link Full paper PDF 2023-08-30T18:00:00+02:00 18:00 01:30 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-151-development_of_a_lifebuoy_blue_doughnut_economy_for_the_ocean https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/151 false Exploring ideas of degrowth for the blue economy Alternative economies Special Session The ocean is the biggest ecosystem supporting life on Earth. In order to shift from destruction to regeneration of the ocean we need a fundamental system change in the blue economy. Recognizing that the situation is urgent Seas at risk embarked on a journey to develop system change perspectives to inform policy advocacy and campaign work to protect the oceans. Through a series of a workshops and reflection with the Seas at risk network a new ocean economy was developed which is referred to as the “Lifebuoy Economy”. The Lifebuoy Economy draws on the concept of Doughnut Economics, and is built on a “social foundation, to ensure that no one is left falling short on life’s essentials” and it is contained within “an ecological ceiling, to ensure that humanity does not collectively overshoot the planetary boundaries that protect Earth's life-supporting systems”. Between these two sets of boundaries defined by the social foundation and the ecological ceiling lies a lifebuoy-shaped space “that is both ecologically safe and socially just: a space in which humanity can thrive”. The co-authors of the event will present the Lifebuoy (blue doughnut) economy with reference to 3 sectoral case studies which serve to illustrate the concept of the Lifebuoy economy; shipping within planetary boundaries, Convivial conservation informed Marine Protected Areas, and Low impact community fisheries. Co-authors: Tobias Troll, Marine Policy Director at Seas at Risk; Dr Lucy Gilliam, Senior Shipping Policy Officer at Seas at Risk. Tobias Troll Dr Lucy Gilliam 2023-08-30T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-10-wolves_in_sheep_s_clothing https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/10 false Varieties of science and technology optimism within the degrowth movement Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation Dominant narratives of green growth and sustainable development rest upon uncritical distinctions between ‘techne’ and ‘oikos’ on the one hand, and ‘oikos’ and ‘logos’ on the other. In other words, the relevance of science and technology is often taken for granted for a desired social and ecological change. Partly as a reaction to this, degrowth scholarship has shown how modern technoscientific systematizations perpetuate the capitalist growth economy and facilitates the increasing exploitation of people, and nature as a whole. However, there seems to remain an incipient optimism towards new technologies and scientific discoveries among degrowth proponents and researchers that are often motivated by ‘non-essentialist’ and ‘de-romantic’ theoretical assumptions. Without idealizing the past or reducing the world to essences, this study first proposes a typology consisting of four varieties of science and technology optimism. Second, the study identifies contentious technoscientific proposals within the degrowth literature, dissects them, and categorizes them through the proposed typology. The study analyzes degrowth proposals for a Green New Deal, positive takes on the global mega-production of cheap renewables, and more. Third, the study finds proposals within degrowth based on positivist epistemologies and/or de-materialized ontologies, which may lead to fundamental misunderstandings of what a convivial and just degrowth is from the prospects of modern science and technology. Andreas Roos Toni Ruuska Pasi Heikkurinen 2023-08-30T10:15:00+02:00 10:15 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-160-updates_on_degrowth_technology_overcoming_the_positivist_pandemic_trauma https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/160 false Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation Almost 5 years have passed since the publication of the so far most extensive collection of Degrowth and Technology related articles including an extensive metanalysis defining a new research agenda. It categorized thematic angles (theory, case studies, governance and evaluation) and extracted key themes such as conviviality, ‘democratization of technology’, socio-technological imaginaries, etc. However, despite this effort, advances in DG&T were modest since then, which we partly attribute to a general traumatic paralysis during and since the COVID19 pandemic. In this article we first revisit and update the insights of this collection, offering a refined framework for identifying typologies, in an effort to bring structure in a still very new and diffuse field of research. We then use these insights coupled with a strong post normal science perspective to look at the handling of the COVID19 pandemic in Austria, one of the very few counties that imposed mandatory vaccinations for all adults. The invention of COVID19 vaccines has been celebrated in mainstream outlets as a groundbreaking success of science and technology in general and symptomatic technological solutions in particular. Commentators in mainstream media even implicitly illuded to positivist Enlightenment attitudes of the domination of nature, by reporting victories in the battle between humans and the virus. So far, the Degrowth movement has been largely silent with respect to this apparent setback in progressive attitudes towards technology, that contradicts pre-pandemic efforts in Post Normal Science and DG&T. Such attitudes will remain self-contradictory if – unlike for instance Ivan Illich – they knowingly exclude certain areas of science like medicine. This article is an attempt to start a “trauma therapeutical process” for resolving these contradictions and for pointing out ways forward for DG&T. /system/events/logos/000/000/160/large/space-odyssey-_monkey.jpg?1673790610 Christian Kerschner 2023-08-30T10:30:00+02:00 10:30 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-23-towards_a_science_of_liberation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/23 false Initiating a dialogue between liberation theology and degrowth Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation To date, proponents of degrowth have largely abstained from engaging with faith and have yet to discuss degrowth in relation to theological reflections. The present paper puts degrowth in discouse with liberation theology to provide visions that combine the power of faith and reason. A dialogue between the two perspectives that bridges the gap between structure and agency is initiated. It is suggested that both social movements could be enhanced by each others analysis. Whilst degrowth offers a multi-layered scientific critique of capitalism, especially ecological, liberation theology offers a deep reasoning for engagining with the social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples, an analyses that has spread to various liberation movements around the world (e.g. Black, Dalit, and Palestinian liberation theology). Thus, the paper proposes that degrowth advocates should prioritise an alliance with liberation theologians to realise more holistic and spiritual transformations that do not solely depend on scientific reasoning. /system/events/logos/000/000/023/large/Its_only_a_matter_of_time_%28_Barvinakur%29.png?1673078817 Nick Fitzpatrick 2023-08-30T10:45:00+02:00 10:45 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-55-rethinking_innovation_beyond_economic_growth_for_sustainability_transitions https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/55 false The case studies of Transition Towns and the Degrowth movement. Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation Confronted with ecological, social and economic crises, the mainstream response is to advocate technological innovation within a ‘green growth’ paradigm. However, evidence suggests that current conventional models for innovation in sustainability are inadequate to fully resolve linked crises of unsustainability. Current environmental issues cannot be solved merely by incremental improvements and technological fixes. Here, a new space of opportunity is opening for social movements that are exploring alternative development pathways and a radically different approach to economic development. This research aims to contribute to understandings of how innovation is conceived and enacted by social movements concerned with issues around green growth. Most of the literature on sustainability transitions and innovation still focuses on more conventional economic assumptions and understandings of innovation, as well as conventional practices in business and government. There is less research on how movements might prefigure new models, criteria and settings for innovation that require a rethinking of innovation in a postgrowth society, which is the gap in the literature that this research intends to address. This research integrates a thematic analysis and critical discourse analysis from data collected through in-depth semi structured interviews, participant observation and document analysis of two case studies of movements active in the UK –Transition Towns, a grassroots innovation movement formed by a network of local initiatives; and the degrowth movement, an academic-activist movement. This research will provide timely analysis that is both constructive and critical towards rethinking innovation in society, which will benefit policymakers, businesses and civil society organisations. Andrea Perez Porres 2023-08-30T11:00:00+02:00 11:00 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-109-is_there_a_place_for_artificial_intelligence_in_a_degrowth_society https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/109 false Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation Degrowth perspectives have so far largely left unshaped their visions on the role of technology. In the meantime, governments all over the world are accelerating the development and application of high-end digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, notably because of their potential to enhance economic growth. Considering the possibility that these developments lead to new lock-ins of our society in a set of technological infrastructures that are environmentally destructive and growth-pursuing, there is an urgent need to carry out a critical analysis from a degrowth perspective. In this paper, I focus on Artificial Intelligence and first explain how it can act as a growth-accelerator and an instrument of capitalism. I do so by focusing on three sectors (manufacturing and retail, transport, and health) and by showing how growth-accelerating applications are in each sector being encouraged by neoliberal governments, powerful tech companies and consultancy firms. Second, I take a degrowth perspective and ask the following question: if Artificial Intelligence is pushed to be a growth accelerator, should a degrowth proposal refuse the technology as a whole or could it re-appropriate it in a degrowth system? I build my answer by reflecting on how applications of Artificial Intelligence could exist within degrowth visions of the sectors transport and health, using notions of convivial technologies. Overall, my paper contributes to building an imaginary on the role of technology in a degrowth society. Irmi Seidl Andrea Vetter Marion Meyers 2023-08-30T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-154-artistic_take_on_material_premises_of_new_technologies https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/154 false Artistic ecologies and eco-social practices Paper Presentation A presentation will focus on art practices that address the specific material assumptions of digital technology. The material side of digital technologies appears intangible, since we perceive them most often through the communication sphere of digital information. When there is only a screen in front of us, it is not obvious that these immersive worlds, where colors, speeds, processing powers and storage processes intertwine, need metals and minerals to exist and function. Also, the dependence of media technology on various geological materials, geophysical forces and vast global networks of energy and supply chains is not obvious. Although there is a complex economic, social and political system behind the production and operation of digital technologies, the increasingly small and portable digital equipment creates a false sense of immateriality. Precisely because of this apparent de-materialization in relation to other technologies and industries, the footprint of digital technologies is all the more "insidious". It is difficult to make end users aware that digital waste is not only hardware and computer monitors, but has environmental, social, political and economic consequences. Precisely because the scope of the consequences of digital technologies is not self-evident, the presentation questions how to think differently about the link between ecology and technology, with art functioning as a space for theory and practice? How can art re-think economies behind digital technologies and shift our perception of its usage? The presentation will be followed by discussion with the audience. Irena Boric Jennifer Gabrys Format C - Audium Constant - Collectively Setting Conditions for Re-Use 2023-08-30T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-164-how_to_understand_the_hegemony_of_automobility_in_times_of_the_socio-ecological_crisis https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/164 false Insights from the cultural political economy Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation Since the beginning of the 20th century our transport system is dominated by automobility and exacerbates the global climate crisis. Regardless of whether cars are powered by fossil fuels or electricity, they contribute not only to the ecological crisis due to emissions and extraction of resources, but also to social injustices on different spatial scales. People are affected differently by the negative impacts of the transport sector and have different access and opportunities to use the transport system. Against the knowledge of the contribution of automobility to the socio-ecological crisis and injustices, the question arises as to how the hegemony of automobility can be understood. Jessop and Sum (2013) have stressed the role of everyday practices, subjectivities and imaginaries in the constitution and reproduction of the hegemony of an economic order. With this rather new cultural politcal economy approach, the hegemony of automobility, the associated socio-ecological problems, the distributional injustices as well as the prevention of a social just transport transition can be explained not only by the power of large corporations and the interest of the state in these companies, but also by automobile subjectivities. As a result, the hegemony of automobility is understood by the interplay of the economic, institutional and discursive dimensions as well as the dimension of everyday practices. Anke Klaever 2023-08-30T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-226-contesting_a_new_wave_of_green_extractivism_in_europe_how_can_the_degrowth_movement_support_anti-mining_struggles_on_the_ground https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/226 false Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation In summer 2021, we conducted ethnographic field research in a rural area in northern Portugal to investigate the anti-mining movement around a proposed mining project. The mine is projected to be essential to Europe's energy transition by becoming the biggest open-pit lithium mine in western Europe. Despite the promises of several benefits, most residents fear that the mine will destroy their natural environment and undermine alternative aspirations for the region’s development. Opponents have been contesting the development of the mining project by forming a grassroot organisation that has organised various campaigns and protests and mobilised national and transnational alliances to halt the project. The paper explores how residents engage in the politics of anticipation around the mine. We argue that creating new sacrifice zones in the name of the green economy will impede efforts for genuine sustainability transformations, a matter which represents a core concern of both degrowth activists and anti-mining coalitions. Counter-movements like the ones in Portugal are gaining increasing public attention in Europe, thereby driving discourses around the need to transform our economy radically. Rethinking economic relations in a way that human needs are met while social injustices are being mitigated and planetary boundaries respected is a challenge that deeply connects these movements. In this presentation, we wish to share what we learnt about the growing European anti-mining network and its connection to degrowth ideas. We encourage discussing challenges and potentials to forge alliances between anti-mining activists and degrowth advocates. While our focus will be on anti-mining resistance within Europe, we propose linking this discussion to how people fighting environmental injustices worldwide can join forces and engage in alliance-formation to promote genuine and effective sustainability transformations. Ingrid Varov Leonie Saleth 2023-08-30T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-116-mining_soils_political_ontological_foundations_of_soil_extractivism_in_europe https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/116 false Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation Soils are a foundational part of relational and interdependent planetary existence; almost all local and global multispecies relations are connected to soils. However, regardless of their centrality to all life, soils as complex multispecies entities, and the wider implications of past and ongoing systemic erasure of soils (due to for example industrial agricultural practices) have only recently become an object of interest in social and multidisciplinary science. The lack of social scientific examinations of soils arises from the literal invisibility of the beings and processes that make soils, but also from soils' role in being taken for granted ontologically and politically. In this article, I build on feminist, decolonial and queer ecological examinations of soils to name what is actively ignored, and to re-centre the complex relationalities and hidden subjectivities of soils, in order to better understand the myriad violences of capitalist modernity within the web-of-life. Through an integrative literature review I examine how specific (non-relational) political ontological understandings of soils are incorporated into industrial agricultural politics in Europe, and led to significantly re-organizing landscapes and different multispecies relations. The theoretical contribution of “soil extractivism” provides a conceptual tool for understanding currently dominant ways of treating soils as a key part of modernity and industrial capitalism. With this contribution I think with the emerging conceptual work within anthropology, political ecology, and feminist and postcolonial studies in conceptualizing capitalist appropriation of material and intangible world(s) as commodification of life in general. saana hokkanen My university-profile link 2023-08-30T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-194-discovering_diverse_financing https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/194 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation The field of finance is conceived as the epitome of our capitalist economy to the extent that there is limited knowledge about alternative financing outside financial markets. Through the lens of the Diverse Economies, we wish to re-read finance in a way that it reverts to being at service to the economy by “support[ing] emancipatory, ethical and solidaristic diverse economic practices” (Gibson-Graham and Dombroski, 2020: 15) – thus, exhibiting that diverse forms of financing do exist. Research findings from qualitative fieldwork in Luxembourg and Saxony, Germany, illustrate how community economies practice diverse financing in many ways and by which opportunities, challenges as well as limitations they are accompanied. These examples of localized organizations and projects emphasize how important capital, in its many shapes and forms stretching along a continuum, is to establish also alternative economic initiatives. Our empirical research shows that community economies, when targeting objectives linked to de- & postgrowth, face similar difficulties and advances, which shows that these are not single instances but can add up to become valid regional pathways that deserve to be highlighted as such. Our paper demonstrates how finance is vital for alternative economic activities and can be used as an ethical tool for a common good (Safri and Madra, 2020). /system/events/logos/000/000/194/large/Logo_AltFin.png?1673809674 Elena Emrick-Schmitz 2023-08-30T16:45:00+02:00 16:45 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-199-update_degrowth_and_informal_waste_work_who_cleans_for_a_just_transition https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/199 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation This paper will focus upon informally self-employed waste pickers and how they play a vital role in the circulation of waste/used-goods. Following waste industries provides a unique entry point to discuss tensions between capitalist production and ecological impact as well as the complexity of global supply chains. In order to build pathways towards just transition, degrowth frameworks need to engage with scholarship on informal waste work to examine how we can ensure social security protection for people who are doing ecological work. Moreover, following the discourses on garbage and tracing the map of global circulation of waste can enable the degrowth frameworks to be more grounded in material and working realities highly precarious work such as waste picking. Riya Raphael 2023-08-30T17:00:00+02:00 17:00 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-387-how_should_an_economist_act_in_a_climate_and_environmental_emergency https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/387 false Revisiting the Idea of The Economist as Shaman Alternative economies Paper Presentation en Given the close connection between the production processes that make up the economy and the deterioration of our climate and ecological systems, it seems extraordinary that this question is not at the heart of the concerns of the economics profession as well as the teaching of economics. Yet a full 16 years since Professor Stern identified climate change as the ‘greatest market failure of all time’ the overwhelming majority of economists are still operating as technicians for the growth economy while those of us who raise questions about its impact on the biosphere remain marginalised. This disconnection of the discipline that defines itself as ‘the study of the factors that influence income, wealth and well-being’ from the natural wealth it depends on and the destruction of well-being caused by ecological and climate crises is a serious concern. A decade ago I posited the imaginary of ‘the economist as shaman’, a concept I hoped would encompass both the role the economist plays mediating between citizens and the resources they depend on for existence, but also the quasi-spiritual place economists hold in modern societies. A key role for the economist is to maintain the close connection between human beings and other animals and the natural world we share. With the climate and ecological crises accelerating, driven by the economic model adopted by the overwhelming majority of economists, I propose to raise the question of how an economist should act and to re-examine what the role of the shaman might offer. A shaman garners her or his power from myths, hence a critical interrogation of ‘the myth of economism’ (Peter, 2017) is fundamental to my project. I then proceed to explore how the four central roles of the shaman might help to reshape the role of an economist in a climate and ecological emergency: • A social authority and the accompanying responsibility to provide challenge to existing power systems; • A close and reverential relationship with nature or what we might more scientifically define as the ecosystem and the ability to establish and transcend boundaries between humans and nature; • Mediation between humans and other species through an intuitive as well as a material understanding; • The power to offer healing. Molly Scott Cato 2023-08-30T17:15:00+02:00 17:15 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-252-on_economics_as_a_metabolic_process https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/252 false a transdisciplinary review of the academic literature on urban metabolism. Alternative economies Paper Presentation The purpose of this essay is to bring together some of the most salient aspects of urban metabolism deduced from the academic literature of several disciplines such as ecology, ecological economics, political ecology and environmental sociology. The article analyses the history of the concept, from its inception to recent developments, highlighting how the different definitions used by various disciplines have led to the development of several methodologies of research. The possibility of using this concept at different levels of analysis, from micro-cellular to macro-economic assessment, provides an understanding of the different ways in which natural and artificial systems can manage their resources to ensure their own maintenance and reproducibility. In this regard, the metabolic approach could lead to the development of sustainable production and consumption patterns in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals of the Agenda 2030. The article aims to treat the topic from a biophysical and socio-political perspective in parallel, trying to highlight the similarities and differences between natural and man-made systems. In both, input processing and output discarding appear to be a metabolic process structured as a network. Therefore, it has become critical to understand how processed energy-material is distributed along the value chain as well in the food chain. This kind of process is not only biophysical, but involves the entire structure of knowledge, institutions, social norms and uses, and all environmental representations of all forms of life that contribute to constantly creating new forms of nature. In the final part of the contribution there is also a reflection on plant metabolism. The academic literature seems to flatten on animal metabolism, while the functioning of the plant body could provide insights in terms of information sharing, democratic decision-making, equitable distribution of energy-matter and, in general, a more equitable and environmentally friendly model of society. Considering the Earth system as a whole, where human economies play a crucial role, could provide help on how to address the issue of environmental sustainability in terms of reproducing "social-ecological regimes." Raffaele Guarino _IDC__On_economics_as_a_metabolic_process_-_Abstract.pdf 2023-08-30T17:30:00+02:00 17:30 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-42-value_theory_and_practice https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/42 false Using autoethnography to link value theory and degrowth activism Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Paper Presentation Communicating degrowth requires us to articulate abstract theory in a way that makes sense of everyday practices. In this paper I use autoethnography to show how contemporary debates in value theory can guide degrowth activism. The question of what value is and how it is produced is hotly debated in ecological economics (Hornborg, 2022; Pirgmaier, 2021; Røpke, 2021). This debate connects to key conceptual and strategic questions about links between degrowth and Marxism (Akbulut, 2021). Likewise, the question of what gets valued has been used to make connections between degrowth and feminist economics (Dengler and Strunk, 2017). These debates are valuable, but often abstract, and it can be hard to see their implications for activism. In this paper I use an autoethnographic approach (Ellis et al., 2011) to ground abstract theoretical discussions on value theory in my everyday practices navigating capitalism and attempting to pre-figure a degrowth economy. I provide ‘thick’ descriptions (Gibson-Graham, 2014) of my participation in different production processes: a voluntary organisation, a trade union, formal employment, and household production. I describe the motivations behind and the experiences of taking part in each of these productive forms, detailing the similarities (the tedium of administrative work, camaraderie, pressure, moments of joy, moments of fear) and differences (in motivations, the social relations of the product, the level of autonomy, the scale of production). I then use value theories to evaluate how each of these activities contributes (or not) to the subversion of capitalism and the development of degrowth. References Akbulut, B., 2021. Degrowth. Rethink. Marx. 33, 98–110. https://doi.org/10.1080/08935696.2020.1847014 Dengler, C., Strunk, B., 2017. The Monetized Economy Versus Care and the Environment: Degrowth Perspectives On Reconciling an Antagonism. Fem. Econ. Ellis, C., Adams, T.E., Bochner, A.P., 2011. Autoethnography: An Overview. Forum Qual. Sozialforschung Forum Qual. Soc. Res. 12. https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-12.1.1589 Gibson-Graham, J.K., 2014. Rethinking the Economy with Thick Description and Weak Theory. Curr. Anthropol. 55, S147–S153. https://doi.org/10.1086/676646 Hornborg, A., 2022. Why ecological economics should not adopt Marxian value theory. Ecol. Econ. 193, 107334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107334 Pirgmaier, E., 2021. The value of value theory for ecological economics. Ecol. Econ. Røpke, I., 2021. From value to valuation and appropriation. A comment on Pirgmaier’s paper “The value of value theory for ecological economics.” Ecol. Econ. 187, 107102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107102 Simon Mair 2023-08-30T18:00:00+02:00 18:00 01:30 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-405-geopolitics_of_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/405 false Olha Boiko (CAN EECCA), Gwendoline Delbos (MEP, Green group in the EP), Hajar Kamlichi (Mediterannean Youth Climate Network), Richard Wouters (WB GroenLinks). Moderated by: Jamie Kendrick (GEJ) Panel Non-academic Session en It makes sense for the EU to be a frontrunner in the transition to a degrowth society. This is a matter of ecological justice: EU countries bear the greatest historical responsibility for the crises of climate and biodiversity, and can free up natural resources for the Global South without loss of wellbeing. But what would degrowth mean for geopolitics? Can a Europe that is the first to renounce economic growth still remain (or become) a global player? Will it be able to defend itself, its allies, democracy and the international rule of law against aggressive autocrats? After all, the power of countries and alliances is largely determined by their wealth and military capabilities. Without billions in Western support, both money and arms, Ukraine would not be able to hold out against the Russian aggressor. This panel brings together policymakers, experts and practitioners for a frank conversation on the geopolitical risks and opportunities for a degrowth Europe. What concepts, alliances, or alternative forms of power might answer to the challenge of combining ecological, democratic, and geopolitical resilience? Panelists 2023-08-30T09:00:00+02:00 09:00 01:00 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-397-marx_meets_degrowth_on_the_origin_of_degrowth_communism https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/397 false Keynote lecture Keynote Special Session The relationship between Marxism and degrowth was antagonistic for quite a long time. While Marxism criticized degrowth's ambivalent attitude toward market economy, degrowth rejected Marxian productivism. This situation needs to change, however. Today, capitalism is clearly the root-cause of the climate crisis, and it is an absolute imperative to problematize the capitalist mode of production and to envision an alternative post-capitalist society. In this context, the Marxist tradition can contribute to enriching the idea of degrowth. The indispensable precondition is to abandon productivism inherent to Marxism. However, by carefully tracing his intellectual development, it becomes clear that the late Marx came to critically reflect upon his earlier native optimism about technological progress and eternal growth, and he came to even accept degrowth as the model of a future society to which Western societies need to “return.” In this sense, “Degrowth communism” is an alternative vision of the future society for Marx, and this idea is exactly what we need today in the Anthropocene. Kohei Saito 2023-08-30T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-388-seeds_of_degrowth_in_the_south https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/388 false LEARNING FROM THE PRACTICES AND STRUGGLES OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN SEED SAVERS Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Special Session Too often, within the framework of global theoretical and political debates, feminist, decolonial and antiracist ideas are presented as static and removed from the particular regional or national contexts in which they emerge from. Analytical perspectives and political proposals that do not take into account the many and considerable economic, institutional, social and cultural differences between the North and the South of the world are prone to a romanticisation of the concept of degrowth that undermines its transformative and emancipatory potential. This session proposes an in-depth discussion of the meaning of degrowth in the South grounded on the analysis of practices and struggles of seed savers active in the Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA), a Southern African social movement present in seven countries: Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. RWA and other African rural movements have resisted seed capture for many years in the context of broader struggles aimed at generating people-driven alternatives around food sovereignty, agroecology, land reform and the right to food. The session will draw on the outcomes of an ongoing feminist and non-extractive research initiative led by RWA members, focusing on indigenous knowledge systems, land ownership, gender relations, local food systems and intellectual property rights, among other topics. The proposal also implies bridging the epistemological divide between “academic” and “non-academic” presentations around which the Degrowth Conference is structured. Even though three social scientists are proposing this session, it will be based on the active engagement of seed savers from the Rural Women’s Assembly. Daniel Chavez Suzall Timm Donna Andrews 2023-08-30T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-272-room_to_grow_and_the_right_to_say_no https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/272 false building peace through the liberation of the Global South Climate (in)justice Paper Presentation This article builds on feminist and decolonial perspectives and engages with political geography literature to rethink the way peace and violence are understood in the Global South. Building peace that is coherent with planetary and ecological limits, and that does not further direct and structural violence, necessitates breaking with the extractivist model of development that benefits growth and accumulation over people's wellbeing. By theorizing the way that degrowth strategies can be understood as furthering climate resilient peace in the Global South, this article proposes two ways that we can understand peace as a liberatory praxis based on 'the room to grow' and 'the right to say no'. Through these two strategies, I aim at centering a liberatory praxis for peace on the need to negate both material and symbolic system and structures of oppression that produce climate and environmental changes, as well as reproduce direct, structural, and cultural violence. A peace praxis focused on the liberation of the Global South identifies that different types of violence connected to climate and environmental changes and underdevelopment are not only connected, but that they share their roots in deeper structural systems of extractivism, exploitation, and colonization. Barbara Magalhães Teixeira 2023-08-30T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-276-degrowth_beyond_the_metropole https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/276 false theory and praxis for a revolutionary degrowth Contemporary emancipatory internationalism Paper Presentation This paper brings the Global South to the center stage of degrowth debates to envision what a truly global and anti-colonial movement towards degrowth could look like. To do so, we first bring the varying definitions of the term 'Global South' to the forefront and consider it not as an undynamic and apolitical category, but as a site of resistance and independent critical thinking against capitalist expansion and the process of neoliberal globalization. Second, we discuss the structural and sociocultural constraints of the Global South that they inherited from their historical experience of colonialism and oppression and paved the way for their so-called 'underdevelopment'. By re-visiting dependency and world-systems theory, we reprise the problematic experience of the Global South's efforts to self-defined and self-generated development in the past. Lastly, we instrumentalize the critical pedagogy framework of Paulo Freire, to illuminate what awauits the Global South in a degrowth transition. We conclude our discussion by arguing that as the 'oppressed', the Global South is the true leader of a revolutionary transformation through and towards degrowth, as only they can liberate both themselves and their 'oppressor' the Global North, from the ossified patterns of (neo)colonialism and domination to achieve such transformation. Basak Kosanay Barbara Magalhães Teixeira 2023-08-30T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-370-confronting_growthism_tales_of_sufficiency_from_the_global_south https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/370 false Highlighting Other modes of being, illustrated by the case of Colombia. Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation Development discourse can still be seen as being hegemonic, in spite of decades of profound critique. Further, it can be seen as growthism's expression in the Global South. In a country like Colombia, development and modernization can even be said to constitute part of the national identity. Recently, in this country, the irritation in the press and general public as a Minister mentioned the need for Degrowth, reflects the solidity of the Growth mandate. In this presentation I argue that confronting the Growth mandate is imperative in the Global South, even if it "still needs to grow" as is often argued. The priority of growth, the mandate to develop, which reaches the depth of religious fervor, needs to be challenged. Capitalism's own tales of scarcity are complemented by Developmentalism's supposed state of not-enoughness, of not-reaching-yet-maturity, by the "Coloniality of being". Confronting hegemonic discourse here could entail highlighting what is already there, but is not seen. Tales of sufficiency could play a role in countering the discourse that impoverishes discursively the Rest of the West. A possibility: rehabilitating the imaginary around subsistence economies. Not understood as a return to the past, but as an opening up of possibilities of being. This presentation will be illustrated with an analysis of interviews: Tales of people who are old enough to have lived "another" Colombia, one where sufficiency was given, where consumerism had another countenance. Gisela Ruiseco Galvis 2023-08-30T15:00:00+02:00 15:00 01:00 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-400-degrowth_in_an_african_periphery_recentering_decoloniality_around_ecocentric_and_circular_ontologies https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/400 false Keynote lecture Keynote Special Session en The hegemonic capitalist system likes to argue that endless growth is possible, that if you work hard enough, you too can have your mansion with blue swimming pool and lush green lawns, gas-guzzlers in the garage and maybe a football team in one of the top European leagues. Unrelenting cultural hegemony messaging is churned out to co-opt enough people to join the impossible rat race to the top of the consumerism matrix. But make no mistake: hegemonic capitalism is both the creator and consequence of brutal exploitation of black, brown and white bodies, women’s backs, nature and all the commons that we were all meant to enjoy equally. This architecture of bottomless greed reorganised power relations pertaining to land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship away from people-owned circular, ecocentric commons in favour of selfish, soulless, individualistic & anthropocentric relationships. There is no doubt that the climate crisis we are witnessing today is a direct consequence of hegemonic capitalism. The pervasive hegemonic anthropocentric ontology powered the British- centred food regime, the industrial revolution, post-World War II expansionism, the American-led food regime, the modern financialised food-regime and everything else in-between. The climate crisis confluences with a multitude of other crises – mental crisis, solitude crisis, identity crisis, green colonialism and usurping of customary lands, etc. – to create a post-Covid reckoning in which more and more young people are saying: no more! Far from being limited to the Global North, capital and corporatisation has expanded its frontier of accumulation to so-called emerging and underdeveloped countries in the Global South. In this perspective, the degrowth debate invites itself to the Global South, not in the sense of litigating levels of consumption in affluent societies, but rather to dismantle the global architecture of exploitation that sucks the lifeblood of the Global South in order to provide the Global North with cheap meat and cheap electronics. This paper argues that the current anthropocentric ontology is quickly taking us to the edge of a cliff - the point of no return – and the only thing that can help us avert certain disaster is an ethnocentric degrowth ontology within a new internationalism. Roland Ngam 2023-08-30T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-58-the_economic_growth_imperative_a_pluralist_comparative_review_and_assessment_of_key_theories https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/58 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation This paper reviews key theories of economic growth imperatives and carves out their disagreements in order to enable a more robust assessment of their respective explanatory power. Currently dominant human-nature relationships in the global North are fundamentally unsustainable, as their basis in perpetual economic growth erodes the planetary systems upon which life depends. However, current societies seem to be locked into the pursuit of economic growth, as lack of growth was historically experienced as a socially harmful economic crisis. This conjuncture is conceptualised as current societies being subject to ‘growth imperatives’ which make social wellbeing dependent on economic growth. In response, alternative approaches around a heterogeneous post-growth paradigm have emerged, including strands under the degrowth umbrella. However, beyond a basic consensus, substantial debate exists, including on a key question: Where exactly do the growth imperatives of the current social system come from and as a consequence, what needs to be changed in order to overcome them? In the present paper, I address these questions by conducting a narrative review of key theories of economic growth imperatives, summarise as well as cluster them around shared proposed mechanisms and carve out their areas of disagreement. Preliminary results indicate that these disagreements especially concern the roles of money and monetary exchange, firm structure and ownership as well as the state and social hierarchies. In subsequent papers, I plan to assess a selection of some of these disagreements and evaluate the different theories explanatory power using a critical realist framework. Lorenz Keysser 2023-08-30T16:45:00+02:00 16:45 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-122-the_capcollage https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/122 false An educational workshop tool on problematic mechanisms of capitalism Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Paper Presentation Degrowth is about criticizing a globalizing and growth-oriented socio-economic system – in short, capitalism – for the destructive implications it has on human and non-human beings. Moreover, degrowth is a creative search for just, participatory, and sustainable alternatives. Understanding the former and engaging with the latter go hand in hand: Developing knowledge of problematic socio-economic mechanisms related to capitalism (e.g., debt-based money creation) helps people, organizations, and communities to better implement degrowth-oriented approaches (e.g., complementary local currencies). Against this backdrop, a collaborative research process was launched to develop a set of cards on key problematic mechanisms of capitalism. As a first step, researchers working on degrowth or post-growth are asked to provide brief and easy-to-understand presentations on (a) a socio-economic process that is recurrent within or due to capitalism, (b) problematic implications for the actors involved or the broader socio-ecological environment, and (c) appropriate scholarly sources. In a second step, the participating researchers are invited to give each other constructive feedback on the presented mechanisms and to reflect on their interrelationships. Finally, in a third step, participants vote for the mechanisms they consider most compelling, scientifically sound, and relevant. This three-step process is iteratively repeated until a set of mechanism cards emerges that, when pieced together in educational workshops, paint a holistic collage of capitalism‘s problematic dynamics – the ‘CapCollage’. A key inspiration for this project is the ‘Climate Fresk’. This 42-card workshop tool helps people understand the causes and consequences of climate change. It is easily accessible, scalable, and encourages taking action. Tobias Froese 2023-08-30T17:00:00+02:00 17:00 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-140-current_crisis_from_the_perspective_of_growth_and_non-growth_economies_an_assessment_of_the_applicability_of_sustainability_indicators https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/140 false Current crisis from the perspective of growth and non-growth economies An Assessment of the Applicability of Sustainability Indicators Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation The principles of sustainable development are an essential part of the effort to find responses and tools to the social, environmental and economic challenges of the contemporary world, compounded by crises of increasing inequality and poverty, regional disparities, risks of pandemics, wars, and energy supplies, among others. This contribution examines solutions to the current crises in terms of growth and non-growth economic models, their characteristics, strategies, and the goals they intend to achieve. The models studied are the classical economic model, the green economy model (associated with environmental economics and decoupling), the ecological economy model (encompassing degrowth and wellbeing) and the ecosocialist model. To evaluate each model, the suitability of different sustainability indicators and their ability to complement or replace the GDP indicator is assessed. Among the indicators considered are the Sustainable Development Goals Index, Human Development Index, Ecological Footprint, Genuine Progress Index, Index of Sustainable Economic Well-Being, Quality of Life Index, and others. The applicability of these indicators is assessed from a global, national, and regional perspective. The goal of the paper is to offer indicators based on sustainability that can provide feedback for the solutions offered, official or alternative, within the framework of the different economic models. Antonín Hořčica 2023-08-30T17:15:00+02:00 17:15 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-91-the_sustainability_spectacle https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/91 false exploring business sustainability and degrowth through the theory of the spectacle Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation Why, even when faced by overwhelming evidence of the already ongoing climate catastrophe, the sustainable business and sustainable business research field is unable to make any meaningful changes to the environmental conditions? Further, why degrowth is overlooked as an obvious option? Desperate times call for desperate acts, for which I turn to 1960’s radical avant-gardist Guy Debord. I argue that sustainable businesses inability to move away from the Dominant Social Paradigm is due to an innate feature of marketing and characteristic of capitalism: the spectacle. The sustainability spectacle is a product created by the culture industry, as well as an approach to climate mitigation. In the former case, sustainability spectacle is manifested as an endless stream of sustainable advertising, images, appearances and meanings. It is not important to be sustainable, it is important to appear sustainable. In the case of the latter, it is not just images that are being shared: these images have become the relationships themselves. Much like Marx theorized that subject and object have changed places, in sustainability spectacle (business) sustainability has become the subject, while humans have become the objects, mere bystanders. Hence, any act in this spectacle becomes the spectacle itself. In the paper, I show how the spectacle operates by analysing at the movie Don’t look up. I juxtapose the movie with some current sustainable advertising to further highlight the point I’m making. Finally, I also explore the opportunity to escape the spectacle. Debord would say that there is something ‘real’ behind the sustainability spectacle. There are the material conditions which can be altered. I argue that degrowth is a potential way to challenge the spectacle, as it can act as an “detournement” against it. However, the danger always looms that degrowth in itself will become co-opted and spectacularized. Roni Lappalainen 2023-08-30T18:00:00+02:00 18:00 01:30 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-404-industry_labour_work_degrowth_perspective_on_political_economy_for_global_periphery https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/404 false Ana Maria Boromisa (IRMO, HR), Pablo Sanchez (EPSU, BE), Dijana Šobota (UATUC, HR), Ludovic Voet (ETUI, BE), Thomas Würdinger (IGM, DE). Moderated by: Daniel Chavez (TNI, NL) Panel Non-academic Session en There are legitimate but also unjustified fears related to the future of industry and the future of work in a post-growth society. In our debate we will focus on the political economy of a degrowth society on the global periphery. Regardless of geographical position, we will focus on the most vulnerable aspects of the industry that need to be transformed and search for ways how working conditions can be further improved. Challenges related to automation or digitalisation of work will be considered through the role of technology while carbon and environmental impacts of the industry will be closely examined. An exchange between trade unionists, workers and the degrowth movement will be essential in defining the framework of discussion that is not yet taking place. Daniel Chavez Panelists 2023-08-30T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-7 9_int_dg_conf-129-advancing_research_on_degrowth_and_post-growth_organization https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/129 false Alternative economies Special Session What are the implications of degrowth for organization(s)? How can we organize for a post-growth economy and society? An emerging scholarship on degrowth and post-growth organization is addressing these and other questions, drawing on diverse disciplinary perspectives and viewpoints. Recent works have outlined how degrowth aligns with organizations utilizing peer production (Robra et al, 2021), others looked at how degrowth compels a rethinking of business models (Kostakis et al, 2015; Khmara and Kroenenberg, 2018; Nesterova, 2020; Hankammer et al, 2021), business innovation (Wells, 2018), future organizations (Roth, 2016), profit (Hinton, 2020, 2021), scaling (Colombo et al., in press), and post-growth organization and organizing (Johnsen et al., 2017; Rätzer et al., 2018). Others draw on practice theories (e.g. Schmid, 2018), including the proposal that degrowth serves as a boundary object which is transforming - and being transformed by - existing notions of organization (Vandeventer and Lloveras, 2020). This dispersion of understandings suggests that there is a need to further articulate and clarify the contours of what degrowth means for organization(s) as well as what organization(s) mean for degrowth. Contains a presentation by Sofia Adam: Universal human needs or alternative organization for the production of new social needs? A dilemma for degrowth research and practice. Building on a workshop on this topic at the University of Vigo (Spain) in April 2023, which will start mapping different approaches to degrowth/post-growth and organization, this Special Session will include presentations of papers that review existing research on degrowth and post-growth organization, as well as theoretical and empirical papers on the subject. James Scott Vandeventer Sofia Adam Ben Robra Alejandro Fortuny Sofia Greaves 2023-08-30T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-7 9_int_dg_conf-167-masculinities_and_degrowth_breaking_away_from_the_hegemonic_model https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/167 false Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Non-academic Session UPDATE: Tadeas Zdarsky will be running this session Degrowth advocates for new kinds of societies which celebrate frugal abundance and give centre-stage to the wellbeing of people and planet instead of economic growth. Despite the many synergies such views have with those of many feminists, much degrowth writing has repeatedly failed to substantially engage with feminist literature. In this workshop, we suggest hegemonic masculinity as a potential cause, arguing that though the opportunities to engage with feminism are plentiful, degrowth scholarship has mostly ignored them or named them without fully claiming them because doing so could risk undermining one’s status in a society governed by masculinist norms. Drawing from eco/feminist and masculinities studies, we will open a discussion about how we write, speak and do degrowth. We will conduct a participatory workshop, starting with a personal inquiry into how men perceive their gender roles and performances and how they experience the various constraints imposed by masculinist norms, both within the degrowth movement and in their interactions outside it when trying to advance degrowth. We will then seek to outline new avenues for incorporating such reflections into degrowth, and look at the enriching possibilities offered by striking partnerships with relevant men's movements such as those inspired by ecological masculinities and the profeminist movement. Pierre Smith Khanna Christos Zografos tadeas.zdarsky@nazemi.cz 2023-08-30T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-8 9_int_dg_conf-266-time_and_space_for_social-ecological_transformation_care-full_commoning_in_and_beyond_the_ecofeminist_city https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/266 false Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation Bottom-up insurgent practices and processes of commoning are highly relevant to degrowth scholarship and activism. However, the ability to join initiatives or movements actively fighting for a socially just future within planetary boundaries is not equally distributed. The configuration of spatial and temporal infrastructures shape how we interact with each other and our (bio-)physical environment and can reproduce or alleviate intersectional inequalities. This article connects literature on the commons, insurgent planning, and feminist time politics to discuss temporal and spatial infrastructures that create fertile soil for invented spaces of care-full commoning in mostly European cities. Inspired by feminist and decolonial research to reclaim disembedded and disembodied cities, we formulate an educated dream about what an ecofeminist degrowth city would look like. We propose tangible steps that enable such a concrete utopia to eventuate and discuss how notions of scaling-out and horizontal transgression enable such transformation. Sarah Ware Hanna Völkle Corinna Dengler 2023-08-30T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-8 9_int_dg_conf-314-the_potential_of_common_based_solutions_for_a_just_transformation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/314 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation The era of fossil-fuel based growth is ending. What we perceive as a multiple crisis is developing into a ‘new normal’ which requires learning to live in a new, post-growth reality. This profound structural change is not yet fully understood by the majority of the population, and less so by political and business leaders. This turning point necessitates greater emphasis on non-market solutions managed for the public good, i.e. to the commons, as a key element of the emerging post-growth economy, and to commoning as vital to a strategy for transformation. Instead of a ‘Just Transition’, an influential political concept deeply rooted in the current economic structures, we argue for more radical approaches to transforming our societies and economies. One of these is a commons-based approach. The concept of the commons outlines shared, cooperative ownership of resources,including natural (air, land or water) as well as collectively generated artefacts (technologies given to humanity). Such commons stand in stark contrast to the capital-centric market logic of production and consumption. In our paper, we first present commoning as a set of alternative practices of organising just and decent living for all, presenting varied examples from Finland, Germany and South Africa. We then link such commons-based solutions to the wider thinking around just transformations. In this vein, we identify how a just transformation could be supported by the commons, but also how institutions are hindering commons-based solutions. We conclude by delineating the potential of commons-based solutions for a just transformation. Sylvie Lorek Hali Healy Mikko Laamanen Judith Delheim Joachim.Spangenberg@seri.de 2023-08-30T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-8 9_int_dg_conf-80-commoning_education https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/80 false The Institute for Commoning and putting organisation into commoning Alternative economies Paper Presentation Commons and commoning are often promoted as both an alternative way of organizing key resources to capitalist forms of alienated production and a practice of lived resistance. It is a necessary form of prefigurative radical politics, one that looks to produce democractic and egalitarian forms of social provisioning. But despite some still living forms of commoning in the Global North, the practice of commoning is largely forgotten. It is crucial then to revive common education – to create ways of educating and informing people what the commons are, how to generate and organise commons, and what the practice of commoning constitutes. The institute for Commoning, set up in 2021, is working to produce short and long courses on commons and commoning. This paper reflects on the process of generating common educations, and the first two successful short weekend commoning workshops, drawing lessons from our experiences for other commonist practitioners and degrowth educators. Nicholas Beuret Amber Huff 2023-08-30T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-8-8 9_int_dg_conf-88-degrowth_through_deliberative_democracy_an_infrastructure_perspective https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/88 false Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation This paper asks whether there is a deliberative democratic pathway to governing infrastructure systems in such a way as to enable a planned reduction in economic activity. We first consider the forms of democratic governance envisaged by the conventional growth model and associated large-scale, complex infrastructural systems. We consider this in light of a dominant perspective on infrastructure as facilitating and driving the type of economic activity that advocates of degrowth point out is incompatible with attempts to reduce the resources that flow in and the greenhouse gas emissions that flow out of contemporary economies. The nature of the politics that infrastructure generates challenges the emphasis on the small scale inherent within both degrowth and current conceptions of how deliberation ought to be organised. We argue that to address these challenges it is vital to view infrastructure not simply as physical objects but as a bundle of relationships and that deliberative democracy needs to take account of these relationships. Whilst conventional economic relationships may have traditionally dominated they have not gone unchallenged, particularly by the view that infrastructures ought to be managed as commons. Finally we argue that the relational perspective breaks down distinctions between different types of physical, social and environmental infrastructure and may help to avoid what are often taken to be inherent and insurmountable path dependencies. Tom Cohen Dan Durrant 2023-08-30T13:00:00+02:00 13:00 00:15 ZV-8-8 9_int_dg_conf-47-health_commons_for_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/47 false Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation Living a healthy life is desired, and it is believed that health must be taken into consideration for degrowth. Pursuing health does not necessarily contribute to degrowth, though. Previous research on degrowth, health, and healthcare have noted that a transition is required in the healthcare system. Pursuing ideal health is a type of growth paradigm because we can never be fully healthy and instead get worse as we age. On the other hand, our health is negatively impacted by a society that is focused on growth. In a capitalist growth society, unstable working conditions, long hours, and highly demanding labor not only have a detrimental impact on health, but also privatize care for health. Additionally, the pursuit of complete health is a growth-oriented activity. As time passes, the healthcare industry expands under the pretense of improving health. High-tech is now used more frequently in healthcare than ever before. This entire process is generating economic growth and profits. The individualization of health is the foundation of this health growthism. However, health extends beyond personal dimension. Since we all share the same political, economic, and social determinants of health, such as food, housing, and working conditions, our health is intertwined with one another. In this approach, health itself is a commons, in contrast to earlier studies about health commons that focused on healthcare services. Consideration of health as a commons and a target for care is beneficial for degrowth. Do Yeon Lee 2023-08-30T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-8 9_int_dg_conf-246-interweaving_degrowth_postwork_and_postdevelopment_visions_of_post-productivist_futures https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/246 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Special Session How is challenging the hegemony of growth tied to challenging the hegemony of work and of development? Within capitalism, not only growth but also development and productivism are hegemonic, all-encompassing paradigms. In this session, we explore the intersections between degrowth, postwork, and postdevelopment scholarship as possible routes to post-productivist futures. Firstly, we discuss early contributions by degrowth pioneers such as Gorz, Illich, and Latouche, who are also postwork and postdevelopment scholars. While critiques of growth, work and development have thus clearly coevolved in early degrowth thought, the session will trace the ways more recent degrowth debates have often departed from this radical tradition. Secondly, we argue that this should change: all three strands of scholarship are natural allies with substantial views and positions in common, in particular around critiques of productivism. They add a much-needed critical corrective in sustainability debates, and point us towards alternative visions of the future. In two conceptual papers (‘Connecting postwork, postdevelopment and postgrowth’ and ‘Critiques of work: The radical roots of degrowth’), authors will reflect the theoretical space opened up by a dialogue between postwork, degrowth and postdevelopment. A third empirical paper (‘The jobs-environment dilemma in Repparfjorden: How nature is sacrificed for the sake of jobs’) illustrates how these issues play out concretely in a jobs-environment conflict in the Arctic, where a copper mine has been permitted to operate on indigenous land and to use the fjord as dumpsite for toxic tailings in the name of ‘green jobs’. Modern understandings of work, green jobs and development are contrasted with the traditional Sámi understanding of work. The paper presentations will be followed by a discussion between the paper authors (six female early-career researchers) as well as input and questions from the audience. Hildegunn M. Aslaksen Liz Fouksman Elise Klein Maro Pantazidou Tone Smith Maja Hoffmann 2023-08-30T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-377-why_degrowth_needs_communism_and_communism_needs_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/377 false Degrowth as a political project? Special Session The workshop aims to instigate a dialogue, so far largely missing, between degrowth and communism. We understand both degrowth and communism as traditions of thinking and practicing the social-ecological transformation and the system change that are needed to achieve an environmentally safe and socially just life for all. There are differences between the two movements, which we consider worth discussing, but also growing complementarities. Our aim with this session is to create a space within which to open up a conversation around how these two praxes can and need to be brought together and what such an approach means politically in the current critical moment. We will be facilitating both a larger introductory session and a number of breakout sessions, focusing on labour and degrowth and on social reproduction and care, as a part of this workshop. We would very much like you to join us. Nicholas Beuret Emanuele Leonardi Bue Hansen Lorenzo Feltrin 2023-08-30T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 01:00 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-243-it_was_uncomfortable_but_not_unbearable_-_experiences_and_perspectives_of_people_with_disabilities_on_the_9_euro_ticket_in_germany https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/243 false a mixed-methods seminar project Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Special Session In summer 2022, the government of Germany implemented the 9 euro ticket. Ticket holders were able to use all modes of public transport except for long-distance trains for only 9 euro per month. The aim of this policy was twofold: firstly, to financially support residents in times of increased energy costs; secondly, to incentivise people to use public transport for environmental reasons. The 9 euro trial is the first policy experiment of practically free public transport on such a large scale, and underlying the policy is the idea that public transport should be accessible to all. We think that degrowth aligns with the goal of free public transport for all, but this also requires accommodating a diversity of needs. Studies have shown that people with disabilities are systematically disadvantaged by the transport system (Chowdhury & Park, 2018). In this seminar paper, we firstly explore how people with physical disabilities were affected and secondly how they perceived the policy. To answer our research question, we used a mixed methods approach. Our preliminary results show that experiences of people with disabilities are shaped primarily by issues on the level of infrastructure and transport organisation that predated the trial. The implementation of the ticket, however, resulted in both the accentuation of existing problems and the creation of new ones. However, the deterioration of travel experiences did not necessarily result in the rejection of the policy. We put forward policy implications that may in the future serve both environmental as well as social justice objectives. Hannah O'Neill Ilaria De March Joel Ghahremani Madeleine Taylor 2023-08-30T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 00:15 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-213-university_community_engagement_from_the_bottom_up https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/213 false How can universities contribute to the degrowth transition? Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation The degrowth transition requires the transgression of the existing hierarchies and hegemonies, and the radical transformation of many (or most) of our existing institutions. Hierarchies and institutions of knowledge production are no exception. The present paper focuses on universities, and the potential role they could play in a degrowth transition. We particularly focus on university community engagement (UCE), which we conceptualize as a mutually beneficial cooperation between the university and various further actors alongside a social justice agenda. At present, universities are under the influence of multiple institutional logics, which results in the coexistence of multiple, and often conflicting priorities, identities and approaches. Universities, when reaching out to societal actors, mostly operate alongside an “economic development” or a utilitarian agenda. However, there are also examples for pursuing social justice or environmental sustainability objectives; aiming at the empowerment of marginalized actors. Our research question is “how to find and institutionalize spaces for social justice oriented UCE at universities”? We demonstrate and critically (self-)reflect on the social justice orientated UCE processes that we created (or contributed to) at the University of Szeged Hungary, Faculty of Economics Research Centre – including participatory action research and ecooperative research, service learning and the furthering of equal opportunities at the Faculty. We use these bottom-up processes to examine the dynamics of organizational institutionalization of UCE. Our analysis is based on auto-ethnography and interviews conducted with civil society partners and colleagues. Zoltan Bajmocy Judit Juhász Gyorgy Malovics 2023-08-30T16:45:00+02:00 16:45 00:15 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-207-slow_science_and_caring_research https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/207 false The transformative power of citizen social science with hard of hearing youths Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation A collaborative research project for social inclusion is in itself a social inclusion micro-process, a dynamic interface between academics and communities. In our paper, we explore the transformative power of citizen social science research on our own academic attitudes and values and also challenge the phenonemon of „inclusion”. Hard of hearing (HH) young people are facing several challenges and inequalities in many areas in Hungary. We have been working with HH youths since 2021 autumn in Szeged (Hungary) in a social citizen science project. We aim 1) to explore and articulate how these youths evaluate their own subjective well-being; 2) to connect urban social actors and the youth in fostering collaborations and increasing social participation in the city. In 2021-2022 we built up our „Common Signs” Research Group (CSRG) consisting HH and hearing members. CSRG members shared personal stories on inclusion, together planned and implemented a qualitative inquiry through semi-structured interviews with HH youths. We also use the Spotteron application in order to explore the spatiality of inclusion in Szeged. During the process, the three senior hearing academics (the authors) regularly organized self-reflective exercises and conducted research diaries and field notes. Through reflection, we identified significant aspects where our academic attitudes, values and functions were called into question and led to inner transformations. These points were: heightened body awareness through communication processes; the need for a trauma-informed research attitude; the role of time in power dynamics; the role of technology in communication and data collection and „slow science”. Judit Gébert Barbara Mihók Judit Juhász 2023-08-30T17:00:00+02:00 17:00 00:15 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-231-how_can_degrowth_actors_engage_in_policy_dialogue_with_growth-enhancing_policy_institutions https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/231 false A case study of the European network ECOLISE Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation This research investigates how degrowth actors shape advocacy work to drive transformative changes with a case study of ECOLISE, the European Network for Community-Led Initiatives on Climate Change and Sustainability. It explores the concept of structural coupling which involves utilizing growth-oriented institutions to foster degrowth initiatives. The study aims to answer the research question: "How does ECOLISE promote structural coupling?" The objective is to provide insights and strategic methods for other degrowth actors engaging with growth-enhancing policy institutions. Through an empirical approach, the study contributes to the literature on strategies for a degrowth transition in relation to policy institutions. The field is currently understudied, with existing research on state-civil society relations in the field of degrowth focusing mostly on theoretical conceptualizations.  Using qualitative grounded theory as a methodological tool, the study analyzes ECOLISE's work with EU institutions through various data sources, including news feeds, websites, publications, project and internal documents, and semi-structured interviews with ECOLISE team members. Preliminary findings indicate that ECOLISE employs diverse methods to foster structural coupling, such as: Using EU funds to expand degrowth activities and knowledge, creating niches within collaborations, understanding shared needs with policy makers and proposing concrete action plans. ECOLISE also uses a two-fold strategy of disruption and conciliation, facilitates spaces for community-led initiatives and policy makers to come together, and participates in invited spaces. ECOLISE views the risk of cooptation as a result of the engagement with growth-oriented policy institutions as an opportunity for innovation and resilience through constant self-reflection and a focus on values. Barbara Klobucaric Ana Margarida Esteves Link to thesis 2023-08-30T18:00:00+02:00 18:00 01:30 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-245-who_is_degrowth_really_for https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/245 false The Role of Dreams in Designing Structures for Solidarity and Impact Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session It is imperative that any degrowth social movement or research be led by the people who are disproportionately harmed by capitalism, colonialism, violence, and oppression. Otherwise, degrowth social movements will further risk alienating communities and insidiously replicate or exasperate harms. This workshop invites participants to investigate the degrowth ecological framework and reflect on the role of dreams. Is dreaming a human right or a privilege? This question is essential to framing new philosophies and strategies for solidarity and scaled community impact for equity, justice, wellbeing & joy. Participants will explore historical examples from the East and West that span queer, feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist social movements through the lens of power, inequities, and enlivenment to unpack: (1) Who has time, energy, or resources to dream? (2) Whose social structures are we indoctrinated into? (3) Whose dreams are we living? Participants will engage in an exercise on shared visioning toward a just humanity and societies. Highlighting localized examples of food systems and solidarity economies, the workshop will conclude with facilitated discussions to evaluate how designing structures to advance the right to dream can be catalysts for shared values and collective impact in the way we live, work, heal, and flourish. Kimberly McLear 2023-08-30T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-196-the_need_for_a_border_perspective_in_the_degrowth_discourse https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/196 false Climate (in)justice Paper Presentation So far questions about migration and borders have been rarely touched upon within the Degrowth discourse. However, they need to be taken into consideration, particularly in debates of Degrowth and climate (in)justice, because they can be directly linked to growth societies of the geopolitical Global North and their imperial mode of living. One aspect of growth societies is that they live on the cost of others while stabilizing their way of living through closure and exclusion, such as through border regimes. This paper investigates extending Degrowth to include a border perspective, thus strengthening its outlook on global climate justice. Here the concept of ‘fortress capitalism’ is used as an example of such a border perspective. Fortress capitalism highlights elements of violence, control and restriction of border regimes and embeds them in the bigger picture of global capitalism. At the same time, the concept asserts how borders protect the imperial mode of living and thus growth societies in the Global North. Degrowth as a critique of growth societies and their imperial mode of living must then engage with the implications of these societies and how they exclusively stabilize themselves through borders. This is particularly true in times of increasing climate-related forced migration and countries of the Global North shutting themselves off through ever more repressive border regimes. The value of this contribution is for Degrowth to expand its reach to include questions around borders, and simultaneously deepen its narrative of global social ecological justice. Jenny Ufer 2023-08-30T10:15:00+02:00 10:15 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-53-regenerative_parallaxing_encouraging_trans-scalar_environmental_justice_research https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/53 false Climate (in)justice Paper Presentation Environmental justice research critically explores the bridging between social and environmental problems. This paper seeks to contribute to environmental justice research by focusing on the problems and politics of scale. Scalar politics contemplates scale as the result of social construction and sees how socio-political realities are influenced by scalar choice and characterization. Regarding environmental justice, acknowledging scalar politics foresees significant relationships between scalar and socio-environmental processes and ontologies. However, after thoroughly reviewing environmental justice literature, we find that scalar and trans-scalar problematization are not effectively addressed. For that reason, we argue that conveying scale to a central role in environmental justice research could enhance comprehensive analyses by depicting distinct layers and details of environmental (in)justice. A particular idea we suggest is trans-scalar environmental justice, or incorporating the inquiry of scalar assemblage and interaction into environmental justice research. Moreover, as exemplary cases to expand on, we draw attention to the politics of scale in ecology, as well as to the emerging scalar problematization in environmental justice research. Ultimately, the overall aim of this paper is to contribute to environmental justice research and, this way, to environmental justice. Laila Vivas Dr. Lucinda Cash-Gibson Dr. Aline Chiabai 2023-08-30T10:30:00+02:00 10:30 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-236-from_parking_place_to_public_space_justice_principles_and_perceived_fairness_regarding_public_space_reallocation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/236 false Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation A degrowth city requires a reallocation of public space. Instead of parking, public space is needed for cycling and walking (street as link), for non-commercial areas to meet, swap and repair (street as place) and for unsealed, planted areas to increase urban biodiversity (street as ecosystem). This reallocation can be based on various principles of justice (Creutzig et al., 2020). Though, how fairly do people who are shaped by a hegemonic car culture perceive such reallocation? And which principles of justice mostly influence their acceptability? To answer these questions, we conducted a representative survey in Germany (N = 3,000) using a factorial survey experiment (Augsburg & Hinz, 2015). Respondents were asked to rate fairness and acceptability of various hypothetical situations (vignettes) describing reallocation of parking areas into protected bike lanes (street as link), parklets (street as place) and revegetation (street as ecosystem). Within these vignettes we varied the distributive justice framing (global justice vs. intergenerational justice vs. environmental justice), the loss of parking lots comparing to other neighborhoods (less vs. the same vs. more), the opportunity to participate in the planning process (information vs. self-selected participation vs. citizen assembly) and the local norm (support vs. rejection). Additionally, we examined how perceived risk of gentrification and environmental attitude influence perceived fairness and acceptability of reallocation. The results show which justice dimensions are most crucial for an overall fairness evaluation and acceptability and provide important communication implications for practitioners. Katharina Götting 2023-08-30T10:45:00+02:00 10:45 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-389-ecological_reparations_and_degrowth_towards_a_convergence_of_alternatives_around_world-making_after_growth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/389 false Climate (in)justice Paper Presentation en Faced with multiple crises, recent years have seen the rise of degrowth as a newly emerging field of research on alternatives to development in the global North, as well as increasing calls for ecological reparations to the global South to address the harm done by colonial, capitalist and extractivist development over the past centuries. This article makes a twofold argument about the need to closely interlink these. Both discourses, sets of policies and related movements could gain from strengthening their connections and a mutual integration of core perspectives and demands. On the one hand we argue that degrowth needs to develop into a global justice perspective by integrating demands for (ecological) reparations, freedom of movement and a global-justice oriented reshaping of the international economic system – demands most prominently articulated from global South movements. Without this global justice outlook, degrowth risks becoming an inward-looking, provincial, localized, and eventually exclusive project within Europe and the global North – one that focuses on securing decent living within Northern regions that are involved in "degrowth", but that is insulating itself from the catastrophes of the climate emergency unravelling in the most affected areas globally. On the other hand, demands for reparations – strongly articulated from the global South – should incorporate the call for degrowth in the global North. Without this call – which can, of course, be articulated by using different words – the reparations agenda risks a key opportunity to address core structural and systemic drivers of extractive processes that will negatively overcompensate all reparations. The fast and massive reductions of global North emissions that are necessary to guarantee non-repetition of past harms – while at the same time working to end the imperial mode of living and the global North appropriation of labor and – will require, so the argument, transformations in the rich countries along the lines of degrowth. To substantiate these arguments, the paper introduces degrowth scholarship, outlining the danger of a provincialized ostrich syndrome; it then presents five avenues of internationalist policies of what we conceptualize as worldmaking after growth; and finally spell out why the reparations agenda needs to incorporate degrowth. Tonny Nowshin Matthias Schmelzer 2023-08-30T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-366-discursive_power_struggles_over_the_role_of_hydrogen_in_the_european_energy_transition https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/366 false Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation Energy transitions are contested arenas. Different actors may hold different views about the pace, the scope and the type of social or technological innovations to be deployed in them. Hydrogen has emerged strongly as the so-called centre piece of the European energy transition strategy. Actors involved in the energy transition hold specific views, values and interests regarding Hydrogen’s type, deployment scale, and purposes while actively trying to influence the policy process accordingly. It is commonly believed that new technologies, such as Hydrogen, rely on the innovation process for the development, implementation and scaling up processes. However, power dynamics between actors’ coalitions and struggles over legitimacy play an equally crucial role. Discourse – a key tool of power - is central for the social construction of reality and, therefore, Hydrogen’s proclaimed legitimacy. This paper uses Discourse Network Analysis to unveil the emergence of discourse coalitions around Hydrogen at the European level, the storylines mobilized by those coalitions and how they have evolved through time. The results unveil the variety of discursive strategies those coalitions have mobilized to legitimize (or delegitimize) the use of Hydrogen and how they have evolved through time influenced by “shock, crisis-type events” such as Covid-19 and the Russian-Ukraine conflict. This research highlights: (1) the importance of powerful actors’ discursive coalitions – both in actors’ base composition and storylines consistency - in shaping public policy and; (2) the instrumentalization of ‘Shock Doctrine’ type of events as entry points for discursive power struggles. Mario Diaz 2023-08-30T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-301-towards_post-growth_scenarios_for_climate_mitigation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/301 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation Existing climate mitigation scenarios assume future rates of economic growth that are significantly higher than what has been experienced in the recent past. In this article we explore how assuming lower rates of growth, in line with the hypothesis of secular stagnation, changes the range of mitigation possibilities. We compare scenarios with moderate and strong policy ambition under both high-growth and low-growth assumptions. The results show that low growth makes it easier to reduce emissions consistent with 1.5–2°C, reducing the need to rely on assumptions about unrealistically rapid buildout of low-carbon energy infrastructure and unprecedented rates of energy–GDP decoupling, which characterise existing scenarios. However, lower growth raises concerns about equity between and within countries, social stability, and ability to finance the low-carbon energy transition. With this in mind, we distinguish between inequitable low-growth scenarios and equitable ‘post-growth’ scenarios, identifying policies that could be used to achieve the latter. Aljoša Slameršak Daniel O'Neill Jason Hickel 2023-08-30T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-149-unpacking_philippines_zero_waste_community_sites_as_a_pathway_for_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/149 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation The socio-ecological crisis has brought about various pathways to rethink development and its consequences especially in relation to neoliberalism and its excesses. In the more developed countries, the word “degrowth” has entered the vocabulary of activists and academic circles since the early 2000s. As with any other development alternatives, degrowth merits critical examination. As a global alternative path towards socio-ecological transformation, degrowth needs to be explored because it engenders alternative conceptualizations and practices of development that highlight its cursorily examined yet significant social and cultural dimensions. While alternative practices of development are deemed and oftentimes lauded for being more nuanced, participatory, and just, a deeper analysis on how it is being diffused on the ground merits a study. Is degrowth possible in the Global South? Are cases of action contributing towards degrowth already flourishing in these countries?. The paper explores these questions and the intersections of alternative development in the Global South through degrowth. It tries to situate these theoretical underpinnings from the lens of community-led zero waste management project sites in the Philippines. Joseph Edward Alegado Joseph Edward Alegado 2023-08-30T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-157-how_waste_pickers_are_being_sidelined_in_global_south_cities_a_network_analysis https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/157 false Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation Waste pickers are essential actors of the waste management of Global South cities: often the only agents separating recyclables materials, they foster urban circularity. However, as extensively documented in the Environmental Justice Atlas (ejatlas.org), they are increasingly facing environmental injustices and marginalisation. In this paper, we aim to understand why waste is conflictive in Global South metropolises, and why waste pickers are often involved in these conflicts. Our hypothesis is that socio-metabolic reconfigurations involving waste are occurring in Global South cities, driven by changes in both the materiality of the urban metabolism and in its political economy. These reconfigurations cause the exclusion of waste pickers from access to waste, triggering ecological distribution conflicts. Using the EJAtlas, we have documented 70 conflicts in the Global South involving waste pickers. Methodologically, we implemented a qualitative coding process of the cases and used it as the basis for a network analysis. Results show an increase in waste quantity in Global South cities, that is addressed through neoliberal strategies such as privatisation and incineration projects. This indicates a change in the value of waste, which is increasingly becoming an opportunity for capital accumulation. This causes environmental degradation and the marginalisation of waste pickers, who are deprived of their livelihood. The relationship between environmental justice and degrowth is increasingly investigated, and socio-metabolic reconfigurations are a key element of both scholarships. Observing the waste picking sector may contribute to this debate: waste pickers’ practices could be prefigurative of a degrowth society, and understanding the changes needed to improve their living and working conditions could contribute to its realisation. Federico Demaria Daniele Vico 2023-08-30T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-146-degrowth_journal https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/146 false Building a slow science fit for a sustainable society Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Non-academic Session Degrowth has become a thriving academic field, with several hundreds of peer-reviewed publications and a growing community of thinkers and doers. After decades of research, the time has come: degrowth now has its own specialised journal. The Degrowth Journal aims at becoming a platform where authors are able to expand and strengthen the analytical power of degrowth imaginaries. This session will be organised in three parts. Firstly, the reasons that led the collective of junior scholars to start the journal will be explained. Beyond publishing high-quality research, the journal aims at changing the academic culture, resisting and shifting away from the enclosure of knowledge that continues to exist in the capitalist academic modus operandi. Secondly, the history and development of the journal will be presented. The editors will explain the various values adopted to manage in the most ethical way the journal. The Degrowth Journal promotes a new publication culture, one that puts quality before quantity and that embraces the principles of slow science, an emancipatory science that takes the urgency of the ecological crises seriously while also caring for researchers' well-being. Thirdly, and most importantly, this session will represent an opportunity to meet in-person some of the editors and to discuss expectations from the journal and, vice-versa, from the degrowth community. The session aims at fostering collaboration to develop and strengthen the existence of the Degrowth Journal and, in general, of this academic and activist field. Daniel Chester Adrien Plomteux Ben Robra Eeva Houtbeckers Sabrina Chakori Degrowth Journal 2023-08-30T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-362-organizing_for_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/362 false Sharing experiences and learnings from Research&Degrowth Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session Research and Degrowth is a non-profit association based in Barcelona dedicated to research, training and outreach on degrowth and environmental justice since 2010. We are based in three Catalan Universities: Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, Universidad de Barcelona and Universidad Pompeu Fabra. We participate in several grassroots movements and projects in the city of Barcelona. We dream of societies becoming slower by design, not disaster, putting human and planetary health first. In 2020, we took the decision to turn our association into a formal think and act- tank, to push for degrowth ideas and conversations in the public realm. We want to act as a hub for hosting and energizing all those people around the world (politicians, businesspeople, activists, intellectuals) willing to question and think beyond a one-way future consisting only of growth. This interactive discussion panel has two objectives. Firstly, we wish to share more insights about this journey which can act as learning for people wishing to set up their own local degrowth collectives. Secondly, we wish to share our visions for the future, and find ways to collaborate and engage with the participants of the conference in multiple ways. /system/events/logos/000/000/362/large/R_D_OrangeC.jpg?1675028817 Brototi Simona Getova Marula Tsagkari 2023-08-30T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-208-reclaiming_the_circular_economy https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/208 false Diverse and Non-capitalocentic Circularity in a Belgian Maker Cooperative Alternative economies Paper Presentation Degrowth's call for downscaling of production and consumption in high-income countries aligns with the call of the Circular Economy (CE) for a reduced material footprint and increased circularity. However, the CE often problematically frames 'waste' as the newest resource for commodity production that will ultimately bring about ‘green growth’ through decoupling in high-income countries. Although critical literature has already identified gaps, contradictions and challenges regarding ecological, physical and socio-political questions, there is little research on existing and tangible practices that showcase ways to establish new material cultures that do not reproduce commodification and productivism. In order to study examples of such concrete practices, our research adopts the Diverse Economies (DE) framework (which degrowth extensively builds on). DE enables a non-capitalocentric reading of the (circular) economy, highlighting diverse expressions of economic practice and their transformative potential. Specifically, through extensive and immersive empirical research with ten members / enterprises in a maker cooperative in Belgium, we aimed to inventory various formal and informal discard management practices and relate them to the cooperative's ethical charter as well as the ethical 'coordinates' outlined in DE scholarship. One of the key observations was that economic and social life were not seen as separate spheres: discard management was predominantly embedded in social ties – not the other way around – and care, creative conviviality and reciprocity appeared to be core features of this social fabric. This paper conceptually and empirically contributes to both the CE and heterodox economic literatures, by inventorying tangible examples of more diverse and post-capitalist forms of circular economies. Erik Paredis Irma Emmery 2023-08-30T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-312-sufficiency_is_care_work_how_to_combine_care_theories_with_circular_value_creation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/312 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation Sufficiency calls for the absolute reduction of production and consumption volumes to create safe operating spaces within planetary boundaries. Sufficiency-oriented production and consumption practices exist to satisfy universal human needs instead of superfluous consumer wants. However, current alternative economic concepts such as the Circular Economy (CE) are neglecting sufficiency. By only focusing on technological improvement, they do not challenge the structural growth imperatives and material affluence that drive environmental and social injustice. CE cannot ignore essential sufficiency characteristics such as care and needs, or the redistribution of knowledge and power. The concept must consider circularities beyond material and technological cycles. Recent studies revealed the significance of care values and competences in sufficiency-oriented business practices. Efforts to reduce production and consumption volume necessitate time, reflection, and constant feedback from the stakeholder community. Sufficiency practitioners take these efforts into account because of their distinctive competence to care for others and the environment. Care is reflected in their operations, for example by creating products solely answering to human needs or by investing time into creating high-quality long-lasting products. Despite recent empirical evidence identifying care competences and values as essential elements of sufficiency-oriented practices, concepts understanding the link and interactions between care and sufficiency are missing in the literature. This study develops a typology of care based on significant care theories from fields such as feminist ethics, feminist economics, or ecofeminism. This knowledge of care is then tested in CE research to observe how studies describe and implement care in their circular concepts. My goal is to explore how dimensions of care can support need-oriented circular value creation to enable a sufficiency-oriented CE. Laura Beyeler 2023-08-30T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-75-the_role_of_the_circular_economy_in_the_2020s_critical_juncture_path-fixer_path-opener_or_path-breaker https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/75 false Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation The circular economy is usually portrayed as a pathbreaking concept, representing a paradigm shift that will reconcile the economy with nature. This idea is problematic for different reasons, including present and future concerns. This research aims to contribute to understanding the types of inertia that might be created during the transition to a circular economy. By comprehending how the circular economy can either facilitate, impede, or slow down the progress towards more desirable futures, we can actively avoid undesirable outcomes, especially in the context of the 2020s. To achieve this, I draw on institutional theory, particularly path dependence theory, and supplement it with Marxist and Gramscian theory. This allows me to analyse whether the circular economy acts as a path-fixer (it impedes), path-opener (it slow-downs) or path-breaker (it facilitates) in the transition towards more just and sustainable social systems. Initially, I conduct a comprehensive review of the mechanisms that may impede the transition towards these new, fairer, and more sustainable social models, encompassing factors such as social norms, social structures, human cognition, and social priorities. To stimulate the discussion, I accordingly develop an analytical framework that aims to define those mechanisms in two contrasting systems: green growth and degrowth. Next, I investigate the transition to the circular economy within the European context by analysing 54 circular economy strategies from various countries and territorial levels. The analysis enables a thorough examination and discussion of the types of inertia that emerge during the transition to the circular economy. I finalise by proposing a path-breaking agenda for the circular economy, which would eventually facilitate degrowth. This research might inform the degrowth community about how to seize the space of the circular economy to transition towards degrowth societies. Brais Suárez Proposal 2023-08-30T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-386-ethics_for_degrowth_some_insights_from_n_georgescu-roegen_s_bioeconomics https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/386 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation en The analysis is mainly based on the contributions of ethics and bioeconomics of N. Georgescu- Roegen, and on the identification of the components of a new ethics that I call bioeconomic ethics. Bioeconomics ethics is an ethics of limits which is based on interdependencies, qualitative changes and dissipation of matter-energy resources. It is founded by a main principle of interdependence which supports a strong solidarity between humankind and the biosphere, a kind of symbiotic solidarity. Combining this principle with the principle of maximizing the life of the species under ecological constraints and the principle of minimizing future regrets, we found that the economic process is bounded by ecological and ethical constraints within planetary boundaries. Furthermore, bioeconomic ethics can provide us with original elements of analysis to meet the challenges of the Anthropocene. The concern for others - intra and intergenerational equity - combined with the need to do with less - sufficiency - projects bioeconomic ethics towards the exercise of justice of a global nature where the distribution of goods and environmental ills is a condition necessary for the survival of humanity. Finally, bioeconomic ethics can bring a broader vision of the relationship to nature (interdependencies; co-evolution paths) through an historical time and complying with a global justice. It can also contribute to design bioeconomic policies for the Anthropocene by linking justice and ecological goals, by building nature conservation strategies focusing on interdependencies and defining evolution paths for slowing down and downscaling the economic process. Sylvie Ferrari 2023-08-30T13:00:00+02:00 13:00 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-83-beyond_fossil_extractivism https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/83 false A comparison of two Northern forest-based bioeconomies and their contested potential for degrowing pressure on forests Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation Climate change and the loss of biodiversity restrict the scarce, sustainably usable biomass resulting in conflicts over the distribution of land and biomass. The high demand for bio-based raw materials will continue to increase in the future. However, ecosystems won’t be able to provide enough biomass for existing demands or for substituting fossil materials. For forest-based bioeconomies, this means increasing pressure on forest utilization not only to produce wood and pulp products, but also biomass for energy production, e.g. wood pellets. Criticism regarding forest-based bioeconomies often addresses the production of biomass for energetic use or single-use products. A main controversy arises around the strategy of cutting forests in view of the short time left to stop climate change. We compare two Northern forest-based bioeconomies to examine how these two exemplary regions position themselves in the ongoing tension between increasing demand for green energy, climate policy goals, biodiversity loss, and the needs of local populations. We compare the region of Central Finland, Europe, and the province of Alberta, Canada. Both areas are relevant players in global forest utilization. The forest-based bioeconomy in the two regions differs regarding political-economic constellations, guiding principles, the use of technology, and civil society perceptions. For our comparison, we ask: How sustainable are Alberta's and Central Finland's forest-based bioeconomies? How can forest utilization be operated effectively in terms of an ambitious climate policy, as the degrowth movement demands? How can a non-extractivist bioeconomy look like? And which factors stand in a way of a socio-ecological, post-fossil forest utilization? Jana Holz Jana Holz Anna Saave 2023-08-30T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-38-degrowth_in_practice_vs_academia https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/38 false Degrowth as a political project? Special Session Following the dynamics of alter-globalist movements, Degrowth started in France in the beginning of the 2000's when a group of adbuster activists met with Global South and Global North academics and intellectuals radically criticising the imperialist concept of development and epistemologically rejecting utilitarianism in social sciences. In 2002, they published a special edition on S!lence: sustainable and convivial degrowth. This publication was very successful and a new movement emerged. It was first highly active in activism and also practices. Pierre Rabhi, also dealing with agroecology, tried to participate in the 2002 presidential election. A political party was created. Civil disobedience actions were organised against car races. In 2008, was organised the first international academic degrowth conference in Paris. It was the beginning of an international movement, mostly driven by academics. If the degrowth activism, degrowth in practice kept on going, in particular around local citizen initiatives, in resistance but also nowtopians dynamics in the ZAD in Notre Dame Des Landes or anti-extractivist movements for example, degrowth has mostly been visible for its academic and book publications. For a lot of new comers, in particular in the non latin world, is often perceived and criticised as only an academic movement. This session suggest to first analyse, how from a radical epistemological critics to academia, how from an activist, experimentation in doing movement degrowth could have become mostly perceived or dominated by academics. Secondly, it proposes to explore how all this experience, in activism and practice, can feed degrowth the movements and narratives and strengthen its credibility, robustness. The session will be organised as a participatory round table offering large space for audience contributions. With: - François Schneider (R&D, Can Decreix). - Logan Strenchock (Researcher at Central European University and organic farmer at Zsamboki biokerty, Cargonomia) - Orsolya Lazanyi (Action-Research expert, Cargonomia, ESSRG) Facilitator: Vincent Liegey (Cargonomia, co-author of Exploring Degrowth). /system/events/logos/000/000/038/large/degrowth-header.jpg?1692776406 Vincent Liegey Orsolya Lazányi Francois Schneider Logan Strenchock Cargonomia 2023-08-30T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-169-exploring_alternative_economies_as_social_innovations_towards_degrowth_the_case_of_la_doume_a_local_currency_in_the_puy_de_dome_department_france https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/169 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation Recent coronavirus pandemic has exposed the flaws in our current economic systems and highlighted the need for sustainable economic solutions (Muzio and Doh, 2020). This has led to increased reflection and interest in alternative economies from various socio-political and economic actors. This paper argues that local currencies such as La Doume a local currency in the Puy de Dôme department of France, are a form of social innovation that can support local producers while also promoting environmental sustainability, fair trade, and strong socio-economic values. These values align with the principles of degrowth (D'Alisa, Demaria and Kallis, 2014). During the pandemic, La Doume stepped up to support and accompany the financing of various local initiatives, such as through its Soli’Doume initiative: an innovative cooperative social security system available for its members, and its Bonus Social concept based on its internal cooperative reserve funds. It helped a dozen of local initiatives in the Puy de Dôme area resist the socio-economic risks of the pandemic. Through a participatory action research methodology coupled with ethnography, an exploratory fieldwork was realized from summer 2021 to summer 2022 and the findings help argue that local currencies are a good example of how alternative economic systems could be viable pathways towards degrowing our economy fostering ethical values based on social justice, equity, and ecological sustainability and thereby creating positive disruptions in various local economies that could then lead to an economic shift from the current economic practices. /system/events/logos/000/000/169/large/University_of_Luxembourg_logo_%28fr%29.svg.png?1673797423 Gilles Evrard ESSUMAN 2023-08-30T10:15:00+02:00 10:15 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-363-diverse_monies_in_a_degrowth_world_the_making_and_lasting_of_alternative_currencies https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/363 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation There has been a resurgence of research in the utility of regional, complementary, and alternative currencies in transitioning to a more economically and ecologically sound world. The dominance of supranational currencies has been shown to exacerbate economic contractions in less resilient or underdeveloped countries while undermining local autonomy and trade (Price & Elu, 2014). Research suggests that regional currencies are aligned with maintaining community sovereignty, weathering global economic downturns, and are a necessary tool in the community control of production and trade (Seyfang, 2001; Fare & Ahmed, 2017). Alternative currencies have been used to counteract the outflow of local value in globalized/supranational currencies, however, it is slowly being repopularized as a tool for social and ecological justice, especially for the purposes of economic degrowth (Seyfang & Longhurst, 2013; Fuders, 2016). This paper examines the social and political context of three alternative currency projects, two established projects in the U.S. and Spain, and one emerging in Argentina, and to what extent they contradict or complement dominant currency systems. The overarching social framework of degrowth is applied to analyze the transformative nature of each currency and the possibilities they present of controlling the reduction and diversification of state economies. Fare, M., & Ahmed, P. O. (2017). Complementary currency systems and their ability to support economic and social changes. Development and Change, 48(5), 847-872. Fuders, F. (2016). Smarter money for smarter cities: How regional currencies can help to promote a decentralised and sustainable regional development. Decentralisation and Regional Development: Experiences and Lessons from Four Continents over Three Decades, 155-185. N. Price, G., & U. Elu, J. (2014). Does regional currency integration ameliorate global macroeconomic shocks in sub-Saharan Africa? The case of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. Journal of Economic Studies, 41(5), 737-750. Seyfang, G., & Longhurst, N. (2013). Growing green money? Mapping community currencies for sustainable development. Ecological economics, 86, 65-77. Seyfang, G. (2001). Money that makes a change: Community currencies, North and South. Gender & Development, 9(1), 60-69. Kat Bailey 2023-08-30T10:30:00+02:00 10:30 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-353-community_passage_to_the_degrowth_society https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/353 false Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation Community passage to the degrowth society The systemic crisis of the Planet makes important the temporal dimension within which to make a radical transition of the dominant socioeconomic paradigm, in which the social and political spheres have been subjected to the imperative of infinite market growth. Degrowth has so far been the only viable alternative horizon. To begin with, it is necessary to establish a priori which institutional framework and actors should be able to facilitate this colossal process of change, taking into account the time constraint mentioned above. The hypothesis we intend to advance is based on the promotion of a local-global institutional framework of a federal type through the support of all policies, techniques and cultures that move toward a right territorial scale . The fundamental elements of this institutional framework are represented by the Communities of Citizens who, inhabiting the same territory, realize the democratic political principle of self-government and, at the same time, build their own horizontal federation capable of interconnecting the different territorial scales, according to the ethical-political principles of subsidiarity and mutuality. Choosing this path means being convinced that the transition to a degrowth society passes through the ability of each person living in his or her living area to relate to other co-citizens, to form a network of relationships of the "primary" type. This is apart from that motivation that Weber calls instrumental rationality (individual interest as the foundational element of relationship). In short, a feeling that we find: in the concept of gift (Mauss et al.) and in that of conviviality (Illch). In this type of relationship established between individuals and between federated Communities, the territory of common life (local and global) plays the function of medium, of "attractor" (as Bruno Latour explains), of subject of law (M. Serres). Territory and community become the authentically human level contexts that enable the distancing from the Megamachine that Latouche taught us to fear. In the light of these theoretical coordinates, we present the first results of a research project, currently being carried out in Italy, aimed at measuring the degree of coherence of the enormous and varied number of good practices of citizens who, in different social, economic, territorial and institutional contexts are experimenting community-type nodes and networks. Six co-authors of the Degrowth Association (associazione per la decrescita - Italia) Ferruccio Nilia Paolo Ladetto Lucia Piani Toni Peratoner Paolo Tomasin Alberto Castagnola Ferruccio Nilia paolo Ladetto alberto Castagnola Antonio Peratoner Lucia Piani 2023-08-30T10:45:00+02:00 10:45 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-384-principles_and_models_of_community-based_organisations_in_the_anthropocene https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/384 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation The current paper shares the results of qualitative multi-case study research, where 20 community-based organisations (CBOs) were analysed regarding their approach towards meeting basic needs in the diverse fields of everyday reality, such as housing, healthcare, technological innovation, food, currency, and mobility. The main research question was: what practices and enabling conditions are present in the sampled organizations that direct collective action toward societal well-being and ecological restoration rather than towards contributing to economic growth (and/or individual wealth accumulation)? Primary data was gathered through semi-structured interviews, while secondary data was collected through publicly available sources. Results indicate the central importance of autonomy; on both individual and organisational levels. Global supply chains often successfully hide their destructive features from consumers, and at the same time consumers, nor workers have the power to (at least without organized collective action) significantly influence what and how is produced; unsustainable options prevail largely because those with power are unwilling to change. The sampled organisations are community-based in the sense that they are open to a wide range of stakeholders to have a genuine ability to influence the given organisation. CBOs this way are vehicles to collect information on local issues, and spaces to organise around those issues for positive social change. This ability to influence daily livelihood issues meaningfully provides individual and organisational level autonomy. CBO models present a set of organisational models where the focus is on needs and not on growth. Tamas Veress 2023-08-30T11:00:00+02:00 11:00 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-54-exploring_possibilities_of_community-led_initiatives_to_engage_with_local_policy_makers_and_citizens_for_collaborative_action_towards_degrowth-based_local_provisioning https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/54 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation This paper investigates strategies for collaboration of community-led initiatives (CLIs) which develop and experiment with degrowth- and commons-based forms of local economic provisioning. CLI approaches to provisioning represent counter-hegemonic pathways for economic organisation that involve associated narratives, i.e. diverging interpretations of local sustainability challenges and the corresponding potential approaches to tackle them. In their specific local contexts, the economic practices and narratives of CLI activists often radicaly diverge from established economic practices and the worldviews held by a majority of the local population. Nevetheless, we argue that – in order to realise their transformative potenital – CLIs need to engage not only with local policy makers, but also with citizens from outside the ‘activist bubble’. The paper addresses the following research questions: What are various narratives on local provisioning held by CLI activists, policy makers, and wider local populations around particular initiatives? What are the variously-favoured strategies for pursuing, in a collaborative way, the concrete provisioning options in focus? How do different stakeholder groups perceive and appraise these provisioning options and why do they hold these views? The paper employs a single-case study and uses an action research approach that included participatory workshops and multicriteria mapping interviews. Through this process, participants co-developed several concrete local projects that aim to foster degrowth- and commons-based provisioning in their community. Analytically, the paper offers a deeper understanding of diverging narratives around local provisioning processes and the strategies to overcome them to facilitate collaboration between CLI activists, local policy makers and non-activist citizens. Roman Hausmann Anne-Kathrin Schwab Andrew Stirling 2023-08-30T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-78-the_cooperative_potential_of_various_alternative_economic_systems_a_systematic_comparison https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/78 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation The need to transform our capitalist economic system has become widely accepted. However, a further understanding of viable alternatives is required to allow such alternatives to be institutionalized on larger scales. This paper considers the importance of embracing the variety of alternatives, as different contexts call for different alternatives. Simultaneously, different alternatives can build alliances to enhance their transformative capacities. Thus, how do alternative economic systems concur and vary? Based on a number of criteria for selection, we compare several alternative economies: Degrowth, Buen Vivir, Doughnut Economy, Social and Solidarity Economy, Foundational Economy, Wellbeing Economy, and Economy for the Common Good. We create a framework dedicated to understanding and embracing the complexity of an economic system in terms of production, distribution, and allocation but also embeddedness with social and environmental dimensions. From this framework, different ‘lenses’ are used to compare the alternatives based on their internal coherence, their underlying values and worldviews, how they conceptualize the problems for which they seek to provide solutions, and their associated theories of change. Although this is still a work in progress, preliminary conclusions can be drawn. Theories of change differ, for example, with regard to the extent to which alternatives should be open to interpretation by different actors and in different places. Such variety also exists within alternatives. Profound differences can be found between original versus applied versions, as with Buen Vivir. Enabling institutionalisation without making problematic concessions might be one of the biggest obstacles that these alternatives face. Querine Kommandeur Juliette Alenda-Demoutiez Maria Kaufmann link to preliminary table (google docs) 2023-08-30T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-11-safe_and_just_sharing https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/11 false Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Paper Presentation There are multiple crises unfolding from multidimensional ecological crises to social crises, which have been heavily influenced or even share a common root in the tendencies of our current economic system. Sharing has been proposed as an effective strategy to reduce the environmental and social burden associated with consumption. Yet, a critical approach to sharing is needed to make sure that it does not further some of the challenges that it aims to address. Capitalist tendencies such as commodification and profit accumulation run contrary to the sustainability potential of sharing. We highlight a criteria for sustainable sharing – or safe and just sharing – which aims to help enable decent living for all and tackle some of the major crises of our time, including though not necessarily limited to, climate change and environmental degradation, rising economic inequality and lack of community. We conclude by proposing governance principles and policies that would support the initiation and development of safe and just sharing. Diana Ivanova Milena Buchs 2023-08-30T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-52-political_friendship_and_ecological_sustainability https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/52 false Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation The objective of my paper is to show how a contemporary account of political friendship could provide the ethical grounding and contribute to the realization of an economy in the service of human flourishing. I start from the fact of the lack of friendship in the public sphere as this is reflected in the huge economic inequalities in contemporary capitalist societies, and I argue for the need for conceiving an alternative economy that would enable citizens to see and treat one another as friends and develop a harmonious relation with nature. The Aristotelian political friendship incorporating genuine concern for the others’ well-being could allow us to identify the pathology of the capitalist market economy and envision a socially and ecologically sustainable future. Hence, I update the Aristotelian principle of political friendship by developing a primordial conception of the good life and I explore economic proposals, such as market socialism and Otto Neurath’s associational socialism which are compatible with the content of my account of political friendship. Then I turn to the degrowth environmental movement which by proposing the downscaling of economic production and the abandonment of empty materialism, in effect, favours the instinctual substratum of political friendship namely human sociality, and I maintain that the call for genuine political – economic praxis that political friendship encapsulates could enable the degrowth movement to retain its radical character and establish an economy that affirms life. Areti Giannopoulou 2023-08-30T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-182-prefigurative_and_community_action_research_in_the_context_of_agile_decolonial_and_speculative_research https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/182 false The Case of CoOpenAir Festival - Festival of Sinergatismos Alternative economies Paper Presentation A multitude of formal and informal collective projects are actively working in the Greece against the logic of the World-of-One-World, through the building of alternatives, opposition and (non-reformist) reformism. At the same time research around these projects can itself be part of an potential strategy of transformation if it is carried out by, with and for participating initiatives and if it remains open, experimental, contingent while while focusing on the not-yet. In this context, action research occupies a privileged position because of, among other things, its orientation towards social inquiry in collective contexts, the organic participation of the parties involved in the co-design, co-construction and collective reflection on the interconnectedness of the theory/practice along with the multiple roles that the researcher can perform. At the same time, action research can be based on a) decolonial epistemology, highlighting the silencing of multiple thoughts/actions within the modernity, b) speculative research, focusing the lure of the individual into the not-yet and creative experimentation with alternative futures, and c) the agile research, which focuses on process and functionality rather than the final product. This presentation will start with a reflection on the multiple roles and actions during the conduct of an action research project, taking as a case study the action research carried out in the context of preparation and implementation of the second CoOpenAir Festival – Festival of Sinergatismos (Collaborativism). This research was carried out in the context of the thesis Conceptual Approaches to Sineratigismos and its Prefigurative Dimension that submitted to the MSc Social and Solidarity Economy of the Hellenic Open University. Giorgos Melissourgos 2023-08-30T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-253-the_role_of_deliberative_democracy_in_radical_food-system_transformation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/253 false Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation Against the backdrop of the urgent necessity to transform the global food system from one rooted in the capitalist-industrial complex to one of agroecological and commons-based practices, this paper scrutinizes the potential role of deliberative mini-publics in food-system transformation. So-called deliberative mini-publics are deliberative-democratic forums comprising randomly selected lay citizens and, in 2022, have exemplarily taken place in Switzerland on a both municipal and national level, which serve as two case studies for this paper. Democratization is proposed as both a goal of and a means to food-system transformation. This has motivated numerous mini-publics focusing on food politics. Based on qualitative interviewing, it was established that the Swiss mini-publics enabled participants to learn about the dominant food system, the necessity of its transformation, and the desirability of alternatives. However, the participants did not develop a critical understanding of the food system as embedded within and subject to the imperatives and contradictions of capitalism – so-called ‘critical-food-system literacy’ – and retained hegemonic common senses about the current food system’s inevitability. Accordingly, a deductive policy analysis using the 13 principles of agroecology showed that, while their policy recommendations provide support to agroecological alternatives, they do not radically counter of the social-property relations of capitalism as would be necessary to achieve a truly sustainable, just, and democratic food system. Lastly, we will explore how deliberative mini-publics could, nonetheless, be designed so as to nurture participants’ critical consciousness by providing space for struggle-based dialogue and thus fertile soil for cultivation of critical-food-system literacy and revolutionary subjects. Inea Lehner Prof. Dr. Johanna Jacobi Marie Sigrist 2023-08-30T16:45:00+02:00 16:45 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-300-degrowth_and_agri_food_systems_a_research_agenda_for_the_critical_social_sciences https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/300 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation Degrowth has become a recognised paradigm for identifying and critiquing systemic unsustainability rooted in the capitalist, growth-compelled economy. Increasingly, degrowth is discussed in relation to specific economic sectors such as the agri-food system. This paper builds on the foundational work of Gerber (2020) and Nelson and Edwards (2021). While both publications take a rather specific analytical or disciplinary focus—the former specifically connects critical agrarian studies and degrowth, the latter explores the contributions of the recent volume ‘Food for degrowth’—this paper takes stock of the emerging body of literature on degrowth and agri-food systems more broadly. It proposes research avenues that deepen, expand and diversify degrowth research on agri-food systems in four areas: (i) degrowth conceptualisations; (ii) theorisation of transformations towards sustainability; (iii) the political economy of degrowth agri-food systems; and (iv) rurality and degrowth. Together, these avenues devote due attention to a variety of agents (ranging from translocal networks to non-humans), spaces (e.g. the rural), theories (e.g. sustainability transitions and transformations towards sustainability) and policies (of the agricultural sector and beyond) that thus far have received limited attention within the degrowth literature. The critical social science perspective on degrowth agri-food systems, which is advanced in this paper, illuminates that the present unsustainability and injustice of hegemonic agri-food systems are not merely a problem of that sector alone, but rather are ingrained in the social imaginaries of how economies and societies should work as well as in the political–economic structures that uphold and reproduce these imaginaries. Laura Van Oers Jacob Smessaert Julia Spanier Guilherme Raj Giuseppe Feola Leonie Guerrero Accepted manuscript 2023-08-30T17:00:00+02:00 17:00 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-299-the_feminist_response_to_agri-capitalism https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/299 false what are implications for food security and Degrowth in the global South? Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation Developing countries continue to face challenges of food insecurity, particularly in rural areas, where farming is the major occupation. The idea of Degrowth is often contested in the context of developing countries because of the fear that Degrowth may undermine the economic emancipation of poorer countries. Neo-classical economic development strategies mainly focus on growth and thus on improving capitalistic marketing and production activities. The assumption is that securing the formal production sector of the economy will automatically lead to strengthening the reproduction sector of the economy and its activities, such as ensuring food security. Neo-classical development strategies thus overlook the reproductive sector of the economy, probably largely because they ignores the role of gender and intersectionality in the economy (both reproductive and productive). This paper strengthens the view that Degrowth can be a relevant concept for securing food security among other reproduction goals of households in developing countries. In developing countries, women are often responsible for reproduction goals, while men monopolize the production and capitalistic economy and related assets. Our central arguments are that 1) within the household, the economic agents responsible for achieving production and reproductive goals are different; and that 2) the goal of achieving food security is not a productive goal but a reproductive goal that cannot be met only by enhancing the production and market economy. The case study of an agroecology women’s group in Nigeria illustrates how reproduction and production are associated with different agents: men and women, who appear to live in parallel worlds. While the men orient towards the formal economy based on chrematistic economic exchange within the dominant capitalist system, reproduction goals (care, education to some extent and food) are left to women, albeit with no assets relevant to formal economy (land rights, control over cash, relevant social capital). Our analysis demonstrated how women smallholders established an alternative non-monetary food system including elements of circular economy (barter system, food exchange, and self-provisioning) to ensure that they can fulfill their reproductive goals of food security outside the capitalist market-based food system. Such intersectionality of (re)production goals based on gender suggests the need for a more feminist and anti-capitalistic approach to food security challenges. Such an approach might present a purposeful strategy to stabilize economies thereby realizing both food security and ecological benefits simultaneously. Stéphanie Eileen Domptail Chukwuma Ume 2023-08-30T17:15:00+02:00 17:15 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-249-agroversitat_art_agroecology_and_critical_pedagogies_in_the_valencian_horta https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/249 false Artistic ecologies and eco-social practices Paper Presentation Initiated in 2022 by Viridian art collective, Agroversitat is a project focusing on the creation of intergenerational artistic and pedagogical processes related to themes such as land use, agroecology, environmental awareness and ecosocial transformation. On of its main aims is making visible the situated knowledge of the Valencian "horta". This periurban agrosystem, based on the common management of water (Ostrom, 1990), plays a key role in terms of biodiversity preservation and food sovereignty and was recognized as world agricultural heritage in 2019 (FAO, 2019). However, this agricultural area is constantly threatened and has been historically marginalised in favour of urban development and tourist infrastructure. Agroversitat contributes to reclaim this rural environment as a locus of cultural production, learning and creativity. Through a a process-based approach, the project focuses on the cultivation of collective dialogue, co-construction and dissemination of knowledge. Based on a close collaboration with local agents, the initiative thus seeks to root artistic practice in the territory and to generate long-term cooperation networks. This presentation describes the first five sessions of the project through participatory action research, analyzing the processes of social and creative engagement underway along with their potential future developments. Chiara Sgaramella AGROVERSITAT, Consorcio de Museos de la Comunidad Valenciana 2023-08-30T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-158-degrowth_in_france_a_conference_around_the_book_la_decroissance_et_ses_declinaisons_pour_sortir_des_cliches_et_des_generalites_of_la_maison_commune_de_la_decroissance https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/158 false Degrowth as a political project? Non-academic Session The french organization "La maison commune de la décroissance" dedicates itself to build and consolidate the ideology of degrowth in France, in order to reinforce the french degrowth movement and it's visibility. We define degrowth as a path, a mere traject between the world that we don't want anymore (growth and "it's world", based on domination over nature, women and the global South) and the world that we dream about (human-scaled, ecologically sustainable, based on social decency and common sense) : as such, degrowth encompass all the measures that economically and politically organize the way out extractivism, productivism and consumerism. Degrowth is asking the crucial question that everyone carefully avoid : HOW do we do ? Considering that growth is now more a political system than an economical one, a compass that guides every aspect of our life, an ideology in which the life of the society is embedded in economy, we recently published a book to fight prejudices against degrowth and to offer concrete political ways out of growth, as many way to "decline" degrowth (ecofeminism, peasant community, de-marketing) : let's discuss it together ! Maison Commune de la décroissance Website of La maison commune de la décroissance 2023-08-30T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-72-paving_own_path_of_recovery_-_listening_to_voices_from_ukraine https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/72 false Degrowth in the year 2023 Paper Presentation The war is not over yet, but both Ukrainian and international communities have already started to plan recovery and reconstruction of the country. Number of actors has already presented their “Marshal Plans” and visions for Ukraine, while some have already strted acting on recovery in the field. The previous examples of post-conflict recovery usually led by international organizations often tend to have rather neo-liberal nature; trying to copy the economy and institutional structures of the donors. Thus, some wonder what the alternative would looks like if the locals were to decide their own path. What paths are being planned and proposed by the locals in Ukraine? This study explores different and often conflicting visions proposed by numerous actors in Ukraine, by looking at the published plans and visions, as well as analysing emerging action initiatives both at big scale and on grassroots levels. Oksana Udovyk 2023-08-30T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-13-degrowth_as_the_experience_of_finitude https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/13 false Degrowth in the year 2023 Paper Presentation Contemporary societies are flooded with scientific information on ecological devastation. Oftentimes, the description of the problem of overshoot is accompanied with technological solutions. If degrowth theorizing does not straightforwardly suffer from a lack of (continental) philosophical analysis on technology—and particularly ‘science’—such could at least be considered to supplement the movement’s scholarly grounds. This article claims that in addition to acknowledging the techno-scientifically produced limits to economic growth, or human expansion at large, there is a need to build an understanding of boundaries mediated by the experience of finitude. This experience cannot and should not be reduced to ethical theory, or any other mode of reasoning characterizing the techno-scientific society. Without a thoroughly explored and explicated experimental take on limits, and particularly in relation to the call to degrow, the movement is in danger to be left at the vagaries of techno-scientific rationales. This study draws on eco-phenomenology to advance an understanding on the sources and dynamics of experiencing finitude, and hereby offers an experimental base for the degrowth movement. Pasi Heikkurinen 2023-08-30T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-241-when_degrowth_is_real https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/241 false Implications for civil society and degrowth policies Degrowth in the year 2023 Paper Presentation It has now become clear: We are living in a new era. Security cannot be taken for granted, and it does not come for free, but its multi-dimensionality and sheer magnitude is not yet understood. A fundamental industrial change towards a resource-constrained, involuntarily post-growth economy is under way. Renewable energy plants require a new raw material base - the post-fossil age will be a metal age characterised by resource shortages, not just scarcities (IEA 2022), while at the same time, the struggle for land is intensifying. Ending the trends will require more time than we have to avert environmental crises due to earth system inertia, and empirically, GHG emissions are still increasing and deforestation is ongoing (FDAP 2022). According to our analysis, existing trends and future necessities have combined to catapult is, unprepared, into the post growth eras. The long-term trend is decreasing growth rates (secular stagnation). The necessities are the massive investments, public and private, and climate damage repair and adaptation, ecosystem restoration and environmental clean-up, as well as in social security, health and care systems. The necessities imply that an increasing share of the overall annual investment will have to go to economically unproductive purposes, while the total volume of investment is at most stagnant. Together this is leading to a lower production potential each year, and hence degrowth (by disaster). The implications are severe, and the solutions yet unknown. We are confronted with • The end of steady economic growth • The shrinking of median incomes • Steadily increasing temperature for at least the next 30 years, ongoing biodiversity loss • Structural change replacing fossil fuel dependency by metal dependency • The end of global free trade, replaced by spheres of influence and geopolitics • The necessity to establish future-proof social security, health and care systems • Redistribution of income and in particular, wealth So far, no clear policy strategies have been emerging. What is obvious, however, is to follow the imperative of “do no harm” and end all activities which have been catapulting us over the thresholds into the new era. Joachim Spangenberg Joachim Spangenberg 2023-08-30T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-225-convergence_of_crises_and_possible_degrowth_pathways_in_latvia https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/225 false Degrowth in the year 2023 Paper Presentation The ongoing climate and environmental breakdown, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Russian war in Ukraine are some of the key events creating a continuous convergence of crises that will likely affect most societal groups and the whole global (dis)order. How is that affecting the global semi-periphery of Latvia? Converging crises also include “irreversible impacts as natural and human systems are pushed beyond their ability to adapt” (IPCC, 2022: 8), further transgression of planetary boundaries (Steffen et al., 2015a), biodiversity loss, resource, and overall environmental degradation (Steffen et al., 2015b, Ripple et al., 2017, Ceballos et al., 2017, Hickel, 2020, IPBES, 2019). However, the lack of attention on the IPCC report on the fifth day of Russian invasion in Ukraine perfectly demonstrated how an immediate crisis trumps distant crises and environmental breakdown is both present and more invisible than the immediate war or economic recession. Based on research within the Latvian Council of Science funded project ‘Ready for change? Sustainable management of common natural resources’, this paper explores firstly, the already visible signs of socioeconomic hardship throughout 2022-2023 and secondly, the possible degrowth pathways in global semi-periphery of Latvia, based on surveys, qualitative research, and participatory action research. /system/events/logos/000/000/225/large/Zadini_illustration_2021.jpg?1673820014 Elgars Felcis Weronika Felcis 2023-08-30T13:00:00+02:00 13:00 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-390-post-earthquake_housing_policies_from_the_perspective_of_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/390 false Degrowth in the year 2023 Paper Presentation en Turkey was hit by two major earthquakes on 6 February 2023 with 7.7 and 7.6 magnitudes with epicentre in the Pazacık and Elbistan districts of Kahramanmaraş province in south- eastern Turkey. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, the earthquakes affected 14,013,196 people in an area of 108,812 km2 covering 11 provinces in eastern and south- eastern Anatolia. As a result of the growth-oriented policies of the central government, which has been in power since 2002, pasture areas as well as natural protected areas have been zoned for construction, construction process inspection has been privatised and, last but not least, with the zoning amnesty came into play in 2018, only in the area affected by the earthquake, 290,929 buildings built in contrary to the regulations could obtain registration certificates. Due to the policies of the central government mentioned above, the earthquakes in question turned into a catastrophe where approximately 500,000 buildings were severely damaged or collapsed and according to official numbers, more than 50,000 citizens lost their lives. With the catastrophic consequences of the earthquakes, the failure of growth-oriented housing policies to ensure environmental sustainability and social justice has become more visible than ever, highlighting the urgency of formulating and implementing degrowth-oriented housing policies. The earthquakes, which happened only two months before the general elections, have created acute, temporary and permanent housing needs for which degrowth-oriented housing policies are particularly crucial to ensure housing justice. Instead of conducting in- depth studies on the policies to be formulated in the aftermath of the earthquakes, the central government, under the pressure of winning the upcoming elections despite the objections of various professional chambers, is taking hasty decisions as a continuation of the pre- earthquake housing policies. According to the preliminary estimates by the UNDP, the earthquakes generated between 116 and 210 million tonnes of debris. Hazardous materials such as asbestos were released into the air and debris was washed into nature reserves during debris removal operations without proper precautions such as irrigation and waste segregation. The central government announced the need for 650,000 houses aftermath of the earthquakes, and the construction of 244,000 houses and 75,000 village houses will be built within a year. It was emphasized that the houses will be provided to the earthquake victims with interest-free loans spread over 20 years. Additionally, agricultural, forested, and pasture areas have been zoned for construction with a law enacted within the scope of the State of Emergency declared after the earthquakes. Furthermore, while the aftershocks are still continuing, foundation laying processes in fertile agricultural lands have been started. On the other hand, the main opposition promises to provide the houses without any charge if they win the elections. Turkey presents a special case for discussing post-earthquake housing policies in the context of degrowth as elections are only two months away. Gamze Öztürk 2023-08-30T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-162-the_role_of_common_senses_for_the_transition_to_a_degrowth_society https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/162 false a case study of the Spanish Pyrenees Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation My participatory-based research empirically applies degrowth theories to landscape planning at local level. The transition to degrowth depends on the dynamic relations between political and civil societies, and their environments. I focus on how possible leverages can be identified, analysed and translated into viable policy strategies. I ask: “How can common senses facilitate a peaceful transition to a degrowth future?” I use Antonio Gramsci’s concept of the integral state and apply the idea of “common senses.” Common senses constitute the invisible, frequently unconscious foundation of different societies. These common senses are dynamically interlinked with policy regulations (land use plans) and physical infrastructures (e.g. forests, roads, bicycle lanes). Common senses, regulations and existing infrastructures have to correspond and align with a peaceful transition to the reality humanity is facing from 2050 onwards. The analysis of the hegemonic discourse allows analysing societal path dependencies or transformations. My interdisciplinary methodology is walking. My main interest is to reveal actors’ unconscious perceptions their physical environment and ultimately their idea what a ‘good’ society is. These individual walks are spatially explicit traced. Collective walks will revisit most common infrastructures to discuss how these infrastructures could be preserved to contribute to a viable future. My case study is a Spanish town located in the Pyrenees. Academically, I focus on degrowth theories and borrow simultaneously concepts of related fields (science and technology studies, environmental justice, social ecology). This research advances knowledge and practice on transition. Further, it connects human-nature relations profoundly to degrowth theory. Julia Grosinger The role of common senses at local scale for the transition to a degrowth society 2023-08-30T16:45:00+02:00 16:45 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-4-degrowth_and_the_aporia_of_utopia https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/4 false Developing a Future-Oriented Vision of Social Wellbeing within Planetary Boundaries Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation Post-capitalist imaginary is caught in a double bind of climate realism and political pragmatism. Climate realism cautions that there is no empirical evidence that the existing growth-oriented technocapitalist processes can be brought within planetary biophysical boundaries [@hickel_green_2019]. Political pragmatism cautions that we cannot easily decouple the existing organisation of social needs from the intensely technological world designed on the high throughput of energy and matter [@huber_lifeblood_2013]. Accordingly, the utopian imaginaries of eco-socialist transition tend to polarise into opposing visions: accelerated eco-modernisation through socialisation and greening of the existing technological base or restorative slowdown through technological downscaling and radical redefinition of social needs. The polarisation gives a deep relief of the aporia that haunts the imaginary of a transition to an environmentally sustainable and socially just post-capitalist world in the present: what needs to be done in socio-metabolic terms, might not be socially and politically practicable. In my paper I will discuss how the de-growth as a transitional framework is trying to grapple with this aporia by developing both concrete proposals of radical redistribution and concrete proposals of lowering throughput. Tom Medak Tomislav Medak My personal website Presentation 2023-08-30T17:00:00+02:00 17:00 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-261-towards_a_degrowth_struggle https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/261 false Learnings from Ecoanarchist Zines Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation Degrowth has been criticized for its eurocentrism, for being elite-driven and for not considering its implications on the poor. Though these critiques are often misinformed, they do raise important questions regarding the somewhat homogenous degrowth community and the overemphasis on top-down policy proposals. The latter points to the prioritization of what Wright (2009) calls a symbiotic logic of transformation, or a strategy of transformation aimed at working with existing institutions to create change from within. To expand degrowth’s transformational capacity, it is essential to pay more attention to interstitial and ruptural logics of transformation, i.e. strategies that work outside of existing institutions or aim to actively dismantle those institutions that are thought to be destructive. To do so, degrowth can draw inspiration from and create alliances with other movements known to enact these strategies. This presentation looks to ecoanarchism, whose long and rich history opposing the capitalist machine can provide critical insights for degrowth pathways. This is done through an analysis of contemporary ecoanarchist zines from many different places. A zine is a pamphlet, or a small magazine, meant for easy and widespread distribution. Based on a sample of zines, contemporary ecoanarchism is explored within four thematic clusters: modes of organizing, science and technology, human and nonhuman relations, and questions regarding the state. Rooted in workers’ movements of the late 19th century and further developed in a variety of contexts, anarchism is well situated to expand degrowth’s mostly western and academic scope. Furthermore, a deeper alliance between ecoanarchism and degrowth would offer a mutually beneficial relationship to strengthen efforts towards a more socially and environmentally just future. Jenna Stepanic 2023-08-30T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:45 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-426-transition_towards_sustainable_agri-food_systems https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/426 false Resilience building through degrowth Modern agro-industry, on the one hand, dominated by energy- and carbon-intensive production methods and monocultural production accounts for a significant part of GH emissions, destroys ecosystems, decreases agrobiodiversity and the overall resiliency of the agricultural system. On the other one, it leads to unhealthy diets causing obesity in ‘developed’ countries, while a significant part of the world population remains undernourished. The most evident impact of agro-industry on agrobiodiversity is that the current food system is organized around a limited number of crops (mainly wheat, rice and maize), (Khoury et al., 2014). To improve biodiversity and to create more resilient agricultural systems, the ongoing European RADIANT (Realizing Dynamic Value Chains for Underutilised Crops) project aims to unfold evidence and to explore good practices to reintroduce/integrate underutilised crops (UC-s) into food, feed and non-food value chains. Underutilised, undervalued or forgotten crops are less common species, landraces or varieties with limited use, production and consumption but holding great nutritional and environmental potential. UC-s are often more adapted to local environments, more resilient against extreme climates, and their nutritional value is potentially higher compared to conventional and more widespread crops, especially in the case of legumes or heritage cereal crops. UC-s could contribute to diversifying agricultural systems, climate change mitigation, increasing the resiliency of agricultural production, and developing healthier and sustainable diets (Pinto et al., 2022). The limited use of UC-s is the result of their lower productivity which makes their production economically inefficient within the current socio-economic system. Further challenges to promote UC-s cover the undervaluation of their environmental benefits, unavailable seed supply, lack of knowledge and technologies for processing; unmatched supply and demand; their unrecognized nutritional value and lack of recipes (Balázs et al., 2021). In summary, the social, economic and the political context are all create unfavorable conditions for these environmentally so valuable varieties. Within the RADIANT project, through in-depth, interpretative policy analysis (Yanow, 2006), based on case studies across Europe and experimenting UC-s with the participation of farmers, we aim to identify leverage points which would allow to move forward a more diverse and resilient agri-food system. Our preliminary analysis revealed that seed sovereignty, citizen-science cooperation, participating in producer-processor partnerships and engaging various actors along the value chain are key factors to integrate UC-s in the value chain. Participating in consumer-producer, citizen-science and in other networks can provide resiliency against the vulnerability to the market and policy challenges. Orsolya Lazányi 2023-08-30T10:45:00+02:00 10:45 00:15 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-89-post-growth_agrifood_systems_now https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/89 false Alternative economies Special Session Contemporary agrifood systems are infected with growth-thinking. Too often, food production is out of balance in all dimensions–relations to soils, animals, landscape ecologies, and relationships between producers and consumers. Bad agricultural policies prop-up fundamentally unsustainable agrifood systems. They produce too much of the wrong kinds of food, at the expense of human health, animal wellbeing, agricultural livelihoods, and rural communities and landscapes. Nature itself must pay the full costs in the end. To detach food production from the growth model is to change the world. This session assembles examples of creative circuits of food production and consumption that exist now: some based on ancient cultural ways and others contemporary –all relevant to the ethics of post-growth human ecologies. Presentations feature cases of post-growth food production, distribution, business, culture, and/or governance, but also include analytical exploration of how post-growth food systems emerge, are maintained, or further developed in the face of myriad challenges. Re-embedding our food systems in bioregional agroecosystems and regenerating biocultural diversity, growing food cultures centered on sufficiency and stewardship, and establishing food commons and sharing networks are confronted by very real economic questions of securing livelihoods, ensuring just labor conditions, and balancing trade, access, and food security. The session will provide a window into post-growth food systems now and where they might be headed in the future. (McGreevy et al. 2022) /system/events/logos/000/000/089/large/principles.jpg?1673616249 Steven McGreevy Christoph Rupprecht Norie Tamura Mai Kobayashi Sustainable agrifood systems for a post-growth world 2023-08-30T11:15:00+02:00 11:15 00:15 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-192-you_should_research_real_beekeepers https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/192 false On the need to transition beekeeping Alternative economies Paper Presentation The necessary shift to new food systems and convivial conservation requires also a shift to new beekeeping practices as the currently dominant ones are also tied up in colonial legacies, exploitation and extraction, control and efficiency, private ownership and accumulation. The presentation focuses on beekeeping practices that evolved in niches of East Asia and Europe through convivial multispecies relations and are regenerative, sufficient, distributed, commoning, and caring. The necessary downshifting of the globalized food system towards a postgrowth driven system is gaining traction and accordingly there also needs to be changes in beekeeping and pollination. The domesticated honeybee Apis mellifera is currently the prime pollinator of most commercial food items around the world, however this dependence and the global presence of this livestock species originating from Europe is not by chance, nor by nature. It is part of the colonial history that extends into today’s neoliberal reality driven by a limitless growth ideology. Together with the plantation style agriculture dominated by monoculture cash crop exports and fossil fuel addiction were exploitative beekeeping practices developed that are globally considered as professional and most ‘advanced’, downgrading, and sometimes even illegalizing traditional, indigenous, local and alternative practices, as well as non-domesticated species as inefficient and invaluable, disposable and dangerous. And while efforts like intensified organic agriculture or migrant beekeeping corporations moving their bees with eTrucks and monitoring them remotely via apps might show some minor sustainability improvements on the operational level, they are not sufficient solutions for the existing challenges. The presentation focuses on beekeeping practices that evolved in niches of East Asia and Europe through convivial multispecies relations and are regenerative, sufficient, distributed, commoning, and caring. Their scaling-out means for many beekeepers learning new skills and abandoning others, for policy makers to formulate integrated pollinator policies and establish funding schemes, and for the public to be educated and included. Max Spiegelberg Rika Shinkai Christoph Rupprecht 2023-08-30T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-295-living_well_within_limits_ideas_results_and_ways_forward https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/295 false Degrowth in the year 2023 Paper Presentation In this presentation, we synthesize 6 years of the Living Well Within Limits project. We start by situating our interdisciplinary research domain, which is oriented towards studying (and resolving) the core challenge of our time: how can 8 billion (and more) live well within planetary limits during this century? Of course, we must first define what we mean by human well-being, and how we can study it within the context of planetary phenomena: our analytic framework. However, we cannot tell the story of this project and its research without covering why this topic has not be studied before, including disciplinary obstacles arising from neoclassical economics. Once these bases are covered, we synthesize our research findings to date in the form of 8 stylized facts. As conclusion, we put forward “Living Well Within Limits” as full research domain, which welcomes contributions from scholars from every discipline, and active engagement with social movements to face the climate and ecological crises. Julia Steinberger Elke Pirgmaier 2023-08-30T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-348-household_consumption_and_emissions_from_corrected_microdata https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/348 false A DINA application for Ecuador Climate (in)justice Paper Presentation One key question within the existing literature on the interrelation between income, inequality and carbon emissions, is whether the combination of the normative goals of lowering inequality and reducing carbon emissions constitutes a virtuous social optimum (Rao and Min, 2018), or a social dilemma in which reducing inequality increases carbon emissions (Grunewald et al., 2017; Rojas-Vallejos and Lastuka, 2020). If such a social dilemma indeed existed, it would require societies to decide upon a trade-off, making it imperative for science to shed light on this relationship. This study aims to combine the completeness of the household income distribution with the precision of linking emissions to income not through a constant elasticity, but through the intermediary of household consumption. The pivot challenge is therefore to predict consumption patterns of high-income households, in order to allocate their emissions correctly. We implement our methodology for the case of Ecuador. This paper is the first to provide insights about the distribution of income, consumption and carbon emissions on the household level stemming directly from corrected household micro data. Our model predicts that consumption patterns change also within the highest percentiles. More than 40% of total expenditure of the poorest households is spent on food and clothes, whereas the richest 0.1% spends less than 7% on these items. Further, mapping income of the ”missing rich” to their consumption, we provide improved estimates for classic Engel-curves and Environmental Engel-curves (Levinson and O’Brien, 2019) Our findings suggest that also for Ecuador carbon emissions marginally decrease as income raises. Markus Nabernegg Tom Kopp Stefan Nabernegg Extended Abstract 2023-08-30T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-290-economic_redistribution_in_eco-social_narratives https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/290 false Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation In descriptions of a socio-ecologically sustainable future, ensuring a decent quality of life whilst remaining within planetary boundaries are often dual central aims. However, at present no country is achieving this, given the positive correlation between nations meeting important indicators of social thresholds and the number of planetary boundaries transgressed (O’Neill et al., 2018; Fanning et al., 2021). In response to this problem, the need to reduce socio-economic inequality is increasingly discussed within climate mitigation proposals, spanning a broad range of eco-social discourses, including Green Growth, Green New Deal and Degrowth proposals. Despite this broad support for inequality reduction, the relationship between inequality and planetary boundaries is complex and understudied, particularly with regards to the impact inequality reduction may have within these divergent eco-social policy narratives. Through a structured review of academic literature that discusses inequality reduction alongside these narratives, this paper unpicks the prevalence of, motivations for and mechanisms through which socio-economic inequality reduction is to be achieved. Whilst this review finds that inequality reduction features widely across all narratives, the purposes for and mechanisms through which inequality reduction is to be achieved are often distinct. It is argued that these are likely to incur significant differences in the ecological impact of ensuring decent living standards under each eco-social narrative. Despite this, little investigation is given to these impacts within any of the narratives, indicating the need for further empirical investigation of this important tension in eco-social research. Sam Betts-Davies John Barrett Paul Brockway 2023-08-30T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-168-consumption_is_a_myth_people_are_investors_not_consumers https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/168 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation In Global North economies, 15-25% of GDP is typically invested in the formation of new capital, while the rest, the vast majority of economic output, is considered ‘consumption’. Indeed, the economic orthodoxy believes that our economic system is defined by people seeking to maximise their consumption. At the same time, the concept of ‘human capital’ is rapidly becoming central to the understanding of economic growth. If we accept that people fit the definition of capital – structures which will produce future growth and returns – as global institutions such as the World Bank so readily have, and that human capital accumulates over each individual’s life, then we must similarly accept that this capital is the product of continuous investments. Given the large estimated size of global human capital stocks, human capital must be created using the portion of output that has conventionally been labelled consumption. Using available data and applying the standard backwards-looking account for capital inventories, we show this to be true. This leaves us with a powerful conclusion: that the things we buy and the things we consume are investments, on various scales, in us as people. This is more than just a disagreement about terminology: to think of people as everyday investors rather than consumption maximisers radically reshapes our perception of economic behaviour, and encourages us to question which investments are in the long-term interests of individuals and society. We will present these findings and discuss their radical potential in helping conceptualise a slowing, sustainable economy. Andrew Jarvis Daniel Chester 2023-08-30T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-141-degrowth_as_a_means_to_an_intergenerationally_just_future https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/141 false Strengthening the alliance Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session While degrowth scholars have increasingly examined the relationship between different notions of justice and the degrowth approach, the intergenerational justice (IJ) lens has so far been overlooked in the discourse around degrowth. Similarly, IJ scholars have thus far overlooked degrowth as a potential enabling factor to pursue IJ. To fill this gap, we examine the core tenets of the degrowth approach using the intergenerational justice lens. We believe that the degrowth model has high potential to further IJ goals. Specifically, we research how these two discourses can be linked and aligned and how degrowth policies can be used to achieve IJ. Our research consists of three main research questions: 1. What is the link between degrowth and intergenerational justice? 2. Can the degrowth approach be suitable to achieve intergenerational justice?, and 3. How can the degrowth approach lead to an intergenerationally just economy and society? To answer these research questions, we propose (i) holding a 90-minute cross-generational workshop at the conference in addition to (ii) producing a report based on a literature review prior to the workshop. During the co-creative workshop, we will present our findings and facilitate a discussion between participants to jointly imagine a degrowth-based intergenerationally just economy. While the exact details of the workshop will depend on our initial research, the end goal at the conference is to bring together different civil society actors to build alliances that strengthen the links between IJ and degrowth. Generation Climate Europe Natalia Mrówczyńska Michaela Karamperi Julia Beier 2023-08-30T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-176-how_to_teach_degrowth_in_economic_higher_education https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/176 false Empirical evidence of participatory education Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Paper Presentation The grand challenges of our times are seriously interlinked: ecological demise cannot be tackled separately from social problems like inequality or the crisis of representative democracy. The role of education is undeniably crucial in such transformations towards ecologically sustainable and socially just societies, and we argue that elevated attention needs to be paid to economic higher education in this regard. While changes in primary education are also important in changing the socialisation of new generations, our scope of action to minimise the chances of total collapse is here and now, and rather than emphasise the value-neutrality of markets, embrace the impacts we have on the world around us. Therefore, those entering positions of economic influence in the short run must represent values that differ significantly from those instigated by the mainstream thoughts dominating economic and social thinking for the last centuries. Therefore we showcase our Degrowth course called “Limits to Growth” offered within management education based on the principles of participatory education aimed at offering alternatives to mainstream economic thinking. However, this shift needs not just different motivations to operate but also new educational approaches, methodologies, and learning techniques. Through an empirical example, it is presented how participatory education can support the articulation of Degrowth in economic education. The Degrowth participatory course is analysed based on students’ reflection diaries to explore the successes, failures, and risks of such course formats. The results show that there are also risks of participatory education and underscore why they still might be well worth taking if we are to take degrowth education seriously. Gabriella Kiss Alexandra Köves Gábor Király 2023-08-30T10:15:00+02:00 10:15 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-264-engineering_education_within_a_degrowth_paradigm https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/264 false Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation This paper will address attempts over the past 18 years of ESJP - Engineering, Justice and Peace (https://esjp.org/about-esjp/our-commitments) to facilitate change in engineering and education structures and processes, through the critique of contemporary growth discourse and the development of alternative socio-technological development paradigms. Christopher Marquis Caroline Baillie Engineering social justice and peace Engineering Education within a Degrowth paradigm 2023-08-30T10:30:00+02:00 10:30 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-37-a_curriculum_for_moving_undergraduate_biology_students_towards_degrowth_principles https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/37 false Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation Traditional science education in the Global North needs rapid transformation to better prepare students to address the pressing environmental and social challenges of the Anthropocene. In the United States, university-level science education is typically focused on delivering content without a context that explains how scientific knowledge has contributed to exploitation and how it could, in principle, be used to reduce global inequalities. This non-contextualized experience is the primary way that students gain skills and credentials to succeed in many careers that in turn help to maintain or expand capitalist structures. What is urgently needed are educational activities in mainstream university curricula that build skills and content knowledge in a new framework that emphasizes Anthropocene challenges and pathways towards global justice. Here we describe a university course that delivers core biology knowledge within a Doughnut Economics organizational framework emphasizing a social foundation for all without creating global ecological overshoot. The course, Biology of Sustainability, helps students understand central biological concepts (such as homeostasis, interactions, and evolutionary change) and develop core biology competencies (such as critical thinking and scientific reasoning) within themes of climate change, chemical pollution, agriculture challenges, and global health issues that are central to Doughnut Economics. We argue that embedding the Doughnut Economics framework into mainstream STEM courses can help students better align their professional and personal ambitions with degrowth principles. Adam Kay Justa Heinen-Kay Dalma Martinovic-Weigelt 2023-08-30T10:45:00+02:00 10:45 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-327-the_good_life_for_all_in_the_digital_double_classroom https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/327 false Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation One key challenge in Education for Degrowth (EfD) is the lack of its systematic rooting in formal education systems, causing the politization of future activists to rely on civil society and leaving much idle potential for sustainable transformation. The concept for the advanced training lab for teachers “The Good Life for All in the Digital Double Classroom” addresses this challenge. This paper describes the EfD concept and develops the training lab, which trains high school teachers to carry out joint classes with partner classes in the Global South. The students from the North and from the South come into direct contact to exchange views on topics that affect them both from their respective perspectives. A first example of this is the area of "tourism", which the German students know from the perspective of active participation, while students in the South (the partner school of a pilot project is on Zanzibar) know tourism either from an uninvolved but observing perspective or through active income generation in the tourism industry. A second example is the material base of digitality, which students in Germany know as consumers of digital devices, while students in Tanzania tend to see this in the form of problems relating to the extraction of raw materials or (in other countries) the manufacturing of computer chips. The direct exchange with peers, who are affected by the same topic in different ways, enables the perception of the complexity of global problems, inherent in value chains or global public goods and commons. Tom Kopp Claudius Engeling Lana Pukanić Website of pilot project 2023-08-30T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 01:00 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-133-phasing_out_fossil_fuels_supporting_climate_justice https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/133 false Climate (in)justice Non-academic Session This session is based around a new discussion paper on the Cap and Share concept. Cap and Share is a proposal by Feasta’s Climate Group for phasing out fossil fuels globally while supporting climate justice and providing significant climate finance to the Global South. Under Cap and Share, the wealthy would be unable to continue to burn fossil fuels profligately because the supply of fossil fuels would be phased out at source, while the poor would be protected from the adverse effects of increasing energy scarcity and would also have better access to legal protection, including land rights. There would be a significant redistribution of wealth from the wealthy to the poor, both between and within nations worldwide. We therefore believe that Cap and Share could be an important - indeed, vital - catalyst for climate justice. The 2022 report of the IPCC’s Working Group II mentions Cap and Share as an example of a policy mechanism that is rooted in the precautionary principle, reflecting the need to guarantee that significant emissions reduction will take place. Our paper describes how such a program could start with a few countries and scale up. It would significantly progress the goals of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, and provide a framework for expanding and enlarging the scope of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA). /system/events/logos/000/000/133/large/Feasta_Logo_png.png?1673720726 Caroline Whyte Launch and discussion of the paper 'Phasing Out Fossil Fuels, Supporting Climate Justice" Information on Cap and Share Phasing out Fossil Fuels, Supporting Climate Justice 2023-08-30T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 00:30 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-134-the_money_supply_and_degrowth_challenges_and_possible_solutions https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/134 false Alternative economies Non-academic Session It is now widely acknowledged that the vast majority of money that exists in the economy at present has been created by commercial, for-profit banks on the basis of debt. One might wonder, is this type of money compatible with degrowth? While some economic modelling suggests that it could be, empirical evidence indicates, to the contrary, that relying on debt creation as the basis of the money supply is very unwise in an economy that is not expanding. This is because, if money is primarily debt-based, its continued existence and ability to circulate in the economy will always require a certain level of credit demand - and as one empirical study put it, ‘‘…economies with stagnant real economy growth are likely to see continued depressed credit demand.’’ Money is not solely a mathematical construct; indeed, it is first and foremost a cultural phenomenon, whose existence is based on peoples' ideas about how the future will be. And although the process of money creation may appear to be rather abstract, changes in the creation and circulation of money in the economy have very strong real-world implications for everyone. So how can we guarantee a money supply that remains reliable - and that, vitally, also helps to deliver social needs in an equitable way - in a shrinking economy? This presentation and discussion will draw on examples of different money systems from the past and present in order to suggest some ways forward. /system/events/logos/000/000/134/large/Feasta_Logo.png?1673721339 Caroline Whyte 'Fair Green Money': Feasta analyses and proposals for the money system 2023-08-30T18:00:00+02:00 18:00 01:30 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-29-fairytales_of_growth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/29 false Documentary Screening followed by Q&A Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Non-academic Session "Fairytales of Growth is a documentary on climate change, degrowth and system change. The effects and risks of climate change are compelling young people the world round to call upon radical system change as the only solution to avoid a catastrophic collapse. Fairytales of Growth looks at the role economic growth has had in bringing about this crisis, and explores the alternatives to it, offering a vision of hope for the future and a better life for all within planetary boundaries." Created as a final project for the masters in political ecology, degrowth and environmental justice (ICTA-UAB), this documentary represents an attempt to summarize the main messages of degrowth and bring them to a wider audience. Following the screening of the film (47min) we will open a discussion reflecting on how degrowth can be better communicated through audio-visual media, and how or what educational materials are lacking to facilitate degrowth being taken up in classrooms across the world. Pierre Smith Khanna Claudio 2023-08-30T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-6 9_int_dg_conf-35-degrowth_getting_its_hands_dirty https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/35 false Envisioning fruitful alliances between Degrowth, Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture Movements Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session Regular perusers of Degrowth scholarship frequently encounter fleeting references to alternative agriculture models cited as tangible examples of transition in practice compatible with visions of “Degrowth.” Organic and community supported agriculture, urban and rural self-sufficiency, the Agroecology movement and sub-practices such as agroforestry are often "name-dropped" when scholars attempt to demystify logical pathways for reducing society’s material and energy footprints and negative impact on the biosphere. In spite of this form of “literary” symbiosis, Degrowth remains distant as an intellectual and physical ally of two influential movements encouraging transformative change within the agriculture sector, Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture. This workshop aims to introduce key successes and enduring challenges of the Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture movements within the Central European context, citing practical and intellectual knowledge gained working directly with farm communities in Hungary and in international educational projects for farmers supported by the European Union. The workshop will also cite experience acquired over the last decade working as a gardener on a functioning organic farm serving an active local food community, and within the Degrowth inspired cooperative Cargonomia in Hungary. We invite participants who contribute to alternative food movements as practitioners, researchers, activists or allies and will dive deeper into the following questions: • How can Degrowth scholarship contribute to strengthening narratives and strategy trajectories within the Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture movements? • What is the role and potential of Degrowth advocates in supporting the viability and impact of alternative food movements? • What methods can Degrowth advocates follow to engage more effectively with farmers? Logan Strenchock Lili Balogh Zsambok's Organic Garden Homepage Cargonomia Homepage 2023-08-30T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 01:30 ZV-8-6 9_int_dg_conf-161-the_biodiversity_dimension_of_degrowth_a_workshop_on_strategizing_with_convivial_conservation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/161 false Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session Convivial Conservation (CC) is a transformative proposal for the systematic redesign of biodiversity conservation. It responds to the failure of mainstream solutions put forward to address the intensifying environmental and biodiversity crises, as they remain rooted in capitalist and growth-centered development agendas. The approach is based on two foundational long-term principals connected to 1) the spatial and philosophical re-integration of people and nature and as such 2) transformation of the economy along with the financial and democratic principles of conservation. Building on the momentum of the recent book The Conservation Revolution (2020) and multiple major research and action projects, a network of individuals behind the framework are preparing to operationalise a platform and action-policy network. This will involve driving forward initiatives working to re-balance the economy and re-integrate our living spaces with our natural ecosystems through community-building, advocacy, research, grassroots action, and creative approaches in arts, design and landscape architecture. This hybrid talk and workshop session will outline the theoretical and practical tenants of convivial conservation, highlighting synergies with degrowth to explore opportunities for alliances and integrations across both movements. Workshop activities will facilitate enquiry and discussion around the anatomy of strategies that encompass top-down and bottom-up theories of change. Like degrowth, CC emerges from an elite domain of academia and practice looking to transform Northern scientific, policy and financial institutions (which continue to dominate global conservation frameworks) but will be animated and enabled through alliances with social movements, local communities and indigenous groups on the front lines of biodiversity crises. Shelby Matevich Bram Buscher Robert Fletcher Louise Carver More about convivial conservation and The Conservation Revolution (2020) 2023-08-30T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-6 9_int_dg_conf-328-playing_simulation_games_for_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/328 false Presentation of three new simulation games, developed by German and Tanzanian high school teachers Degrowth as a political project? Non-academic Session This workshop introduces conference participants to three new learning games that serve as a vehicle to politicise youth and young adults for the Degrowth movement. The workshop will consist of a brief overview of the project within which the games were developed, then by playing the game, before a summary and feedback session concludes the workshop. The games were developed between high schools in Germany and Tanzania to enable high school students to learn about the international interconnections of three topics and generalize to the Degrowth movement. Two online symposia with teachers from Germany and Tanzania pooled the expertise and diverse perspectives to ensure that experiences situations from both project regions are represented in the games. The simulation games enable the target groups to put themselves in the shoes of people affected in different ways and to reflect on the conditions of international frameworks for global justice and resource equality. The first game addresses tourism, which people in the North know from active participation, while individuals in the South know tourism either from an uninvolved but observing perspective or through active income generation in the tourism industry. The second game addresses the material base of digitality, which individuals in the North know as consumers of digital devices, while citizens in the South tend to observe the ecological and social consequences of the extraction of raw materials or the labour situation in the manufacturing of computer chips. The third game addresses the agricultural sector and the international trade of agricultural goods. Tom Kopp Lana Pukanić Claudius Engeling Project website 2023-08-30T20:00:00+02:00 20:00 01:30 CMR-terrace 9_int_dg_conf-422-beasts_of_the_southern_wild_93 https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/422 false Film Screening Non-academic Session en In a forgotten yet defiant bayou community called the Bathtub, cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee, six-year-old Hushpuppy(Quvenzhané Wallis) exists on the brink of orphan-hood. Her mother is long gone, and her beloved father Wink(Dwight Henry) is a wildman on a perpetual spree. When Wink is home, he lives under a different roof: Wink in a rusted-out shack, and Hushpuppy in a trailer propped on two oil drums. More often than not, Hushpuppy is left to her own devices on their isolated compound filled with feral wildlife, where she perceives the natural world to be a fragile web of living, breathing, squirting things, wherein the entire universe depends on everything fitting together just right. While life in the Bathtub is defined by both resilience and celebration, at the local elementary school(boat), Hushpuppy's no-nonsense teacher, Miss Bathsheba(Gina Montana), educates her ragtag students about natural selection, global warming, and the huge ecological shifts that have pitted the Bathtub on the front line for extinction. "Learn to live with one another, and adapt!" she instructs. "Y'all better learn how to survive, now..." Reality crashes down on Hushpuppy's world when Wink comes down with a mysterious illness, and nature begins to spiral out of control. A massive storm brews, the ice caps melt, and Wink shakes on the ground at her feet after a mere punch. Hushpuppy becomes convinced that the science attacking her environment and her father's insides are inextricably linked. Miljenka 2023-08-30T21:30:00+02:00 21:30 00:30 CMR-terrace 9_int_dg_conf-420-gender_perspective_of_climate_justice_-_stories_from_societies_margins https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/420 false With support of Empowermed project Panel Non-academic Session en panelists and detailed description coming soon Panelists Miljenka 2023-08-31T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-221-anthropology_and_degrowth_deepening_the_dialogue https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/221 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation So far anthropologists have had very limited direct engagement with degrowth. This is a surprising fact since anthropology had a key role in the very crafting of the concept: the ideas of Serge Latouche were highly influenced by classical economic anthropologists such as Marcel Mauss, Marshall Sahlins and Karl Polanyi. Furthermore, the francophone anthropological school associated with the MAUSS group (“Antiutilitarian movement in the social sciences”) had an important influence on degrowth during its earliest theorization. Since then, very few authors have approached degrowth from an anthropological perspective and only a few anthropologists have used a degrowth framework in their ethnographic works. This workshop will present the outcomes of the workshop “Anthropology and degrowth: deepening the dialogue” (5th-6th June, 2023 at the London School of Economics), where anthropologists interested in degrowth met officially for the first time to collaboratively discuss issues such as: how can critiques and debates that have been central to anthropology for decades –such as the studies of material culture and consumption, or the multiple meanings of productiveness and abundance beyond GDP growth– illuminate questions that appear in degrowth as new? On the other hand: what can degrowth do for anthropology? How can a focus on the imperative of growth –not just as an economic goal, but as a wider political, cultural, and cosmological concept– help understand the ethnographic contexts anthropologists engage with? Can concepts like ecomodernism, longtermism or growthism, for instance, make sense of the moral worlds anthropologists find on the ground? Gabriela Cabaña Lorenzo Velotti Lucía Muñoz Sueiro 2023-08-31T10:15:00+02:00 10:15 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-218-learning_from_the_global_south_degrowth_and_the_limits_of_modernity https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/218 false Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation Degrowth is a movement developed in the Global North and, naturally, it is influenced by some of the fundamental values of Western Modernity, such as anthropocentrism and positivism. Of course, there are also spiritual, non-anthropocentric views in the Global North, such as Deep Green philosophy. However, those exist at the margins of Western thinking and praxis. This paper is an exploration of alternative, deeply spiritual and ecocentric ways of being, stemming from the Global South. The cosmovisions of certain indigenous people from the Global South, such as Andean Buen Vivir or Maori views of the natural world, are fundamentally shaped by such values. Those views are central to their communities, and they thus shape the relationship between them and nature fundamentally. They are ways of thinking, but also lived practices by whole populations; especially by those who exist in compact, traditional communities. This paper argues that degrowth has a lot to learn from such cosmovisions. Degrowth has paid a lot of attention to reshaping the economy and achieving a convivial lifestyle. However, it still needs to embrace spirituality and a truly ecocentric worldview, borrowing from alternative cosmovisions from the Global South. Such a deep recalibration would allow it to move further away from Eurocentrism and closer to the path of sustainability. Vasilis Leontitsis Learning from the Global South: Degrowth and the Limits of Anthropocentrism 2023-08-31T10:30:00+02:00 10:30 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-111-defuturing_artificial_intelligence https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/111 false Considering the Post-Digital Era and Life After Big Tech Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation Defuturing is a design philosophy premised on negation. In this paper I offer a defuturing account of artificial intelligence (AI) that illustrates why structural dependencies on mass digital infrastructure may prove, over time, to be incompatible with both representative democracy and global ecological lifeworlds. My account is historical in nature. I foreground the roots of solidarity between coalitions who currently suffer under, or seek to reverse, structural dependencies on digital instruments (e.g., workers, young people, the incarcerated, climate activists). I argue for spaces that are anti-computational by design, particularly civic spaces. By dignifying and articulating futures wherein the revolutionary phase of information technologies has already passed (e.g. post-digital futures), I acknowledge an emerging counterculture for decomputerisation—and one that illuminates the logic of degrowth. I celebrate, in a way, that the future may not be digital after all. /system/events/logos/000/000/111/large/360_F_300432825_xStRQGWsX2TafWGkmbOevB7v0r5p53ut.jpg?1673693950 Jonnie Penn Website 2023-08-31T10:45:00+02:00 10:45 00:30 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-115-re_allying_with_the_non-human_world https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/115 false stepping out of domineering relationship with Nature Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session Being in close, intimate contact with the living network consisting of people, animals, plants, microbial world, air, soil water… IS what gives us an immediate and direct information about the state and the limits of this network. Only when we are not in contact with it can we live in such destructive, unsustainable manner that characterizes our contemporary lives. However, when we are discussing new approaches to our societal and environmental crisis one voice is usually missing, it is being ignored, not represented or under-represented: the voice of the non-human world. How can we tell the whole story if only one species is represented? How can we make right changes and find good solutions if we are not perceiving a huge part of the reality, if we are not considering it at all? How can we attempt to mend and heal our society and environment if we are taking into consideration only one species, one element of the system? How can we learn to step out of our anthropocentrism, our speciesism and relate to the living network of life without the ever-present domineering approach? What new alliences with the non-human world can be put together and what new tranformative imaginations will they bring? This presentation will be based on both theoretical approaches problematizing our ever-present uncoscious specistic attitude to solving the predicament we are in as well as practical examples based on the activitites of the Wild Belgrade initiative (dedicated to deepening our understanding of the urban ecosystems). Milja Vuković 9IDC_Zagreb_non academic session_Re allying with the non human world 2023-08-31T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-30-deconstructing_biodiversity_offsets_an_exploration_of_ontological_conflicts_and_alternative_approaches_to_conservation_in_finland_and_colombia https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/30 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation Together with other market-oriented approaches to conservation, biodiversity offsets (BO) have become popular (e.g., CBD, 2022). Previous research has however documented dispossession of local communities and increased inequalities as possible outcomes of BO (e.g., Bidaud et al., 2018; Fairhead et al., 2012). This presentation explores local consequences of BO and shows how local communities can offer alternatives to BO. Within the framework of two case studies in Finland and Colombia the ontological dimension of the politics of BO is scrutinized. The Sakatti mine by AngloAmerican and related compensation buy of forest in the Sámi homeland as well as the Cerrejón mine by Glencore and related offsets in the territory of the Wayúu are studied. Applying a political ontology perspective (e.g., Escobar, 2016), company documents and environmental permit applications but also accounts of local communities are analyzed to reveal how BO are an example of the ‘modern ontology’ (e.g., Blaser, 2016) in action. BO create concrete stakes, stakeholders, and environments that serve economic growth and “sustainable development” and obscure the pluriverse of other ontologies. Drawing on interviews with and observations of representatives of local communities, it is further shown that local communities struggle against the hegemonic political project of BO and resist the erasing of their alternative human-nonhuman entanglements through BO. Literature on degrowth and other alternatives to development (e.g., Kothari et al., 2019) is utilized to highlight how in these ‘ontological conflicts’ (e.g., Blaser, 2009), the explored place-based communities modify BO and show potential ways into just and sustainable futures. Anna Ott Liisa Varumo Claudia Ituarte-Lima Ott et al. Abstract Degrowth Conference 23 file 2023-08-31T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-337-modern_systemic_economics_of_human-technology-nature_connection https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/337 false A meta-theory of economic modelling and specific socio-economic vision for the sustainable development of the human-technology-nature nexus Alternative economies Paper Presentation Multiple crises of climate, biodiversity, political, economic and social structures require a new thinking about how humans and their social systems are embedded in nature. This includes a re-definition of how humans relate to nature physically, intellectually and empathically, as well as whether and to what extent humans perceive themselves as an interconnected part of nature. This re-definition of the human-nature nexus as one of inherent connection could potentially replace a view of humans and the structures they create as being a human-technological (“non-natural”) entity which would perceive itself as being separated from nature. Within this critical framework I propose innovations in economic theory, modelling, and a framework for concrete socio-economic pathways for sustainable development. I aim to integrate strands of thought that have been long apart. Some of these are rooted in ancient traditions describing the world from the human-natural-connected viewpoint; some are most recent and rooted in the systems and complexity sciences. This includes human-nature-connecting traditions rooted in the world religions, animism, and more recent streams of thought such as Deep Ecology (Macy, 2007) or theories related to the Chthulucene (Haraway, 2016). A guiding principle for this vision is the degrowth framework, i.e. a controlled reduction of human activities for the benefit of humans and their natural environment alike. Moreover, I intend to develop a meta-theory of systemic economic modelling, which can derive possibilities of how to analytically and quantitatively describe feasible socio-econonomic-ecological pathways to a society of abundance with a renewed and updated conception of human-nature relations. /system/events/logos/000/000/337/large/nature_technology_harmony_variation_2.png?1675008967 Michael Miess Michael Miess' CV 2023-08-31T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-49-decolonizing_the_human_domination_of_the_earth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/49 false Degrowth and non-anthropocentric emancipation Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation In the Anthropocene, all earthbound beings habit a human-dominated Earth. While some humans have benefitted greatly from the processes of colonization and domination, others have suffered, or become annihilated, not to speak of most non-human beings, who have arguably been hit the hardest. While it is clear that not all humans, cultures, and societies, have equally committed to the process of colonizing the Earth, from a non-anthropocentric point of view humans do have a colonial past and burden to carry (some more and others less so). Considering this, we argue that emancipatory projects that overlook the non-anthropocentric point of views, and do not aim at inter-species emancipation, might achieve a short-term success, such as the Worker’s Movement did in the 19th and 20th century, but are destined to fail in the longer term as the ecological crisis (as a consequence of the biospherical colonization) affects all earthbound inhabitants. The priorisation of human needs, wants and desires – as opposed to inter-species diversity, and joint emancipation – will likely further the expansion of capitalism or other forms of productivism, and the insatiable development of technology, and still deepen the human domination, and the ecological crisis. Therefore, and to find pathaways for joint and inter-species decolonialization, degrowth policies and practives have to push beyond human interests to navigate the just transitions. We also suggest that the non-anthropocentric degrowth policies and practices may be informed by various indigenous cosmologies, which have seldom been ‘anthropocentric’, and less prone to colonize the Earth. Toni Ruuska Pasi Heikkurinen Anne Hoss 2023-08-31T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-71-blue_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/71 false Repoliticizing the Sustainability of the Ocean Economy Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation The ocean is under increasing pressure from the growth of the global economy, resulting in severe social and environmental impacts, for which high-income nations are disproportionately responsible. In recent years, several international actors including think tanks, governments, financial institutions, and eNGOs have been promoting the ocean as the latest global economic frontier, and as a key asset in the resolution of humanity’s most pressing social and environmental problems. In this context, the terms ‘blue economy’ and ‘blue growth’ are mobilized as discursive platforms to publicize the economic importance and the future potential of the ocean space and and its resources. Blue growth proponents argue that new technologies, with proper market incentives and technocratic regulation, will allow for a sustainable expansion of the ocean economy, further decoupling environmental impacts from global economic growth. As a response, Blue Degrowth is proposed as a counter-paradigm to the mainstreaming of oceanic growthism in academia, policy circles, and public opinion. This review paper gives an overview of the re-emergence of the sea as a site for contemporary visions and projects of growth and of radical critiques that defend social and environmental limits to the expansion of the ocean economy. It concludes by articulating Blue Degrowth as part of a mosaic of alternative and emancipatory visions and practices of relating to the sea that are not based upon enclosure, extractivism and the destruction of marine ecosystems but rather on social justice and ecological wellbeing. Borja Nogué Algueró 2023-08-31T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-227-mother_nature_the_goddess https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/227 false Decolonizing the view of nature and the female figure Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Non-academic Session In this session we’ll present excerpts from our film “Kunna”. The purpose is to host a creative discussion and explore the links between degrowth and feminism. Why are matriarchal cultures more connected to the reproductive capacities of nature? In the first part of the session, we revisit how the female figure went from being the source of all life, to being seen as the source of sin. While the first agricultural societies were matriarchal and worshipped the female and fertile, the mosaic religions saw fertility as something to be controlled. We have inherited these views, particularly through the scientific revolution when dualist thought becomes mainstream for the first time. The purpose of science becomes, as Sir Francis Bacon writes, to “torture nature’s secrets out of her». The mechanistic worldview is born, in which nature could be made into a slave for human ends. In the second part we introduce Kunna, a positively implied word meaning vulva in southern Sámi. It is also used to describe shapes in the landscape resembling the female reproductive parts. These places are regarded as holy. We will use this as a foundation to enter into an open dialogue, sharing of thoughts around the connections between valuing or worshipping the female and mother nature. We draw inspiration from Bohmian dialogue, which aims at building a shared understanding through listening and a sharing of thoughts. MarieStorli Marin Håskjold 2023-08-31T18:00:00+02:00 18:00 01:30 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-39-exploring_degrowth_a_critical_guide https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/39 false Book presentation, feedbacks, updates and perspectives Degrowth as a political project? Non-academic Session In August 2020, we launched our jointly authored book Exploring Degrowth: A Critical Guide (Pluto Press). ‘The book you hold in your hands’ states Jason Hickel of the University of London and author of Less is More 2020, ‘paints a picture of the new economy that lies ahead — an economy that enables human flourishing for all within planetary boundaries.’ Discussion about degrowth has exploded since then when a cluster of general interest books on degrowth appeared in 2020. The book was supposed to be launched and presented at the Manchester Degrowth Conference. But Covid happened... And since then, other books have been published, debates on degrowth have been opened in mainstream medias, in politics. "A sense of urgency pervades global environmentalism, and the degrowth movement is bursting into the mainstream. As climate catastrophe looms closer, people are eager to learn what degrowth is about, and whether we can save the planet by changing how we live. This book is an introduction to the movement. As politicians and corporations obsess over growth objectives, the degrowth movement demands that we must slow down the economy by transforming our economies, our politics and our cultures to live within the Earth's limits. This book navigates the practice and strategies of the movement, looking at its strengths and weaknesses. Covering horizontal democracy, local economies and the reduction of work, it shows us why degrowth is a compelling and realistic project." Exploring Degrowth is still going on... feedbacks, updates and perspectives with Anitra Nelson and Vincent Liegey, co-authors of Exploring Degrowth: A Critical Guide (Pluto Press, 2020)... and other books. Presentation followed by a conversation with the public. /system/events/logos/000/000/039/large/Exploring-Degrowth-Liegey-Nelson.jpg?1692776720 Vincent Liegey Anitra Nelson Exploring Degrowth: A Critical Guide 2023-08-31T19:30:00+02:00 19:30 01:30 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-421-the_birth_of_the_international_degrowth_network_outcome_of_the_degrowth_movement_assembly_and_workshops_with_international_working_groups https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/421 false Organising the Degrowth Network Degrowth in the year 2023 Non-academic Session en Throughout 2023, the open collective Organising the Degrowth Network (ODN) worked to formulate a proposal to improve the structure and functioning of the International Degrowth Network. This proposal will be discussed, amended, adopted, or rejected at the Fourth International Degrowth Movement Assembly (28/08 - Zagreb). During this plenary session, the core outcomes of The Assembly will be presented, with space for questions. Afterwards, the main working groups of the network will briefly present their activities. Each working group will then offer parallel workshops where interested participants will be able to know the work of the group better, get involved with it and make proposals for future activities. Jean-Louis Aillon 2023-08-31T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-123-degrowth_from_the_east_i https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/123 false empirical lessons Resilience building through degrowth Special Session Degrowth is often thought of as one ‘movement’, 'community' or conversation, which emerged in Western Europe in the 1970s and has been spreading both within academia and activist practice over the last decade. However, related ideas and activism take root very differently in different places (e.g. degrowth hotspots in Southern Europe). Debates also take place around whether degrowth is relevant only to the overdeveloped countries of the global North, or if it holds lessons and radical implications for societies North and South alike.  With this session, we approach such debates from the angle of the 'East', specifically post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).  Degrowth conversations often portray so-called (semi-)peripheral countries as fodder for extractive capitalism, but in what ways are they also lively sites of postcapitalist alternatives? What community economies and degrowth practices already exist, can be learned from, and brought together? And what distinctive cultures and traditions in CEE regions can be built upon for navigating degrowth pathways? It is clear that differences in socio-political systems, histories and cultures require different approaches for degrowth. During this session, we will explore the unique ways in which CEE countries relate to ideas of degrowth, and discuss transformation in regions already having the experience of sweeping economic disruption in their living memory. Finally, we will encourage dialogue about how various post-socialist experiences influence – if at all – contemporary activism for degrowth and heterodox economics.  The session will consists of several paper presentations based on authors' engagement with degrowth activism and heterodox economies, followed by ample space for discussion. This empirically oriented session is complemented by our second special session where we hope to bring together theoretical engagements with the position(ality) of CEE in postcapitalist imaginaries. Thomas Smith Eva Fraňková Lilian Pungas Ottavia Cima 2023-08-31T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-19-degrowth_as_a_project_of_decolonization https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/19 false Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation In 1972, social philosopher André Gorz coined the word ‘degrowth’, arguing that capitalist productivism, which requires capital accumulation for its own sake, is incompatible with the global environmental balance, in turn sparking a debate in France over the possibility of a degrowth economy. Recently, the idea of degrowth has been receiving increasing attention in the West, as the climate crisis has shown that capitalist exploitation of nature has reached its limit and economic growthism has been proved ecologically unsustainable. However, degrowth is still an uncharted theme in anticolonial and decolonial scholarship. This essay thus aims to explore degrowth as an anticolonial struggle in three aspects. First, I argue that degrowth is a demand for the decolonization of the Global South. Second, I examine the Eurocentric social imaginaries of growth, and how we can decolonize them through indigenous knowledge, using animist ontology as an example. The return of animism in the 21st century can thus pose a challenge to the Enlightenment project and growthist modernity. Third, I argue that degrowth is not a new idea by revisiting the anticolonial economics shared by Fanon, Nkrumah, and Sankara. I conclude this paper by critically discussing how degrowth can reach true universalism. Yu-Hung Wang 2023-08-31T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-368-from_local_staple_food_to_superfood https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/368 false The rise of quinoa in a colonial global economy Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation The sudden rise in global demand for so-called ‘superfoods’ has led to a boom in quinoa production, turning the former subsistence crop for local populations into an international commodity. International organisations fuel demand by idealising “neglected and underutilised species” as climate-resilient supercrops that play a “crucial role in the fight against hunger and are a key resource for agriculture and rural development” (FAO, 2012). We conduct a critical policy discourse analysis to explore how superfood narratives of international organisations reproduce neocolonial structures. In addressing the question, “How does the way international organisations frame the narratives around quinoa as a superfood represent and reproduce climate coloniality?”, this paper fills a research gap in highlighting implicit mechanisms of racial capitalism that create global dependencies shaped by unequal exchange (Hickel et al., 2022; Robinson, 2000). The discourse analysis allows linking superfood narratives to the structures of ‘colonial global economy’ that perpetuate under the capitalist doctrine (Bhambra, 2021). We find four neocolonial narratives in quinoa promotion: (1) as an orphan crop, (2) as a cultural heritage rooted in ancestry, (3) as a cash crop by genetic modification, (4) as a tool to adapt to the climate crisis and to target global malnutrition. The paper finds that the spread of these Eurocentric narratives is akin to Sultana’s (2022) concept of “climate coloniality” representing a form of hegemonic knowledge creation. This reproduces an uncritical and authoritative colonial white gaze on the climate crisis, on affected groups, and on adaptation and mitigation measures. Juliane Friedrich Lou Frisch Lukas Heck Pooja Patki Sophie Progscha Pooja Patki 2023-08-31T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-391-modern_economics_as_male-dominated_thought_construct_to_support_colonial_hegemony_and_the_implications_for_degrowth_thought_and_policy_advice https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/391 false Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation This paper establishes that modern economics uses a male-dominated methodology that is intrinsically colonialist. It then proceeds to answer the question “What is degrowth learning from anticolonial struggles on how to change dominant narratives on rights, freedom, economy, care and nature?” The starting point is a comparison of the main fundamental research methodologies. It is shown that modern economics is based on a specific methodology, and a specific set of canonical assumptions configured almost 200 years ago in order to achieve specific aims that will later be shown to be colonial. This unchanged canonical set of assumptions is shown to be unambiguously male dominated. The implications of this methodology and canonical set of assumptions results in specific policy implications for economic development policy, industrial policy and international trade, namely to have no development policy, engage in no industrial policy and adopt free market and free trade policies. This set of policy recommendations was favourable at the time (19th century) to the nation where these theories were developed (UK), which was the leading economic, industrial and military power. However, such policies are shown to prevent economic development in less developed countries and hence establish enduring hegemony over the majority of countries in the world and prevent their development. Thus modern economics has been intrinsically colonialist in its design, application and outcomes: today the developing countries remain dependent and in a position of submission to the industrial powers. The second half of the paper shows the links and implications to degrowth thought and policies. To do this, first the concept of growth itself is discussed and its relationship with nature, finite resource constraints and ecology. Next the concept of long-term sustainability is examined. Then, the link between economic growth and long-term sustainability is worked out. Based on this, the implications for degrowth theory and policy are derived. This results in new impetus for policy implications and the need for activism and further education of fellow researchers and scientists, but also the general public. Richard Werner 2023-08-31T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-385-on_international_solidarity_and_economic_decolonization https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/385 false Strengthening alliances between the degrowth and the global health community Contemporary emancipatory internationalism Paper Presentation en Within the global health field, progress is being made to adopt a justice and sustainability-centred approach to global health issues through the advancement of what has been named a Planetary Health agenda. Meanwhile, an increasing number of global health scholars argue for a decolonization of the field. Yet, amongst these collective efforts to ‘transform’ global health thinking, a thorough historic and political economic analysis is often missing, and growthism continues to prevail. Truly committing to a decolonial eco-just global health agenda requires addressing the continuation of colonial arrangements within our global economic structure, removing structural and institutional growth dependencies in our world economy and ushering in post-growth economic strategies instead. Joel Curtain Winne van Woerden Remco van de Pas 2023-08-31T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-406-decolonisation_and_degrowth_degrowth_narratives_from_the_global_south_and_european_perspective_s https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/406 false Donna Andrews (University of Johannesburg), Natalie Bennett (Green member, House of Lords), Arpita Bisht (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Bas Eickhout (MEP, Green group in the EP) and Maritza Islas (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México). Moderated by: Vedran Horvat (Institute for Political Ecology)  Panel Non-academic Session en In this debate we want to tackle controversies and contradictions related to the reception and perception of the degrowth in the Global South. While the main principles of degrowth highly resonate and share some direction with various principles and philosophies such as Buen Vivir in Latin America, the language of 'degrowth' is far from ideal when it comes to terms of climate justice, emancipation or right to development. Coined for the developed and industrialised North, the concept of degrowth sometimes appears as an unjust - and again - neocolonial project which could be misused in order to normalise poverty or disable development. With our conversation we will try to unlock the debate which is captured in the tension of conflict between consumption-oriented exctractivism of natural resources and the degrowth narrative often misinterpreted as a new sacrifice or imposed austerity. Last but not least, the panel will also address the role of EU trade and investment policy in the Global South and its responsibility in shaping growth and degrowth debate. Panelists 2023-08-31T18:00:00+02:00 18:00 02:00 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-408-cities_in_the_post-growth_era_theory_and_practice_pt_i https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/408 false Pt I: City of Zagreb representative (TBC), Eric Piolle (Mayor of City of Grenoble / online), Lucia di Paola (ICLEI), Imogen Hamilton-Jones (LSE Cities), Ana Méndez de Andés (University of Sheffield), Chloe Pottinger-Glass (Stockholm Environment Institute), Elisabeth Richardson (University of Manchester). ; Pt II: Ada Amon (Climate Advisor to the Mayor of Budapest), Sophie Bloemen (Commons Network), Dirk Holemans (GEF/OIKOS), Cléo Mieulet (Transformation House); Moderated by: Branko Ančić (Institute for Social Research Zagreb) & Vedran Horvat (Institute for Political Ecology) Panel Non-academic Session en In the post-growth debates, there is a growing number of arguments around what degrowth a state can provide. While the issue of scale sometimes is discouraging for larger states to consider post-growth as an alternative, the same cannot be applied to cities which are in principle closer to principles of conviviality, self-provisioning or decentralisation. At the same time, most recently we were able to observe that cities were much faster in declaring climate emergency, engaging in various re-municipalisation measures, local deliberations etc. In this debate, we want to explore if cities already do develop post-growth scenarios for their future and how they translate these ideas into policies and actions at the local level. We will focus both on transformative practices but also on opportunities through which cities can untie themselves from the obsessive growth-orientation that supposedly defines their financial planning and stability and accordingly public services they are expected to provide. Also, as long as cities stay the playground of hyperconsumption, any other transformative policies will hardly be sufficient for a real overall needed transformation. Panelists 2023-08-31T09:00:00+02:00 09:00 01:00 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-398-decolonial_worldmaking_and_the_contradictory_ecological_politics_of_non-alignment https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/398 false Keynote lecture Keynote Special Session en The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), a partnership between decolonial states in the Global South and socialist Yugoslavia, was one of a number of anti-systemic or counter-hegemonic worldmaking projects that emerged after the Second World War. Although critical of the two power blocs dominated by the United States and the Soviet Union, NAM as, indeed, much of the world was largely silent on ecological issues in the 1960s. It advocated, instead, for a kind of „modernity otherwise“ based on national planning, rapid industrialization and efficient agro-business, seeking a new era of equality in international relations based on sovereignty, independence, self-determination, territorial integrity, and general and complete disarmament. As NAM, together with the G-77 and UNCTAD, turned, in the 1970s, more towards socio-economic justice and the articulation of a New International Economic Order, these discourses of modernity, sovereignty over natural resources, and challenging economic neo-colonialism operated in a space that increasingly focused on planetary limits to growth and the ecological impacts of multi-national corporations. This lecture seeks, in a tentative and exploratory fashion, to address the explicit and implicit ecological politics of the non-aligned in the 1960s and 1970s. It also explores the deeply contradictory role played by socialist Yugoslavia within this, including its political elite, intellectuals, and key personnel working within the UN and other international agencies, drawing lessons for ecological justice today. Paul Stubbs 2023-08-31T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-255-degrowth_inscriptions_within_queer_and_decolonial_struggles https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/255 false Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation The subalternisation of beings segmented by the categories of species, sex, gender, class, and race enabled the fossil extractivism and the organisation of the global capitalist economy (Preciado, 2022). While the threat of the Anthropocene proclaims an exposure of white liberal communities to environmental harms, colonised communities already had to face the end of the world many times over (Yusoff, 2018) as a consequence of the colonial expropriation intrinsic of capital reproduction - and of economic growth (Silva, 2022). Degrowth is a critique not only of excess throughput in the Global North, but also of the mechanisms of colonial appropriation that enable growth itself (Hickel, 2021), opposing ecomodernist reforms that can coexist with other forms of class, gender, class, sexual and racial inequalities, together with other forms of contestation and struggle towards practices of emancipation. Queer theory and decolonial thinking are modes of thinking not closed upon themselves, but stretched to their own limits, being open to interweaving theories - that encounter each other, causing transformations and transpositions that would otherwise not be heard of, and raising the possibility of distancing itself from pretensions of universality (Pereira, 2019). This working paper places degrowth in conversation with decolonial feminist and queer theory to investigate how it can 1) strengthen its decolonial theoretical foundations as a step into a decolonial degrowth in practice, that does not hide behind the argument of “being a concept from the North”, but rather stays open to other knowledges, theories, experiences and cosmovisions; 2) contribute to and learn from the broader struggle against the pretosexoracial capitalism (Preciado, 2022) /the colonial/modern gender world system (Lugones, 2010; Mignolo, 2012). Morena Hanbury Lemos 2023-08-31T10:15:00+02:00 10:15 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-156-coloniality_and_climate_change_mitigation_social_movements_at_a_crossroads_of_a_globally_just_energy_transition https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/156 false Climate (in)justice Paper Presentation The transition from fossil-based to decarbonized energy systems lies in the core of most of the climate change mitigation strategies and narratives. Recent research on green extractivism, the material requirements of the energy transition and the political ecology of climate change mitigation show that the transition planned under green capitalism has little to do with closing global inequality gaps. The necessary renewable energy infrastructure requires non-renewable materials to be mined mostly in peripheral countries, which will bear the social-environmental costs of extractivism for the “green” transition, and transfer to core countries strategical resources labelled as “critical”. A transition under these terms reproduces colonial patterns of unequal exchange and furthers dependency in peripheral nations. Therefore, social-environmental movements (e.g.: degrowth) face the challenge of conciliating calls for climate change mitigation and global justice. This working paper explores how progressive organizations engaged with climate politics articulate criticism to colonialism and imperialism in their claims, tactics, and coalitions choices. We present a preliminary analysis of documental material and interviews conducted with members of a range of organizations based in Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Vienna (Austria). The comparative analysis allows us examine propositions about differences between movements based in urban capitals in core and peripheral countries. Gabriel Trettel-Silva 2023-08-31T10:30:00+02:00 10:30 01:00 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-346-decolonizing_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/346 false Clearing the path for transformation Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Special Session As a movement and a research field, degrowth emerged in opposition to a growth-led narrative that dominates not only economics, but also other disciplines. In recent years, we have, as a community, become more aware of the many ways in which we - even from our position of opposition - (unintentionally) continue to replicate some of the core obstacles to transformations towards socio-ecological justice. In this panel, we wish to engage with the manifold calls to address the ways in which the inequalities and competition that are so essential to the functioning of growth-led capitalism may still shape degrowth scholarship. On the basis of such a collaborative exploration, we will move on to jointly deliberating what productive responses might be. We will engage with the question of how the degrowth movement and scholarship can be decolonized in practice, exploring how degrowth in particular and sustainability sciences in general can move beyond their colonial legacies. We will pursue three different approaches: 1) Reflecting and analyzing the extent to which present-day ‘green’ policies such as the notion of green extractivism or even a just transition are still embedded in a colonial logic (or, more generally, a logic replicating instead of questioning existing social inequalities); 2) considering the colonial roots and hence legacy of how, in academia, we continue to understand and evaluate knowledge, even in studying, for example, the environmental justice movement; and 3) exploring the extent to which engaging with already existing, more inclusive approaches to theory-building (such as queer theory) can potentially help degrowth scholarship and activism to overcome these current limitations. Brototi Ksenija Hanaček Anke Schaffartzik 2023-08-31T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:30 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-138-co-capitalism_degrowth_within_capitalism https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/138 false Attaining a sustainable future by making free markets work for the people and the environment Alternative economies Non-academic Session Co-capitalism is defined as collective, cooperative, and co-owned capitalism. It’s the economic system that uses free markets to give society ownership of the means of production. The tool for achieving this is the simple act of sharing, which is made possible through the development of Collective Ownership Companies (COCOs). Co-capitalism is a market economy that uses COCOs to shift market dynamics for achieving sustainable prosperity for all. It is capitalism run by people, not capital. We have been stuck on a two-dimensional view of our socioeconomic system fluctuating between less state or more state, freer markets or more controlled markets. Having experienced all percentage combinations of the two extremes, in order to unveil a new reality, humanity needs first to claim direct ownership of the means of production. Capitalism allows private entities to own the means of production and communism dictates that the state should be the only owner. They both do so in the name of people; but none of the two, actually, does it well. /system/events/logos/000/000/138/large/COCO_logo.jpg?1673729441 George Ioulianos COCO Collective Ownership Company Limassol Ltd 2023-08-31T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-230-capitalism_and_the_meaning_of_life https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/230 false Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Paper Presentation Philosophical considerations have always been woven into economic thinking. However, in the 20th century, having developed into a separate discipline, economics largely lost its connection with philosophy (Hédoin, 2018). Despite the recent renewal of interest in studying intersections between these two disciplines, the place of the biggest question of Western philosophy — the question of the meaning of life (Klemke & Cahn, 2008) — in economic thought has not been systematically analysed yet. In degrowth literature, the topic of life’s meaning and the economy has been touched upon through the concept of dépense (Romano, 2019) and in discussions about the “good life for all” (Barlow et al., 2022). This research project aims to explore how interpretations developed around the question of the meaning of human life have contributed to creating and also sustaining today’s capitalist economic system with its drive for continuous expansion. It is suggested that specific interpretations of this question play a role in shaping economic theory, although they usually remain implicit. Through theory, eventually, these interpretations can impact economic practices. From this point of view, this research project studies conceptual connections between Western philosophy and the economic theory underlying capitalism. It also looks at the history of capitalism and how the idea of the pursuit of meaning could be used to sustain capitalist growth. From the degrowth perspective, identifying beliefs around the question of life’s meaning that make part of the capitalist imaginary (Castoriadis, 2005) can help better understand capitalism as a socioeconomic system and way of living, and find entry points for its unmaking (Feola, 2019). Oxana Lopatina Lopatina_Capitalism and meaning of life 2023-08-31T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-298-solidarity-based_economy_and_territory_transformative_practices_in_friuli_venezia_giulia_region https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/298 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation The University of Udine has long been involved in research aimed at studying the solidarity-based economy realities in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. This path begins in the year 2012 with the creation of the Forum of Common Goods network involving citizens, local authorities, associations, universities interested in which processes to activate in order to address the various crises affecting the globe at different levels. This leads to the Regional Law 4/2017 “Norme per la valorizzazione e la promozione dell’economia solidale” ('Rules for the valorisation and promotion of the solidarity economy’). The Law addresses the issue of community-territory relations by directing economic actions towards a creation of citizens’ responsibility, which are called upon to promote local supply chains by applying a socio-economic and cultural model centred on local communities, and based on principles of solidarity, reciprocity, environmental sustainability, social cohesion and care for common goods. The research aimed to identify ESol (Economic Solidarity) experiences starts in 2018 with an initial survey by Carestiato and Piani (with small regional funding from FVG), which identified some criteria characterising ESol experiences, and some good practices in the Regional territory. The evolution of the research led us to: 1. reasoning about a possible theoretical-conceptual connection between territorial-bioregionalist and economic-solidarity approaches; 2. characterize the sector and size it (practices database construction) on the basis of an initial definition of the criteria that characterize these practices (ref. L.R. 4/2017); 3. build a cognitive mapping of the spatial and territorial dimension of economic-solidarity 'good practices' in FVG, central to the activation of local economic paths. Reading the 'solidarity-based' transition of the territory according to the Regional context gave us premises on how to move forward: the research shows the presence of a certain variety of realities that can in some way be part of the economic-solidarity panorama. With these premises, we found that economic-solidarity realities are already present in all territories in a fairly balanced way, so we can assume the activation of communities in the construction of economic solidarity circuits (production chains and business networks) in productive territories roberta curiazi Lucia Piani 2023-08-31T15:00:00+02:00 15:00 01:00 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-401-breathing_a_revolutionary_act https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/401 false Keynote lecture Keynote Special Session en How do we turn the right to breathe into a struggle that is decolonial, feminist, queer, anti-racist, pro-Indigenous, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, and internationalist? The right to breathe is a call for revolutionary action. Françoise Vergès (Reunion Island) is a political theorist, an antiracist and decolonial feminist and independent curator. She has written extensively on the afterlives of slavery, South-South solidarities, the decolonization of the public space and of the museum, Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, decolonial feminism, the circulation of textiles, ideas and tastes, neoliberalism and the economy of predation. A co-founder of the non-profit Decolonize the Arts (Paris, 2015-2020), she has been convening L’Atelier a workshop cum public performance with artists and activists of color, contributes to The Nomad Colony created by artist Kader Attia and organizes decolonial visits in museums. Recent publications: Programme de désordre absolu. Décoloniser le musée (2023), A Feminist Theory of Violence. A Decolonial Perspective (2022), A Decolonial Feminism (2020), De la violence coloniale dans l’espace public (2021) Resolutely Black. Conversations with Aimé Césaire (2019), The Wombs of Women: Race, Capital, Feminism (2020). Françoise Vergès 2023-08-31T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-417-artistic_ecologies_new_compasses_tools_and_alliances https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/417 false Marwa Arsanios, farid rakun/ruangrupa. Moderated by: Ana Dević & Pablo Martínez Panel Non-academic Session en How can artistic and cultural practices put forward new eco-social practices committed to sharing resources and creating open infrastructure? How can artistic ecologies renew alliances between communities, institutions and new forms of activism for social and environmental justice? Artistic practices with their transversal thinking are rich in examples of self-sufficiency, international solidarity and conviviality in the face of adversity. Thus, we look for concrete examples of practices that apply principles of commons outside and inside of the art field, or are developed in collaboration with ecology, ecofeminism, land struggles and environmental defenders, as well as in dialogue with communities they settle in. Marwa Arsanios will talk about her project and research Who is Afraid of Ideology? that looks at different strategies of deprivatizing land spread across geographies. How can we shift the relation to land from ownership to usership? Property becomes the central point of discussion, while going beyond its mere legal significance and trying to expand the imagination into various forms of collective ownership. Learning through lumbung As their mode of operation (and borrowed for the title of the last edition of documenta in Kassel, DE, in 2022), ruangrupa—with other Jakarta-based collectives, notably Serrum and Grafis Huru Hara—has been stubbornly pushing themselves, playing, experimenting with, and continuously improving the notion of lumbung. Translated literally as a rice barn in Indonesian, it refers to a deeper understanding of time, space, friendship, care, and—to a certain extent—(non) productivism. Using this non-concept as basis, farid rakun from the collective will share experiences brought by this ongoing attempt to sustain their situated collective practice. Panelists 2023-08-31T18:00:00+02:00 18:00 01:30 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-407-care_and_degrowth_old_acquiantance_new_friendship https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/407 false Marija Bartl (University of Amsterdam, Alessandra Giannessi (UNICARE), Valeria Graziano (Pirate Care), Jelena Miloš (Croatian MP, Možemo!), Nithi Nesadurai (Climate Action Network South East Asia). Moderated by: Tomislav Medak (Multimedia Institute – MAMA) Panel Non-academic Session en Degrowth is premised on reducing material extraction while increasing societal well-being. This inversion implies a shift away from the production of material goods toward the provision of care to enable individual, collective and environmental flourishing. In order to achieve that, post-growth societies will need to see both an expansion of public care provision and its embedding into communities, extending care to those to whom its denied and improving conditions under which care is provided. However, the present realities of care provision is that it is frequently performed as an unwaged form of labour or by workers, mostly women and migrants, who can expect the least protection in the labour market. While the pandemic was an opportunity to begin to transform the systems of care, the failure to institute change is now resulting in an evisceration of the sector and an exodus of workers. Starting from this crisis, in this panel we want to explore how the vital function of care can be restored and strengthened both through community action, expansion of public services and redistributive practices. It is through the struggles around care that we can begin to envision what contours the future post-growth societies might actually take. Panelists 2023-08-31T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-7 9_int_dg_conf-26-re-_imagining_technology_and_innovation_for_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/26 false Technology and science for degrowth Special Session As key drivers of endless economic growth, innovation and technology have often (if not totally) been neglected in their relation to degrowth and wider societal change away from economic growth. However, we argue that in order to achieve alternative societies, it is vital to imagine different ways of technology, innovation and science that are not bound to the persisting growth imaginaries and values like productivity and consumption. Rather, by understanding innovation and technology as fundamental to society, we tackle the question of what innovation and technology might look like if detached from economic growth, and what their roles are for degrowth transitions, post-capitalist organizations and society overall. To explore such issues further, we draw on foundational work that has started to re-imagine innovation and technology in post-growth and organizational contexts (Pansera and Fressoli, 2020) and in other scholarships ranging from the arts to critical management, political ecology and community economies for a fruitful exchange about innovation, technology and degrowth. Through multiple presentations followed by a participatory conversation, this session hopes to build new bridges between scholarly traditions and break the static identities of innovation and technology for the reproduction of economic growth and their neglect in degrowth scholarship. Thanks to presentations on e.g., innovations and subjectivities in historical commons, novel forms of organizing transport and mobilities, innovation as activist knowledge through resistance and prefigurative politics, circular economy technologies and education for counter-hegemony, we aim to re-define and map out the catalyzing potential of innovation and technology for and by degrowth. Noor Keurhorst Noortje Keurhorst Elisa Schramm Josephine Becker David Soto-Oñate Brais Suárez-Eiroa 2023-08-31T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 01:30 ZV-8-7 9_int_dg_conf-188-discussing_degrowth_climate_utopias_with_diverse_stakeholders https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/188 false Lessons from using the backcasting method to explore 1.5° pathways in 5 EU countries Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Special Session Backcasting is an effective, goal-oriented, participatory and problem-solving method for developing solutions to the multiple societal crises. It focuses on a vision for the future and developing steps to reach this vision. It also encourages collaboration between different stakeholders for a common cause, who might find it hard to collaborate in their day-to-day lives, as the method allows for deep dialogue and the exchange of ideas. Backcasting is thus a promising method for research into degrowth transformations, as it helps participants think beyond the boundaries of current possibilities and “Capitalist Realism”. In the EU 1.5° Lifestyles project, backcasting was used in workshops with stakeholders from business, NGOs, municipalities, media and other decision-makers in society. In this special session, we will present lessons from using the method in 5 European case countries, as a tool for facilitating dialogues with multi-stakeholder groups without falling into the usual traps (doomism, nihilism, greenwashing, technological utopias). We discuss both the potential for using backcasting for degrowth pathways, as well as challenges, country variations in its application, and tips on how to develop concrete plans for backcasting. Plan for the special session: *10 Minute Intro to backcasting and the session *15 Minute Visioning exercise. *10 Minute Reflection: Private reflection of conference attendees, discussion with a conference attendee. *25 Minute Presentation from the 3 Case Countries. *30 Minutes Discussion on how to get people on board with degrowth through backcasting (incl. initial audience Q&A). *** Not all potential co-authors are listed due to the limit. Doris Fuchs, Kristof Vadovics and other project partners will join the special session, if also attending the conference. *** /system/events/logos/000/000/188/large/eu_1.5_LS_logo_rgb_eu_1.5_LS_logo_rgb_std.jpg?1673807730 Halliki Kreinin Edina Vadovics Jessika Richter Matthias Lehner pia.mamut@uni-muenster.de 2023-08-31T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-7 9_int_dg_conf-212-the_spatiality_of_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/212 false A co-creative workshop on Policies, Strategies and Instruments in / by / for Cities and Regions Resilience building through degrowth Special Session Full co-author list: Silvio Cristiano, Anton Brokow-Loga, Karl, Jana Gebauer, Luciana Maia, Sarah Ware Degrowth is a crucial vision and project in a century rapidly evolving towards the self-destruction of human livelihoods. Imagining how degrowth can be played out in space and place (understood as a relational sphere of diversity, as Doreen Massey put it), plays a crucial role in a transformation beyond growth. Therefore, this session links the degrowth debate to space, place and scale, zooming in on the levels of the local and regional. Blending paper presentations and workshop discussions, we will go on a search for the new narratives, alliances, frameworks and institutions needed to re-design our localities and the life within, drawing inspiration from examples such as transition towns, cittaslow, solidarity cities, or doughnut cities. We welcome, for a first part of paper presentations, conceptual, theoretical, and empirical contributions which discuss normative frameworks, alliances, success factors, and inspiring stories of how cities or villages in the global north can be transformed to guarantee a good life for all, becoming solidary degrowth places. Contributions may take ‘spatial’ perspectives on the challenges of degrowth also across the scales of the global and the local and should reflect on their geographical (and cultural and economic) positioning. In a second part, which is organized as an interactive and practice-oriented workshop, organizers, presenters and participants alike will join up as a co-creative peer group to develop utopian imaginaries as well as concrete practical tools for localised degrowth. With this, the workshop also aims at strengthening the network and further building the community of urban and rural degrowth scholars and activists. Luciana Maia Silvio Cristiano Anton Brokow-Loga Karl Kraehmer Jana Gebauer Survey / Crowd-mapping 2023-08-31T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:30 ZV-8-8 9_int_dg_conf-381-presentation_of_the_re-geppetto_repair_caffe_in_pula https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/381 false Artistic ecologies and eco-social practices Non-academic Session On behalf of Green Istria, we propose a short, 20-30 minutes presentation (with PPT) of the Re-Geppetto, the first repair café started and managed by a CSO in Croatia. Repair caffe and workshop Re-Geppetto is a is a well equipped space where citizens can repair objects and devices for free on a do-it-yourself principle. The purpose of the workshop is to provide all interested citizens with the space, tools and advice they need in order to repair small household appliances, items, furniture, clothes and toys on their own or with the help of volunteers and the workshop manager. The action "Repair Cafe Re-Geppetto  - circular communities and art" carried out by Green Istria received the award for the most outstanding action during 13th edition of the European Waste Reduction Week (EWWR). The action involved redisigning old textile workshop with locally famous zero waste fashion designer Ivana Tomić, as well as a workshop of creating jewellery from scrap materials with Mirna Sišul, a freelance artist with a degree in the Academy of Applied Arts, whose works can be found in many public and private collections around the world. Within the action young artists from Pula, Mateo Žufić and Katarina Memedović finalised and participated at the opening of their mural depicting a huge wale from the story of Pinocchio and created in a painting technique with the addition of three dimensional upcycled pieces. The story behind the mural iillustrates the origins of the name of the repair café, which was named after Geppetto, father of the famous fictional character Pinocchio, who was also a carpenter. Additionally, a debate about how artist can use their work as a platform to raise awareness and imagine a more sustainable future was broadcasted on Community Radio Rojc. Re-Geppetto is located within the Community Center Rojc, a particular “place of civil society,” an alternative urban culture center which hosts 111 associations with very different activities: culture and art, sport and recreation, children and youth, ethnic minorities and psycho-social work. Rojc itself is an incubator of many projects and activities with aim of sustainable development from urban gardening, reuse flea markets, diy up cycling workshops to promoting sharing communities. Green Istria is part of Rojc Alliance and caring about the common good of the associations within the center. The presentation would contribute to the conference by showcasing a good practice example of the Pula repair cafe, with special focus on how art can be a beacon of hope, lighting the way and compelling us to act towards a more sustainable future. /system/events/logos/000/000/381/large/Zelena_Istra_logo-varijante-zeleno-crno.jpg?1675175594 Dunja Mickov, Irena Burba presentation of the Re-Geppetto repair caffe 2023-08-31T10:30:00+02:00 10:30 00:15 ZV-8-8 9_int_dg_conf-380-presentation_of_the_first_community_garden_in_pula https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/380 false Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session On behalf of Green Istria, I propose a short, 20-30 minutes presentation (with PPT) of the first Community garden in Pula, Croatia. Since May 2021 Green Istria has been managing the Community garden at Gregovica together with Association of Persons with Physical Disabilities of Southern Istria, Pula Gymnasium, School for Training and Education – Pula, Student Association Pula and Autism Association Istria. The garden was awarded to Green Istria after the campaign "Return the garden to the city" and unique participatory advocacy initiative which involved citizens of Pula and the above mentioned partners. Within the campaign, they developed a model of Pula urban gardens and community garden and advocated for the adoption of the model by the City of Pula. The model was reflected in two corresponding City of Pula's decisions proposals. In this manner, the City’s decisions were for the first time ever in Pula designed "from the bottom up”! As a result, the City published the call for management and use of the community garden open to civil society organizations, i.e. associations, as well as for applications for garden plots by the individual citizens! Today, the 1.500 m2 Community garden at Gregovica serves the purpose which was envisaged for it by the citizens' initiative and then green Istria’s Group for urban gardens in early 2020, after the covid crisis emerged – it’s a place where community members socialise, educate and practice joint organic food cultivation, a place where values of solidarity, cooperation, participatory decision-making, social responsibility and inclusion are highly ranked. The presentation would contribute to the conference by demonstrating the good practice of local civil society which builds new forms of social solidarity and contributes to creation of sustainable and just society. /system/events/logos/000/000/380/large/Zelena_Istra_logo-varijante-zeleno-crno.jpg?1675173554 Dunja Mickov, Irena Burba Short description of the garden on Green Istria's web The latest project related to the Community garden fostering inclusion - Let's light the spark for inclusion together Link to info about project Garden(ACT)ivism, which supported the advocacy for the community garden 2023-08-31T10:45:00+02:00 10:45 00:15 ZV-8-8 9_int_dg_conf-187-ecovillage_scale-up_and_its_wellbeing_challenges https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/187 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation Community level initiatives are important in the transition to sustainability. Ecovillages are often presented as examples of such initiatives that aim to combine high quality, communal life with low environmental impact. The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) defines an ecovillage as ‘a rural or urban community that is consciously designed through locally owned, participatory processes in all four dimensions of sustainability (social, culture, ecology and economy) to regenerate their social and natural environments’ (Global Ecovillage Network n.d.). Despite the positive characteristics ascribed to ecovillages, they have been criticized for disregarding environmental and social justice (Mason 2014), for lacking a clear political stance (Fotopoulos 2000), and for being too expensive and therefore exclusionary (Cunningham 2014; Temesgen 2020). Still, ecovillages are one of the fastest growing local-level initiatives (Jones 2011), and there are studies that show the positive impact some ecovillages have on spreading sustainability practices among local municipalities (Boyer 2015). This paper focuses on a Norwegian ecovillage, its transformation to a larger and more modern form (by engaging architects and developers) and the impact this transformation has had on the wellbeing of its inhabitants. This transformation has been hailed as a success through the lens of transition studies but our findings show that it has had negative consequences for the wellbeing of the inhabitants. By drawing on theories from the transition and wellbeing fields, the present paper aims to contribute theoretical insights to both fields and to the study of grassroots innovations and their success/failure. Amsale K. Temesgen 2023-08-31T11:00:00+02:00 11:00 00:15 ZV-8-8 9_int_dg_conf-356-scale_matters_for_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/356 false Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation No social revolution can succeed without being at the same time a consciously spatial revolution. Responding to the criticisms on the space-blindness and anti-planning sentiment in the degrowth debates, the spatial aspect and planning have drawn increasing attention in the more recent academic degrowth discussions. This paper aims to drive further this discussion on the importance of integrating the space and planning in the degrowth transformation by addressing the issue of spatial scale. More specifically, I make two arguments: firstly, an ontological understanding of scale can underlabour the multi-scalar strategies for degrowth; secondly, the ‘spatial’ in scale should be paid more attention in the political striving for degrowth. Although degrowth has started to discuss scales by drawing on concept of rescaling, open localism and multi-scalar strategy, I argue that degrowth would benefit from more explicit and systematic engagement with the question of scale. The paper starts with an ontological journey inquiring ‘what is spatial scale’, particularly by drawing on the critical realist perspective. Based on this, the paper explains ‘why scale matters’, through discussing spatial/scalar mechanisms, cross-scale impacts and scalar strategies that are relevant to degrowth. The paper illustrates the importance of scale in pursuing a degrowth future within the field of housing development. The last session briefly suggests ‘how to better integrate the scale issue’ in the pursuit of a degrowth future. This includes taking an explanatory, relational and holistic approach to spatial scales. Jin Xue 2023-08-31T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 01:30 ZV-8-8 9_int_dg_conf-112-modelling_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/112 false The Contribution of IAMs and Ecological Macroeconomic Models to Assess the Feasibility of Degrowth pathways Climate (in)justice Special Session The challenges related to environmental degradation in general and climate change in particular, as well and increasing inequality impose to the scientific community the burden to produce knowledge capable of stimulating truly transformative actions. “Degrowth” is gaining momentum as a purposeful strategy to stabilize economies and achieve social and ecological goals. However, there is still a lack of quantitative models that are able to simulate and anticipate the multiple direct and side effects in terms of wellbeing, unemployment, climate change, policies, etc. The complexity of the issue at hand and the need for real actions lead to the definition of alternative methods, grounded on a more solid epistemological basis. In this regard, we propose a Session on the last Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) generation models and Ecological Macroeconomics Models that connect the socio-economic structures within the climate-ecological boundaries. These models highlight that a deep understanding of complex systems leads to the development of multi-dimensional models, where the economy is seen as hierarchically subordinated to the ecological systems, and to the inclusion of stakeholders to define coordinated and shared solutions. Modelling Degrowth pathways require some specificities with relation to more traditional modelling; notably a detailed and comprehensive representation of behavioral changes, structural changes at economic and social level, a set of heterodox policies to be modelled, explicit representation of inequalities, etc. IAMs are typically used to evaluate and compare alternative scenarios on the basis of the "what-if" conditions, suggesting that multiple policies are needed to reach multiple (possibly contrasting goals). Attention will be given to the possible limits of modelling (e.g., validation, limits to the complexity of the model, data requirement and computational costs, temporal and spatial scales, etc.) of IAMs and how to overcome them by integrating qualitative analyses to make IAMs effective in promoting political and behavioral changes. The main objectives of the Special Session will be to share results from last generation cutting-edge models simulating Degrowth scenarios, and to foster the discussion on the potentialities and limits of quantitative modelling for analysing Degrowth proposals. The contributors will present the result of the WILIAM model developed in the LOCOMOTION H2020 Project but presentation from different models are welcomed. We also accept contributions which address from a theoretical/conceptual point of view the potentialities and limits of quantitative modelling for analysing Degrowth proposals. This session will also contain the following presentations: Literature review of policies for the simulation of Degrowth scenarios in Integrated Assessment Models Co-authors: Oriane Denantes, Nathalie Wergles, Tommaso Brazzini, Clara Yiting Lauer, Iñigo Capellán-Pérez Abstract: Despite Degrowth is increasingly gaining ground as an alternative sustainability storyline and an ample theoretical literature is being developed, quantitative modelling has been to date scarce and with divergent findings, which hinders the efficacy, feasibility and robustness of the approach. Quantitative modelling is a key methodology for policy advice aiming at anticipating outcomes which may help guide policy-decisions today. In this work, we have performed a systematic literature review of models simulating Degrowth scenarios with a focus on the types of policies considered. From the analysis of the 29 reviewed studies we can conclude that: (1) a minority focuses on "postgrowth pathways", i.e. how to get there and what the implications would be, while the majority explores aspects of an already existing postgrowth society . (2) Heterogenity: different types of models (stylized theoretico-quantitive, macroeconomic models, IAMs, etc.), geographical scope; changes driven top-down (governmental) vs bottom-up (civil society); steady state economy within a capitalist society vs non-capitalist systems. This heterogeneity reflects the diversity in the postgrowth visions. (3) All studies cover only partially the 10 core Degrowth policy proposals identified by Fitzpatrick et al. (2022) in the recent review (Exploring degrowth policy proposals: A systematic mapping with thematic synthesis. Journal of Cleaner Production 365, 132764). However, almost al l core Degrowth policy proposals are modelled at least in 1 of the reviewed works. On the other hand, the number of policy measures and targets implemented is very low compared with the portfolio of Fitzpatrick et al., with an average of 4.3 per scenario (with a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 12 ). The most often modelled policies are: working time reduction (8 studies), change in the energy mix (increase in RES) (8), basic income (6), decrease in population growth (5) and decrease in GDP (5). This suggests the viability of increasing the amount of policies represented in models (although the very different scope of the reviewed models would likely impede translating approaches from one model to another), as well as the necessity to increase the amount of policy measures and targets. An effort should be done by the Degrowth Modelling community to comprehensively include the full portfolio of core polici es from the Degrowth literature across all sectors and economic agents at a global level in a coordinated way. A selective implementation of the policies would lead to rebound effects and perverse dynamics given the interconnections between the different economic sectors and countries. Policy parametrization should be performed against goals. The need of expanding the set of represented policies should be assessed after performing simulations. Modelling behavioural change for degrowth in Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) Co-authors: Paola López-Muñoz, David Álvarez-Antelo, Katharina Koller, Paolo Massa, Lisa Mo Seebacher Abstract: Behavioural change is considered one of the demand-side strategies for achieving sustainable development pathways. People change their behaviour by altering the way they consume or live, causing a reduction in the use of resources or waste generation. Citizens are commonly encouraged to avoid, shift, or improve their behaviour to benefit climate adaptation or mitigation. Yet, it is still lacking an holistic understanding of behavioural change as well as of its interactions with ecological, economic, political, and social systems. Moreover, research on behavioural change is often focused on consumption and individual responsibility, instead of contributing to a collective degrowth strategy, including all responsible actors. Here, we develop a new modelling framework that consists of integrating behavioural change in an Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) called WILIAM (‘WIthin Limits’ IAM). WILIAM is a complex multi-sectoral and multi-regional model based on system dynamics which represents a wide variety of economy, society and environment interactions and feedback loops. Through this work, the model is qualitatively informed by a literature review on degrowth behavioural change measures and the collective and individual drivers and barriers to their adoption. After, these relationships are translated into mathematical equations and indicators that are included in the model. This modelling framework provides findings on both intentions and impacts of transformative behavioural change: we focus on systemic enablers and constraints behind behavioural change towards degrowth and also evaluate the consequences in terms of environmental and social impacts. Thus, our work represents a further contribution to the systematic planning and evaluation of degrowth as a political project. Simone D'Alessandro Paola López-Muñoz Iñigo Capellán-Pérez Guilherme Morlin 2023-08-31T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-8 9_int_dg_conf-203-incubators_for_a_community_economy https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/203 false Aligning with the political economy of degrowth Alternative economies Non-academic Session Today’s major societal challenges require require resilient and democratic solutions. The call for a different economy is heard everywhere: what kind of economy do we actually want? Ecological limits, inequality, extractive business practices and lack of democracy poise us towards self-organization and a stronger local economy. New models of collective organisation are emerging everywhere, such as energy co-ops and housing co-ops, or innovative practices in healthcare and in the neighborhood. Elsewhere, we see alternative business forms emerging to challenge the power of big tech companies in the form of platform co-ops. In these organizations, common goals and values are linked to economic and social issues. Yet initiatives face many obstacles: institutional frameworks are not geared up for this and there is a lack of knowledge about collective processes, financing, technical and legal possibilities and best practices. It is necessary to support these initiatives and boost this sector. Different cities in Europe, such as Barcelona and Amsterdam, have initiated incubator programmes to stimulate this community/commons/cooperative economy. These are often driven by social movements in partnership with progressive city governments or departments. Yet - what principles should these programmes follow to be truly transformative? This session will address that question. Several cases of these incubator programmes will be presented and participants will workshop the following questions: How can these programs can be aligned with the political economy of degrowth and its values? Sub questions include: What are financing models? What kind of business models can work, what types of governance and ownership? /system/events/logos/000/000/203/large/logo_landscape.jpg?1673811423 Winne van Woerden Sophie Bloemen CN Project Page 2023-08-31T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-342-fertile_ground https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/342 false Building solidarities and alliances between food sovereignty and degrowth across the rural urban spectrum Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session Degrowth and Food Sovereignty movements have a shared interest in defending and creating systems of production and reproduction based around the flourishing of human beings and nature. Both movements also share commitments to deepening democracy and building alliances for transformative change. However, in many contexts, these movements are not working closely together. What obstacles, gaps, differences in political and organising traditions, or unexplored questions are blocking deeper and more substantive collaboration? How are degrowth and food sovereignty movements seeking new alliances and coalitions? Where are there possibilities for coalition-formation and the mutual strengthening of these two movements for transformation? This workshop aims to bring together activists and academics to collectively explore and unpack alliance-formation between degrowth and food sovereignty movements (including urban food movements). It will devote special attention to tensions and possibilities for organising across the rural-urban spectrum, on the one hand, and between global North and global South on the other. Short presentations and an interactive discussion with panelists during the first 45 minutes will present cases, tensions, and questions about drivers, obstacles, and possibilities for new alliances. The latter 45 minutes of the workshop will be used for an interactive exercise with workshop participants to harvest experiences of alliance-formation, tensions or obstacles, and questions for further collective exploration. Katie Sandwell Leonie Guerrero Julia Spanier Christina Plank Michaela Pixova 2023-08-31T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-64-frugal_abundance_a_useful_concept_for_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/64 false Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Paper Presentation The concept of “frugal abundance” has recently been mentioned in numerous degrowth publications, such as Schmelzer et al. (2022), Liegey and Nelson (2020) and Latouche (2020). However, degrowth has not yet fully engaged with the notion. In my presentation, I aim to start filling this gap. To do so, I will first review the different uses of frugal abundance in the French and English literature. In particular, I will expand on the coinage of the term by the French philosopher Jacques Ellul. Then, I will rely on the degrowth, sufficiency and simplicity literature to challenge the usual opposition between “frugality” and “abundance”. I will engage with Marshall Sahlins' (2017) seminal essay The Original Affluent Society, which provides evidence that some societies with low levels of consumption and possessions can be considered in abundance. Based on this literature review, I will provide a first definition and conceptualisation of frugal abundance. Finally, I will argue that the concept of frugal abundance can usefully complement degrowth discourses. For instance, it enables to question the capitalist common sense in which abundance and well-being are seen as achieved through high levels of consumption and production. It could also serve as a communication tool to approach individuals who are reluctant to directly question economic growth. In this optic, I will provide insights from my use of the term in an Icelandic “slow village” and two indigenous Maasai communities in Kenya. Adrien Plomteux file 2023-08-31T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-329-less_is_enough_eco-art_assemblies_in_poland_as_tools_for_practising_the_culture_of_moderation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/329 false Artistic ecologies and eco-social practices Paper Presentation The paper analyzes the historical and contemporary Polish eco-art assemblies, known in Poland as “plein-airs”, as examples of practicing degrowth principles through creative practice and developing the vision of a sustainable and good life. The author emphasizes the usability of the “plein-air” model as a tool for learning and practicing what Polish degrowth scholars called “the culture of moderation”. The first part the paper explores the history of the first Polish ecological “plein-air”, that took place in 1971 in Opolno-Zdój, a former spa town located at the edge of an open-pit coal mine. The transdisciplinary gathering was focused on issues such as limits to growth, overproduction and overconsumption and critique of development and technical advancement. Instead of producing material artworks, the participants were encouraged to discuss, relax together, explore the nature and landscape, propose common activities and speculate on possible solutions and visions for the future. The second part focuses on the analysis of contemporary (post)artistic practices inspired by the 1971 event - the “OPOLNO 2071” and “Opolno Is the Future!” assemblies, organized in 2021 and 2022 by a group of artists, researchers and activists. The collective revisited the model developed 50 years ago to use it as a tool for learning, practicing and experimenting with degrowth principles; imagining a vision of a moderate and good life for everyone within the planetary limits; as well as responding to the planetary climate and environmental crisis and the difficult economic, social and ecological conditions in the region struggling with energy transition. /system/events/logos/000/000/329/large/Opolno_2071_kosmiczne_trawy_alicja_kochanowicz_fotografie_%281%29.jpg?1675008709 Jakub Depczyński On the OPOLNO 2071 and "Opolno is the futue" plein-airs Opolno-Zdrój plein air, 1971 "OPOLNO 2071" plein-air, 2021 "OPOLNO 2071" plein-air, 2021 "OPOLNO 2071" plein-air, 2021 Opolno-Zdrój plein air, 1971 "OPOLNO 2071" plein-air, 2021 "Opolno Is the Future!" plein-air, 2022 "Opolno Is the Future!" plein-air, 2022 "Opolno Is the Future!" plein-air, 2022 "Opolno Is the Future!" plein-air, 2022 2023-08-31T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-179-a_return_forward https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/179 false The potential of traditional popular culture for a degrowth transition Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation Within degrowth there is so far a limited and unproductive understanding of Western 'traditional popular culture', previously studied as 'folklore'. It is understood either as a past of hardship overcome by modernity, or as a repository of "sustainable" ancestral practices to be preserved as remnants of the past. In this paper I argue that in the so-called "popular culture" of the Global North there can also be found living contesting and anti-hegemonic elements, as well as prefigurative practices, which represent alternatives to the growth-based development model. So far, the field of degrowth and the discipline in charge of the study of "popular culture" par excellence, anthropology, have had a very limited relationship. I present the school of anthropological thought based on Gramsci's ideas, which opens a more productive way of thinking about popular culture and its role in a degrowth transition, followed by four examples of Spanish traditions aligned with degrowth, with the aim of offering a preliminary research agenda for a "return-forward" degrowth project. Lucía Muñoz Sueiro 2023-08-31T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-323-the_unexplored_field_of_sufficiency_in_the_research_on_future_mineral_demand_for_clean_energy https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/323 false Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation The undeniable material dimension of the energy transition has generated growing attention over the last few years. The forecast of a strong increase in the demand for some metals is favoring the development of policies that support the mining industry and expand the extractive frontier, both in the global South and in the global North. However, most of the clean energy scenarios underlying the reports on the future mineral demand reproduce three problematic elements: strong decoupling of economic growth, mobility based on private vehicles and colonial inequalities. This seriously undermines confidence in representing realistic, desirable, safe and just scenarios for the transition to a decarbonized global economy. Technocentric scenarios have worrying consequences outside of the paper when applied to policy making. Therefore, it is urgent to introduce the analysis of future mineral demand from alternative scenarios based on sufficiency, lifestyle changes, demand-side strategies and degrowth. Important progress has been made in pushing sufficiency to the core of the energy and climate dimensions of transition. Nevertheless, the translation of these results into the mineral dimension is still mainly absent from the public discussion. The few existing publications throw compelling results that can help us question the inevitability of a huge increase in the extractivist dynamics, and the associated social and environmental damage. Our purpose here is to compile and highlight the contributions made in this regard so far, to show some of the promising results and to emphasize the need for further development of specific research in this field. Adrián Almazán Martin Lallana 2023-08-31T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-376-working_through_degrowth_elements_of_ecological_syndicalism https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/376 false Degrowth as a political project? Non-academic Session SCHEDULING TO BE UPDATED (move it to the 4:30 slot on the same day) What does it mean to struggle for degrowth in and through the workplace? There are a wealth of policy proposals and connections to social movements. Yet while it’s clear any degrowth strategy requires engaging workers and work organisations, there is little discussion of the practicalities of workplace organising for degrowth. This panel session will bring together workplace organisers to debate and discuss the issues, practicalities and implications of organising in the workplace for degrowth. The panel will address not only degrowth in the workplace, the questions of transition, job loss, challenges to identity and wages in a period of stagnation and austerity, but also degrowth through the workplace. What does it mean to struggle for degrowth as a workplace militant or union activist? What strategies and tactics are available to us? What barriers do the workplace and workplace organisations, including unions, pose to degrowth? Emanuele Leonardi Lorenzo Feltrin Bue Hansen Tomislav Medak Nicholas Beuret 2023-08-31T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-15-colonialism_-_digitalisation_-_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/15 false A conversation about extractivism and exploitation in supply chains for the digital economy and alternatives Technology and science for degrowth Non-academic Session In the workshop we explore how the digital economy is based on colonialism and extractivism. We look at the exploitation of the environment and human labor along its entire commodity chain and how both shape our understanding of personal data. We debunk the myths of immaterial digitalization and bring its planetary costs into focus. Finally, we discuss what is necessary from a degrowth perspective in imagining and realizing a different type of digitalization. Maximilian Jung 2023-08-31T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-90-re-imagining_technology_in_post-growth_rurban_futures https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/90 false Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation Accelerating transitions towards sustainable, post-fossil fuel futures is no longer an option but an imperative. Technological innovation is central in policy debates about how to achieve sustainability transitions and pressing climate targets. Yet, as shown by the current protests against coal mining in Lützerath, western Germany, neither so-called green technology nor present understandings of technological innovation, which ignore embedded material and energy footprints, can, alone, lead us towards more sustainable futures. To achieve such futures, we need radical transformations in how our very economies work, in how we produce and consume – ultimately, in our core societal values and how we imagine and reproduce our everyday lives and the technologies that support them. In this paper, we argue that relational values, such as responsibility, care, reciprocity, and stewardship, are more attuned to support the move towards sustainability. While present in the open-source technology culture, for instance through ‘tinkering’ as a form of knowledge co-production, as well as in movements combining bioregionalism and retrofitting, these values remain an uncharted territory in the context of mainstream discourses on technology for sustainability transitions. Taking a speculative approach, inspired by experiential design and everyday futures practices, we will explore how relational values might help us re-imagine technology in post-growth futures. Central to our discussion will be empirical materials and experiences from a speculative workshop co-designed with creative technology practitioners who share an open-source and low-energy coding ethos. Based on this workshop, we will reflect on how technologies in post-growth futures might help us reconnect the ‘rural’ and the ‘urban’ in our imagination and practice, allowing us to re-inhabit bioregions, and fostering relational, ‘rurban’, values across networks of human and more-than-human actors. Corelia Baibarac-Duignan Steven McGreevy Dominic Lenzi Alexandria Poole 2023-08-31T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-130-degrowth-oriented_organisational_value_creation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/130 false A systematic literature review of case studies Alternative economies Paper Presentation The profound socio-economic transformations implied by degrowth concern the way organisations create value. However, there are conceptual gaps regarding the forms and meanings of organisational value creation that are aligned with degrowth. Against this background, an integrative and systematic literature review of case studies of degrowth-oriented, respectively post-growth-oriented, organisations has been conducted. The identifed literature has been analysed using the new concept of ‘organisational value creation patterns’. Based on this concept, value is created for (and with) stakeholders when problems are solved through organisational activities. The result is a compilation of thirty-nine degrowth-oriented patterns of organisational value creation, structured into seven thematic groups. From these, seven theoretical propositions on what it means to engage in degrowthoriented organisational value creation were derived. Finally, it is discussed how these fndings can inspire organisational transformation and future theory development. [This is a presentation of an article that has been published in Ecological Economics earlier this year.] Tobias Froese 2023-08-31T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-360-what_do_data_tell_us_about_degrowth_values_evidence_from_world_values_survey_and_european_values_survey https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/360 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation Degrowth is a multidisciplinary movement that argues that endless growth on a planet with limited resources is unsustainable and will inevitably lead to the collapse of the entire capitalist system. Abandoning the growth mentality and switching to a more sustainable development path requires several ideological and structural alterations. Since the natural movement in this direction tends to be too slow, political interventions are needed. For policies to work (and for them to be talked about at all), people need to be ready for the corresponding changes. This readiness is related to people's personal values, and general cultural values at national levels. This empirical study investigates people's readiness for degrowth and its change over time, using data from World Values Survey and European Values Survey for more than 80 countries. Degrowth values include more emphasis on leisure, family life, and voluntary work, readiness to live a simpler life and work less for money, support for the environment over economic growth, and postmaterialist values in general. Initial results show that overall support for degrowth ideas is relatively high, but varies across regions and has barely increased over time. Also, there are differences in individual-level and national-level values – simple aggregation rules do not always work and need further investigation and explanations. Eve Parts 2023-08-31T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-240-degrowth_and_the_sustainable_development_agenda https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/240 false Should we pursue SDG 7 "energy access for all" in Sub-Saharan Africa? Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation Degrowth and the sustainable development agenda: Should we pursue SDG 7 "energy access for all" in Sub-Saharan Africa? The evidence is undeniable, the social and environmental harms of the linear and growth-centric systems of extraction and exploitation of natural resources demand a transformation of how the world’s economies and societies are organised. Nevertheless, it is important to distinguish and shed light on the sectors where output growth remains possible and necessary, and where decoupling opportunities exist. This paper will explore the compatibility of the degrowth agenda and the pursuit of SDG 7, “access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa’s expected economic and consumption growth. Are the net positive impacts of energy access on the lives of low-income families overshadowed by the social and environmental costs of the solar technology industry? Can international financial institutions and their partners embed degrowth principles in the development and implementation of energy access programmes? By answering these questions among others through an in-depth literature review and interviews with international development practitioners, this paper will discuss the central role of clean energy access in the fight for global justice and demonstrate that pursuing growth in the off-grid energy sector, to meet the needs of rural populations among others, should not only remain a priority in the sustainable development agenda, but is compatible with the degrowth agenda. Antoine Lucic 2023-08-31T13:00:00+02:00 13:00 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-195-digital_degrowth_alternatives_and_ai_resistance_narratives https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/195 false Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation Compatibility with degrowth objectives (simply referred to as a radical redistribution of wealth and power) asks for a post-digital framework to address the myth of digital universalism, platform culture, data capitalism, technological nihilism and other tech-adversaries. We seek to explore the digital degrowth alternatives, namely prospects of a digital tech deal among regional narratives, communities and agendas of “colonisation with love” in order to map the existing alternatives (if any) and AI resistance tactics embedded within the framework of “digital degrowth”. Supposed dematerialisation narratives of planetary-scale computing (cyberspace, cloud, wireless infrastructure) need to be tackled within materiality of the digital techno sphere and its hidden infrastructures that usually remains invisible and outside the public debate. As a complex interaction between technology and environment becomes increasingly pervasive and adverse (Lovink, 2022), political tech-awareness should be rooted in the media-materiality discourses, (new) concepts of extractivism (Joler, 2022) and post-digital scopes in education (Jandrić et al.) to reconfigure the omni-present techno-social environments. Finally, we are to discuss whether existing “thinking tools” (digital commons, Green Tech, People’s Tech etc.) for addressing epistemic violence of data-driven ecologies of growth-based capitalism are present and equally distributed among regional activists, moreover, if those initiatives and networks have capacities to thrive while relying on these digital degrowth alternatives. Mario Hibert Mario Hibert Bojana Kostić 2023-08-31T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-99-breaking_free_from_mining https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/99 false Towards a Post-Extractive Future in 2050 Alternative economies Non-academic Session Overconsumption and the paradigm of infinite economic growth require vast amounts of metals and minerals, driving one of the world’s most polluting industries and a main contributor to climate change and biodiversity loss: mining. At the same time, transitioning away from fossil fuels will also mean the extraction of materials at unprecedented levels. How do we balance the need to decarbonise our economies while also staying within planetary boundaries? Tackling this paradox will mean that extractivism, consumer capitalism and decarbonisation need to be tackled them in tandem. Using a research based approach, The European Environmental Bureau and CATAPA will be presenting a blueprint for breaking free from resource extraction and shaping a world without mining created by Seas At Risk (SAR). This event has two parts. It will start out with a report presentation and panel discussing existing and emerging alternatives to shift towards a society based on needs rather than growth, on wellbeing, and on the use of resources within the limits of our planet. This will be followed by an imagining workshop in which participants will generate shared visions of preferred post-extractive futures. The workshop is based on the SAR Breaking Free From Mining Report and EEB/CATAPA research. /system/events/logos/000/000/099/large/EEB_logo_transparent_green_text_cmyk.png?1673628967 Diego Francesco Marin Robin Roels Magdalena Pitzer A Blueprint for Breaking Free from Mining by 2050 Breaking free from mining – A 2050 blueprint ‘Green mining’ is a myth: the case for cutting EU's resource consumption 2023-08-31T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-22-how_should_degrowth_approach_power_contestations_of_social_change https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/22 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Special Session Degrowth implicitly questions the power relations behind social and ecological destruction. But how does it approach power explicitly? To date, most degrowth strategies choose to fixate on the comfortable and depoliticised domain of state-based policymaking and business practices as opposed to the uncomfortable and politicised domain of ecological distribution conflicts (Temper et al., 2018) and direct action (Sovacool & Dunlap, 2022). This comes despite the term ‘degrowth’ being created as a missile word that carves out space for a multi-layered critique of growth-based societies. To address this issue, we propose hosting a workshop on theories of power and social change with participants to explore the uncomfortable reality of what it might take to transcend capitalist domination. /system/events/logos/000/000/022/large/Its_only_a_matter_of_time_%28_Barvinakur%29.png?1673078669 Nick Fitzpatrick Xavier Gabet 2023-08-31T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-17-a_polycentric_approach_to_the_post-growth_social_order https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/17 false Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation Many authors, from Serge Latouche (2007) to Elinor Ostrom (2009) and Tim Jackson (2009), have defended a polycentric approach to coping with the environmental crises. In the case of Jackson and Latouche, they defended this polycentric order while envisioning a post-growth society. However, the concrete aspect of a polycentric order within a post-growth era is yet to be developed. This work aims to discern both the specific traits of a polycentric post-growth order and the underlying principles of the potential transitional routes. We depart from Daly’s ecological economics and depict a self-governing society that aims to adjust its existence within the detected ecological boundaries. Our notion of a self-governing society is grounded on Dewey’s conception and follows the polycentric approach developed by Elinor and Vincent Ostrom and the Bloomington School of Political Economy. We describe the main traits of this post-growth polycentric order, anticipate its consistency with current political arrangements and explore its benefits, costs, and challenges. David Soto-Oñate 2023-08-31T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-251-planning_beyond_growth_the_case_for_economic_democracy_within_limits https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/251 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation Degrowth and post-growth economics has emerged as a particularly fruitful approach in the debates about the reorientation of economies in the Global North towards environmental sustainability, equity, need satisfaction and democracy. While degrowth is often defined as “a planned contraction of economic activity aimed at increasing well-being and equality” (Schmelzer 2015, 264) or with reference to ‘design’ or ‘coordination’, there is strikingly little explicit engagement with or research into what exactly ‘planning for degrowth’ could look like. By exploring the degrowth-planning nexus, this paper seeks to lay a foundation for this effort. We start by critically reviewing the existing degrowth and post-growth literature on planning and reflect on potential reasons for why the planning debate has been limited so far. Against this backdrop, the second part of the paper provides a framework for analyzing and debating the degrowth-planning nexus. We start by delineating the specific questions, requirements and challenges that arise for planning in the context of degrowth. And we finally open some avenues for advancing the intersection between degrowth/post-growth and planning by sketching a possible design for planning processes beyond growth. Elena Hofferberth Cédric Durand Matthias Schmelzer 2023-08-31T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-189-degrowth_deglobalization_and_localization https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/189 false Contemporary emancipatory internationalism Paper Presentation The growthism intrinsic to capitalism necessarily leads to, depends on, and escalates globalization, exemplified by the outsourcing of production, offshoring of costs, and exploitation of human labor and nature on a vast and globally dispersed scale, captured in the concept of “ecologically unequal exchange”. This dynamic is the primary flaw in the argument for decoupling: impacts have merely been globally exported along lines of global political-economic-military power. Globalization, facilitated and accelerated through free trade regimes, is thus the “escape valve” that enables transnational corporate expansion and continued global economic growth. Jason Hickel has argued compellingly that by delinking – that is, by becoming more economically self-reliant and localized and rejecting predatory foreign investments – countries of the global South have “the power to enforce degrowth in the North”. This degrowth in the North entails re-localization or de-globalization there as well, since “Northern” economies stretch across and drain the wealth of huge areas of the world, especially the South. Thus I argue that deglobalization, subversion of transnational corporations, and [open, solidaristic and internationalist] localization, in both the South and the North, are necessary projects for degrowth, and that degrowth is by necessity not merely a “Northern” country concern since the extraction and production webs involved are today primarily geographically located within Southern countries. To achieve this, more attention is needed on the role of – and resistance to – globalization through free trade policies and transnational corporate supply chains, and on the role of localization, globally, for degrowth. Alex Jensen 2023-08-31T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-94-redefining_success_in_organizing_towards_degrowth-inspired_futures https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/94 false Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation This paper brings degrowth scholarship in conversation with living systems theory in efforts to propose a novel conceptualization of success in organizing towards degrowth-inspired futures. The initiatives that embody the paths and pursuits of degrowth are multi-faceted in their socio-political functioning and require new metrics of achievement. To this aim we explore the trajectories of five community-based initiatives in the province of Barcelona (Spain) that aim at sustainable food, energy and living space provisioning through the prism of a tripartite model of success. We argue that ‘success’ can be claimed when i) results, ii) people and iii) processes are well-aligned. Success can be conceptualized as a continuous balancing act between the pursuit of objectives and acts of care for individual needs and group processes. The three edges of success are not stand-alone, but rather intertwined in a way that each one influences and is influenced by the others, just like the multiple significations of degrowth. In that sense the only ethically conceivable degrowth futures are ones where the quality of the groups processes within the existing organizations and the well-being of their members, or otherwise – care, are embodied and hardwired at the level of the praxis. Filka Sekulova 2023-08-31T16:45:00+02:00 16:45 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-86-sensing_urban_manufacturing_sensible_production_in_a_small_swiss_town https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/86 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation Environmental destruction, social inequalities, geopolitical vulnerability–the limits of the long-time praised paradigm of post-industrial cities and globalised value chains are becoming evident, while calls for (re)localising production in cities are getting increasingly vocal. However, the material implications–i.e. where and in which form urban manufacturing should concretely take place and the consequences on urban space and relations–are rarely addressed in debates on (re)industrialisation. This paper focuses on the multisensory dimension of urban manufacturing to interrogate the spatial possibilities for production in a small town in Switzerland. Together with a group of graduate students, we applied sensory methods to explore how production shapes urban sensescapes and how these sensescapes affect our relation to production. We advance the concept of sensible production: a production that not only is perceptible and can actively be engaged with, but that also shows good sense, makes sense, and focuses on what we need rather than on appearance. Ottavia Cima 2023-08-31T17:00:00+02:00 17:00 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-322-future_of_wellbeing_finnish_mps_perceptions_on_health_and_wellbeing_against_the_eco-social-growth_trilemma https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/322 false Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation Climate change and other socioecological disasters threaten the wellbeing of humans and the planet. Root cause for this is economic growth, which has been the hegemonic policy paradigm for decades. Recently there have been proposals for alternative economic models, such as Doughnut Economics or Economy of Wellbeing (EW). The purpose of EW is to place human wellbeing, along with ecological wellbeing, at the center of policy making instead of mere economic growth. Finland, one of the forerunners in climate politics and action, has promoted EW in the European Union and adopted it as one of the main themes of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Our ongoing study sheds light on how Finnish members of the parliament (MPs) see wellbeing at the present and in the near future, and their perceptions of the role of economic growth in relation to wellbeing. The material consists of over 300 speeches held in parliamentary budget hearings in autumn 2022, and besides debate on resources, the speeches contain references to the future and views on what should be done to ensure the wellbeing of Finland and its citizens. The study utilizes qualitative frame analysis. According to our initial analysis, we expect to find out, inter alia, that the Finnish MPs seldom consider ecological wellbeing as a basis of human wellbeing, and economic growth is something to be pursued also in the future. Katja Kuukka 2023-08-31T17:15:00+02:00 17:15 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-315-posthumanism_and_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/315 false Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation Dominant neoliberal economic paradigm is clearly exploitative towards all kinds of resources. Alternative paradigms mainly aim to stop being exploitative towards (some) humans. Dominant paradigm is dehumanizing, alternative paradigms are anthropocentric, neither of them constitute an answer to the swirl of the crises of the Anthropocene. I argue that Critical Posthumanism together with Actor-Network Theory can assemble a proposition of an applicable posthumanist management, inclusive and anti exploitative towards both human and non-human actors, and immanent to effective application of degrowth. But “combining degrowth with posthumanism looks good only on paper”, is what I have learned on the occasion of my first contact with one of the leaders of the degrowth movement in my country. Not only that, try matching both terms “posthumanism” and “degrowth” in the title of a paper in Google Scholar and you get nothing. This also calls for further exploration. In the paper I am showing the results of posthumanistic analysis of chosen concepts from the most popular Polish website on degrowth, reinterpreted by looking at them through the lens of posthumanistic management: humanistic deanthropocentrization, non-anthropocentric subjectivity, radical symmetry in distribution of agency and dignity. Inclusion/exclusion of both human and non-human actors is political and has social and natural effects. Stopping human mastery in political economic thinking and doing is, I argue, crucial for degrowth not to reflect the failures of the system that it tries to fix and to propose a sufficiently good answer to the crises of the Anthropocene, especially the climate-ecological catastrophe. Michal Palasz 2023-08-31T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-127-bringing_degrowth_into_management_education https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/127 false A launch event for the MEND (Management Educators Navigating Degrowth) network Resilience building through degrowth Special Session How is degrowth being brought into management education? This session will build on conversations which have been ongoing since 2021, when a group of early career academics began a dialogue about degrowth in management education. Out of a series of intensive 2-hour online group discussions (‘learning sets’) we formed the MEND (Management Educators Navigating Degrowth) collective. MEND is a forum for discussing practices and pedagogical approaches for bringing degrowth and post-growth into management education. In the session, we will introduce MEND and our work to date, then facilitate a ‘learning set’-style discussion with attendees. The learning set will provide space to share experiences and practices of teaching degrowth in (potentially) hostile settings. We will conclude by outlining our plans for bringing more people into a wider MEND network that will continue to hold regular dialogues and spur further pedagogical development going forward. Karishma Jain Simon Mair Laura Colombo Patrick Elf James Scott Vandeventer 2023-08-31T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-60-fossil_health_a_conceptual_proposal_for_understanding_socio-ecological_health_dependencies_in_the_anthropocene https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/60 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation Health imaginaries are an expression of social imaginaries, or of the collective creations of signification that mediate between the social and the material. In a context of socio-ecological destruction and declining energetical availability, converging on the imaginaries that characterize a good health is a matter of political dispute. Fossil Health is a conceptual proposal, influenced by Andreas Malm’s fossil capitalism, which calls for further socio-ecological problematization of health. Our paper emphasizes this idea by focusing on critical readings of the idea of Global Health. We show how fossil imaginaries can support such critical analysis by describing Global Health as an instituting verb of the Anthropocene, being prefigurative of an overreaching fossil system. Moreover, we characterize a Fossil Health health-fix ontology that grounds Global Health imaginaries and interventions. This understanding shows how some health-related solutions to the socio-ecological problems of the Anthropocene might not adequately address the problems identified and might even sustain non-regenerative socio-ecological dependencies. Ultimately, exploring Fossil Health imaginaries is a non-reductive approach that embraces the creative nature of society and helps make spaces for alternative imaginaries. Laila Vivas Dr. Lucinda Cash-Gibson Dr. Aline Chiabai Dr. Christos Zografos 2023-08-31T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-105-health_and_degrowth_in_times_of_pandemic https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/105 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation The emergence of the pandemic is connected to the overexploitation of human and natural systems caused by uncontrolled economic growth. The main negative consequences of the current growth-based system (inequalities and environmental degradation) are impacting dramatically on COVID-19 deaths. However, the biomedical system frames the disease in a way that hides its social and environmental origins, focusing on the war against the virus, and thus contributing to restore the current socio-economic order. The pandemic spread like a psychic infection and created fear and paranoia, that could be related to the fear of nemesis for the hybris of western society. In the presence of a miniscule virus, our whole world was creaking, science reacted confusedly and was not able to protect us from death. We faced the failure of the myth of growth and of the "religion of medicine". However, to abandon our beliefs in a crisis period is too challenging and, as individuals and nations, we put into practice some excessive measures, which could be seen as ritual of reparation and atonement, in order to regain the feeling of being able to control the situation. From a degrowth point of view, it would be necessary to look deeply inside ourselves and recognize the hybris and fear of nemesis that acted on the collective unconscious. That would mean recognizing our faults and being able to address them, rather than projecting our fear and rage towards external objects. Jean-Louis Aillon MIchel Cardito Aillon, J. L., & Cardito, M. (2020). Health and Degrowth in times of Pandemic. Visions for Sustainability, 14, 3-23. 2023-08-31T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-335-shifting_paradigms_of_health_illness_and_death_challenges_for_degrowth_concepts_of_wellbeing https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/335 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation Degrowth envisions societies overcoming resource depletion, uncontrolled pollution, climate catastrophe and biodiversity loss while promoting planetary regeneration, human well-being and autonomy in a post-capitalist future that entails less material consumption, particularly in the Global North. “Health” is central to the idea of wellbeing in the degrowth framework and degrowth proponents proclaim the benefits of future “alternative health models” and improved living conditions in a degrowth society. However, the concept of health remains undefined and tied to surrogate parameters such as life expectancy, which, notably in high-income countries, are related to increased health expenditure and depend on GDP growth. In this paper, I argue that the collective imaginary of adequate health care in growth-oriented – capitalist – systems is almost exclusively shaped by the belief that ‘more –a longer life and more health care – is better’ which configures illness as an individual defeat that must be mastered with the assistance of scientific and technological progress, defying – or even denying – the inevitability of death. Therefore, I propose that the current concept of health will require a paradigm shift in a future degrowth society that must include notions of illness and death – so far absent from the degrowth debate – that go beyond parameters such as life expectancy and the prospect of wellbeing. Future research will have to explore prevailing representations of health, illness, and death among the population in order to identify openings for necessary paradigm shifts that recognize human needs in the face of social and ecological limits. Hans Eickhoff 2023-08-31T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-354-low_-level_renovation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/354 false An Essential Part of the Degrowth Debate and Climate Change Mitigation Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session Low-level renovation refers to making small-scale changes to existing buildings, such as insulation, energy-efficient windows, and solar panels, rather than tearing down and rebuilding. This approach is more environmentally friendly than new construction, as it reduces the amount of resources and energy needed for building, and also helps to preserve the existing built environment. In the context of degrowth, low-level renovation can be seen as a way to reduce the overall ecological footprint of housing. For example, by improving insulation and installing energy-efficient systems, buildings can consume less energy, thus reducing the need for fossil fuels and decreasing carbon emissions. Additionally, by using renewable energy sources, such as solar panels, buildings can become more self-sufficient and reduce their dependence on the grid. Another important aspect of low-level renovation is, that by focusing on small-scale changes, rather than large-scale remodeling or new construction, the costs of renovation can be kept relatively low. This can make housing more affordable for people on a tight budget and also help to preserve the existing housing stock. Moreover, low-level renovation can also promote more sustainable and equitable use of space. For example, by converting unused attics or basements into livable space, buildings can be used more efficiently and reduce the need for new construction. This can also promote more diverse and inclusive communities, as it allows for more people to have access to affordable housing. In conclusion, low-level renovation is an important aspect of the degrowth movement and can be a powerful tool for reducing the ecological footprint of building and promoting more sustainable and equitable use of space. By focusing on small-scale changes and using renewable energy sources, buildings can become more energy-efficient, self-sufficient, and adaptable, and by making them more affordable and accessible, low-level renovation can help to promote more inclusive and resilient communities Kay Patzwald Torsten Wiebke Sarah Polzer-Storek 2023-08-31T16:45:00+02:00 16:45 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-197-low-tech_s_bit_to_the_post-carbon_transformation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/197 false Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation Disruptions of global supply chains, climate change, or depletion of non-renewable resources all call for resilient technologies that reduce energy throughput. Convivial, low-tech, degrowth-aligned (Kerschner et al., 2018; Vetter, 2018), “pluriversal” technologies (Velasco-Herrejón et al., 2022) can contribute substantially. Of particular importance are the energy sector and its major end-users and the agriculture and forestry sectors. Agriculture and forestry are highly relevant because non-food production can contribute to bioenergy production, while food production is the basis of the “endosomatic energy flow” (energy used for human subsistence and subsequently manifested in labor) and is the counterpart of the “exosomatic energy flow” in the energy sector (Gomiero, 2018; Sorman and Giampietro, 2013). However, more substantial deployment of degrowth-aligned technologies would require an extensive restructuring of the economy. To this end, we construct their production functions that can be integrated into a global, multiregional input-output (MRIO) framework that enables modeling the economy-wide impacts of their scale-up. To enable modeling scenarios that work with both the industrial technologies and their low-tech alternatives, we pair potential substitutes from both categories. As a tool to assess their usability for post-carbon and degrowth transformation, we propose a taxonomy based on readiness for use (time aspect), potential to reduce energy and material throughput, especially of non-renewable resources (sustainability aspect), independence of complex value chains (resilience aspect), and potential to balance social inequalities (social aspect). We conclude that low-tech alternatives are in many cases better positioned for the post-carbon transformation while helping to move away from the growth-oriented economy. Martin Černý 2023-08-31T17:00:00+02:00 17:00 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-270-e-waste_-_the_forgotten_material_dimension_of_digitalisation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/270 false Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation When talking about a digital transformation of society, we are often discussing possibilities and benefits while overlooking the significant material dimension of these processes. However, the amount of resources and energy necessary for the production of hardware and its usage is often underestimated and e-waste is a considerable category in waste management. According to the Global E-Waste Monitor (2020) 53.6 megatons of e-waste are produced annually, which is projected to grow to 74.7 megatons by 2030, making it one of the fastest-growing waste streams. Currently, over 80 percent of e-waste flows are not accounted for. The volume of (illegal) transboundary movements of e-waste is estimated to be 7-20 percent. The problem is often framed in terms of dumping of e-waste by the Global North in countries of the Global South. Therefore, aspects of global inequalities and power imbalances in regard to resource use, environmental degradation and (global) division of labour have to be taken into consideration when reflecting on imaginaries relating to a digital transformation, and in what ways and to what extent digital technology can be a part of a sustainable future. Nora Krenmayr 2023-08-31T17:15:00+02:00 17:15 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-232-alternative_organising_against_the_plastic_crisis https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/232 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation Plastics, which are made of fossil fuels, constitute 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions – a share which is expected to increase to 20% by 2050. Their biggest application is packaging, making up about 40% of plastic production. Made to be wasted, plastics end up in landfills (with plastic waste largely channelled from the global north to the global south and handled by the world’s poor) and the natural environment. Under the banner of a circular economy, states and industry have mostly focused on addressing the plastic crisis via resource efficiency, recycling and partial regulation of single-use plastics, leaving the growing plastic production to the side, and ignoring the coloniality of plastics economies. In response, a new phenomenon has emerged – alternative organising initiatives targeting unsustainable plastic practices, such as bio-based plastic production using locally sourced waste, open-source technology designs for recycling, or packaging-free stores that prevent plastic use/waste altogether. Focusing on reduced use/waste, new materials and organising material flows differently, these initiatives present alternatives that are aimed at addressing the plastic crisis outside the mainstream industry and governance. Whilst presenting locally embedded solutions to a global problem, they are often international and interconnected phenomena. These alternatives have different organisational forms and purposes, operating within and outside market exchange, including cooperatives, social enterprises, DIY and community initiatives. This presentation will provide an overview of how alternative initiatives address the plastic crisis, analysing their economic and organisational models, logics of scaling, as well as limits and vulnerabilities through the lens of degrowth. Ekaterina Chertkovskaya 2023-08-31T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-211-communicating_degrowth_ideas_beyond_the_to-do_list https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/211 false Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Paper Presentation The degrowth movement has a strong support in the academic field and it is backed with theoretical knowledge. Researchers have found both ethical and empirical arguments to support degrowth ideas. Nevertheless, these ideas struggle to find their place in broader public discourse. Finding ways to talk about it is the first step towards changing behavior. Research show people generally struggle to imagine plausible and sustainable alternative to capitalism. Researchers are facing resignation and apathy when trying to discuss this issue in public. Although identifying concrete practices one can take at individual level while applying principles of the degrowth is often nominated as a key to solution, the problem goes deeper. Actually, it seems people have more than enough ideas about what they could do at an individual and even at the collective level, but they lack comprehensive framework which they could connect to the degrowth movement. It’s about finding a new frame they could identify with and understanding degrowth ideas are more than just a mere critique of capitalism, all of which makes structural changes easier to imagine. The challenge is to find a compelling narrative which could trigger positive emotions and attitudes in people so the movement could get public support. To do so, the academic discourse is not sufficient as mere rational argumentation fails to mobilize critical mass. Degrowth conferences can serve as a good example which combines science and action. Elizaveta 2023-08-31T10:15:00+02:00 10:15 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-43-using_quantum_physics_metaphors_to_understand_the_entangled_nature_of_social_transformation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/43 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation Degrowth is primarily about transforming current economic and social practices to stay within planetary boundaries whilst guaranteeing social justice. These transformations involve processes of immense size and changes of radical intensity (almost instantaneous inversions of some variables) both on individual and collective levels, globally and locally, and in the physical and the conceptual world. Our mechanistic understanding of social change demands the flowless assessment of current realities; a common vision of desired future states; comprehensive blueprints, and clear strategies on how to transform one into the other; as well as able and responsible individual and institutional actors who perform the intervention steps. However, none of this is available in a highly complex, and arguably entangled system of social interactions and ecological materiality. The lack of such certainties and guiding principles makes us face ecological demise and possibly the extinction of our own species like rabbits in the headlights. Our psychological dragons of inaction (as labelled by Gifford) include the lack of perceived behavioural control and perceived program inadequacy whereby we neither believe that we have an impact on the system as individuals, nor do we trust collective actions to be successful. To break out of that state, we need a paradigm of abrupt changes and the transcendence of the mechanistic constraints of slow causal interaction that has a tried and tested connection to realism and science. Our research uses conceptual frameworks of quantum physics as metaphors to depict the scope and structures of the shift in perception of social transformation that degrowthers must rely on. Alexandra Köves Mladen Domazet 2023-08-31T10:30:00+02:00 10:30 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-137-embodying_and_enacting_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/137 false Exploring the conditions for a social-ecological transformation towards degrowth from the inside out Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Paper Presentation In this work, an experiential methodology is developed to make an inquiry on the effects that a degrowth policy package could potentially produce at the inner plane of individuals and groups and its interaction with wider social change towards degrowth. In a workshop carry out with university students in Madrid (Spain) and with high school students in Alcázar de San Juan (Spain), a series of contemplative practices are employed to explore the emotions, physical sensations, feelings, and thoughts in the experience and hypothetical impact on everyday life that the implementation of a degrowth policy mix composed by a universal care income, universal basic services and a working time reduction would have, creating a space of mind-body-politic prefiguration. The relation with social imaginaries, enacted in the hypothetical uses of time and embodied in certain spaces and practices will be the center of the analysis, an experiential methodology supported by a focus group. The inquiry made focuses on whether the eco-social policies selected, when implemented together, have the capacity to create the conditions for a social-ecological transformation to thrive from the inside out, towards a relational turn in values and practices, from the premise that degrowth entails an ontological shift, not just a shift in policy or economics. In this sense, the theories of enactive or embodied cognition (Francisco Varela) and resonance (Hartmut Rosa) are put in dialogue with the insights from the workshop through the nexus that the concept and praxis of care constitutes. A U process relating ecosocial policies and systemic change is proposed. Hugo Abad Frías 2023-08-31T10:45:00+02:00 10:45 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-28-degrowth_crises_and_snails https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/28 false Artistic ecologies and eco-social practices Paper Presentation In my paper I will analyse the theatre play Krize (Crises), (2022, dir. Žiga Divjak), co-produced by Mladinsko Theatre, Maska Ljubljana, Bitef (Belgrade) and Domino Association (Zagreb), which is part of the project ACT - Art, Climate, Transition, a project connecting art and activism with ecology and just transition. Crises is a hybrid and explicitly engaged work that can also be described as a theatre documentary-lecture-storytelling, flirting with the (post)apocalyptic genre. It is one of the few, if not the first (theatre) works in the region that can not only be linked to the idea of degrowth, but is a play about degrowth and degrowth its central focus. The text of the play, which focuses on the fundamental premises of the idea of degrowth, is based on the books Less is More by Jason Hickel and The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing. The analysis will pay special attention to the central element of the play - speed or rush, shown, and this is crucial, as a running in place, with no one getting anywhere, with everyone completely exhausted, even disabled. It is a theatrical-choreographic representation of the central critique of degrowth - growth, which links Crises with one of the central symbols of degrowth - snails. Not unrelated to the Crises, I will thus finally address the question of what everything is the snail symbol of, what this means for degrowth, what it means for snails, and whether degrowth is, after all, also a degrowth for - snails. Vesna Liponik 2023-08-31T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-34-degrowth_and_basic_income https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/34 false Where are we and what next? Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation Basic income (BI) is defined as a “periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement” (BIEN, n.d.). Pilot interventions have demonstrated the policy’s value for addressing the social crises of poverty and inequality (Standing, 2017; Lowrey, 2018), unfreedom and insecurity (Fitzpatrick, 1999; Widerquist, 2013), poor conditions of labour (Gilroy et al., 2013; Gilbert et al., 2019), and the lack of recognition given to unpaid, reproductive work (Schulz, 2017; Lombardozzi, 2020). BI also features widely within the post-growth literature. Parrique (2019) describes it as one of degrowth’s “poster child policies” (p.524) due to its perceived ability to redistribute wealth, facilitate exit from wage labour, achieve wellbeing within planetary boundaries, and promote social collaboration (Kallis et al., 2020). However, less than 1% of journal articles on BI address the environment (MacNeill and Vibert, 2019) and “only a handful of authors have proposed detailed basic incomes in a degrowth perspective” (Parrique, 2019, p.525). This is reflected among BI pilots which largely align with green growth: focusing on BI’s potential to stimulate wage labour and neglecting its impacts on consumption and ecological footprints. The dominant targeting/randomisation methodologies favoured also prevent the study of collective, social impacts (Langridge, 2021; Langridge et al., 2022). This paper argues for greater collaboration between post-growth and BI scholars and practitioners both in the production of knowledge on post-growth compatible BIs and in the design of pilot interventions which ask the questions necessary for understanding BI’s role in a post-growth transition. Nicholas Langridge 2023-08-31T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-95-life_satisfaction_and_socio-economic_vulnerability_evidence_from_the_basic_income_experiment_in_barcelona https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/95 false Lessons for degrowth policy Alternative economies Paper Presentation This work focuses on the implications of introducing a variation of a Basic Income for individuals in grim socio-economic conditions in Barcelona (Spain). We explore the happiness and socio-psychological imprint of living in material deprivation in a metropolitan city. Surveying people who joined the two-year Municipal Inclusion Support (MIS) scheme launched by the Municipality of Barcelona, we first identify the major constructs that contribute to recipients’ subjective well-being, paying particular attention to the sense of socio-economic vulnerability. Secondly, we explore the way beneficiaries’ subjective well-being changed over the project duration. Overall, the introduction of the MIS has had a positive effect on the subjective well-being of its recipients over the program duration. We also find that the profound and lasting effect of material and food deprivation, continuous worry about financial situation and extreme financial stress explain changes in subjective well-being better than the actual income level. From the analytical lens of degrowth, the creation and presence of networks for mutual support emerged as an important contributor to life satisfaction in contexts of socio-economic vulnerability. This result stood out for women, who were majority group among the basic income recipients, pointing for high level of female economic vulnerability. Filka Sekulova 2023-08-31T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-254-a_forgotten_feminist_history_of_universal_basic_income_and_universal_responsible_production https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/254 false Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation How would ‘responsible production and consumption’, goal 12 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), relate to goals 1, 5, and 10 of SDGs – ‘no poverty’, ‘gender equality’, and ‘reduced inequality’? In the first half of the paper, drawn upon the author’s oral historical work on a working-class women’s liberation movement in the long 1970s Britain (Yamamori 2014), it would be argued that their struggle prefigured the importance and interconnectedness of these goals. The author’s interviewees are working-class women who demanded a Universal Basic Income (UBI) at the intersection of Women’s Liberation Movement and Welfare Rights Movement. They demanded it as the necessary condition to stop what they thought problematic, the examples of which are poverty, dependence of women to men, sexism in social security, gender division of labour, enforcement to unresponsible production, among other things. They succeeded to make UBI as an official demand of the British Women’s Liberation Movement, which was unfortunately erased from history. In the second half of the paper, the contemporary and theoretical implications of the above historical findings will be discussed. Drawn upon the author’s theoretical work on the concept of need in economics (Yamamori 2017, 2019, 2020), it would be argued that the above women’s struggle’s focus on people’s needs has a potential for ethical consumption. Toru Yamamori 2023-08-31T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-287-securing_human_needs_through_universal_basic_services_creating_political_support_for_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/287 false Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation Failure to meet human needs and exceeding the environmental boundaries push to recognise that current welfare states have to rethink how to stay between the social floor and environmental ceiling. Alternative models have been proposed, but ambitious projects such as transitioning to a degrowth society where public services could be guaranteed seem to be far from being socially and politically feasible in the current context. In this presentation, which is based on my ongoing PhD dissertation, I discuss the potential of universal basic services (UBS) for creating political support for degrowth transformation. I investigate public services from the perspective of human needs theory and traditional welfare state research to shed light on how the context in which public services were implemented in traditional welfare states differs from the sustainable welfare framework in which UBS is argued to hold potential. Indeed, human needs theory is often discussed together with the degrowth literature given the common points on considering what is essential for wellbeing. Bridging it to the discussion on UBS brings a new conceptual perspective on a much-discussed policy option. In the end, I suggest that securing human needs through policy options such as UBS could represent an opportunity to create a society prone to accept what is now considered too “radical” political moves needed for transitioning to a degrowth world. Alessia Greselin 2023-08-31T13:00:00+02:00 13:00 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-193-social_and_ecological_reasons_for_a_universal_basic_income https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/193 false Book presentation Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation This paper will present the forthcoming book (to be published in Italian in March 2023) titled "Social and ecological reasons for a universal basic income". In it, we develop a degrowth approach to basic income as a political project. We will present some of the arguments of the book together with the main political insights for organizing and incidence in politics we have gained from our engagement with this topic. Lorenzo Velotti Gabriela Cabaña 2023-08-31T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-344-less_is_enough_degrowth_in_post_artistic_practices https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/344 false Artistic ecologies and eco-social practices Special Session The aim of the session is to reflect on artistic strategies of practicing the principles of degrowth. The panel consists of three paper presentations (15 minutes each) followed by a discussion (45 minutes) in which the panelists will further explore the relationships between artistic practices and degrowth and highlight the links and tensions between their research and ideas. The first presentation focuses on theory, laying the groundwork for further discussion of particular strategies and practices. The paper argues that any counter-hegemonic creative practice in the age of capitalocene must acknowledge and respond to the planetary climate and ecological crisis, pointing to the principles of degrowth as a guide for these efforts. Exploring paths for degrowth-oriented art, the paper highlights postartistic and use-oriented approaches, a shift from overproduction of content to collaborative production of contexts. The second presentation looks at historical and contemporary Polish eco-art assemblies as examples of degrowth-oriented artistic practice, exploring the history of the first (1971) Polish eco-art gathering in Opolno-Zdrój, a former spa-town located at the edge of an open-pit coal mine, that focused on sustainability, the limits to growth; followed by the analysis of contemporary postartistic practices, in which the eco-art assembly-model is now used as a tool for learning, practicing and experimenting with degrowth and imagining a good life for everyone within the limits of the planet. The third presentation proposes a feminist take on degrowth and art through exploration of historical and contemporary ecofeminist art practices. Ecofeminism, which shares roots and many principles with degrowth, has inspired a range of artistic approaches, grounded in ideas such as moderation, care, abandoning overproduction and overconsumption as well as attention to the more-than-human world. The paper focuses on contemporary postartictic ecofeminist practices that experiment with applying ideas and values of degrowth and using art as a tool for advocacy, activism and civil disobedience. /system/events/logos/000/000/344/large/Opolno_2071_kosmiczne_trawy_alicja_kochanowicz_fotografie_%281%29.jpg?1675017107 Jakub Depczyński Bogna Stefańska gabor erlich "OPOLNO 2071" plein-air, 2021 "OPOLNO 2071" plein-air, 2021 Opolno-Zdrój plein air, 1971 Opolno-Zdrój plein air, 1971 "Opolno Is the Future!" plein-air, 2022 "Opolno Is the Future!" plein-air, 2022 "Opolno Is the Future!" plein-air, 2022 "Opolno Is the Future!" plein-air, 2022 Pamela Singh, Chipko Tree Huggers of the Himalayas #4, 1994 Betsy Damon, Meditation with Stones for the Survival of the Planet, 1982-1989 River Sisters, Demonstration, 2019 Anna Siekierska, Interspecies Services, 2019 2023-08-31T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-317-operationalizing_the_consumption_corridor_how_to_jointly_detect_the_limits_of_enough https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/317 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation In the core of sustainability is the question of limits. Degrowth scholarship has made this evident and inspired discussions on what is enough and how to detect sustainable limits and guide our societies towards them in just way. In previous research participatory methods have been used to study what is considered necessary or luxury. Need-based workshops have shown promise in opening room for consideration. In addition, there are surveys and interviews on people’s views on policies linked to degrowth. One striking finding is that while many policies get support from the participants, smaller proportion thinks that also others support them and thus may not see them as feasible. This inclines to try more participatory methods to promote degrowth. However, there is a lack of workshop designs where both the appropriate limits and policy options are discussed while considering the planetary boundaries. In this presentation, I suggest a workshop design that draws from previous research on participatory methods and utilizes consumption corridors (CC) concept. CC sets frame for good life within floor/minima based on needs and ceiling/maxima set at a level that does not compromise other’s possibilities to reach the floor (for instance, by overshooting planetary boundaries or exhausting other’s time). I suggest operationalization of CC in which I draw together different theories of human needs and pair it with policies suggested in degrowth literature. The presentation is based on ongoing dissertation work in which I will study empirically what are the maximum and minimum limits for sustainable CC in Finland. Alisa Vänttinen 2023-08-31T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-283-realism_of_pessimism_the_opium_of_overconsumption_under_islamist_authoritarian_regime_of_erdogan https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/283 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation As Turkey’s general election approaches, the authoritarian-cum-conservative regime of Mr. Erdoğan, in reign for more than two decades, has been pursuing a rather unorthodox economic experiment based on cutting interest rates well below the inflation so as to pump the economy while selling foreign reserves to support the Lira. Although the question as of whether his move towards incentivizing spending to pep up the economy (with an added reference to the Islamist injunction against usury) will make him successful or not in the coming election is of vital importance, we are rather focused on how Turkish households are responding in terms of consumption decisions to this policy of cheap money. Our study therefore aims to examine the behavior of typical middle-income households through a field study. The economic strategy implemented by Mr. Erdoğan will certainly come with serious negative ecological consequences (in addition to future financial burden to households and their children). The degrowth movement argues for a shift away from such an unsustainable model of endless economic expansion and instead advocates for a more equitable and ecologically-sustainable economy. By examining—through a comprehensive qualitative research—how Turkish households are responding to the policy of cheap money, our study will contribute to the understanding of how middle-households in Turkey, even when they politically and ideologically position themselves against the conservative government of Erdoğan, might be seduced by the economic growth, and how this behavior can be shifted towards a more sustainable and equitable direction. Gökçe Yeniev Fikret Adaman Duygu Avcı 2023-08-31T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-70-earth_objects https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/70 false art/ecology/aesthetics Artistic ecologies and eco-social practices Paper Presentation The environmental crisis is a material-cultural crisis, a misalignment of human consumption and creativity. When consumption itself is a fundamental problem, when the food and energy we consume, the clothes on our bodies, the tools we work with, are agents of fragmentation, and directly implicated in the death of so much life, how is one to transform the material culture and so to redefine what one wants and what one does? This paper examines the intersections of material culture and ecology, arguing that the aesthetic realm acts as an important link between the two. We understand that ‘things’ are important vehicles for the transmission of cultural knowledge through time. Here I explore especially the environmental dimensions of this knowledge, suggesting that the persistence of certain things and techniques is linked to the persistence of bodies of material-ecological knowledge. Using basketry—an original and near-ubiquitous human technology—as one example, I suggest that ecological knowledge is often most effectively communicated in the aesthetic realm. In this view, the aesthetic realm is not primarily 'decorative' or additional to other more substantial concerns, but instead acts as a kind of code indicating essential ecological qualities and related techniques of life in particular places. Daniel Niles Daniel Niles 2023-08-31T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 00:15 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-61-conversion_towards_a_just_transition https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/61 false Debates on alternative production and their potential for labour’s strategy in the transformation of the German automotive industry Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation The German car industry is transitioning away from internal combustion engines in response to new regulations and market developments. This process engenders economic pressure on suppliers, which are often dependent on the combustion engine. The market-driven impetus for industrial restructuring amongst suppliers coincides with the ecological necessity to move beyond car-centred transport systems. This may open a window of opportunity for industrial conversion towards socially useful and ecologically sustainable goods that are needed in a degrowth society. In this conversion process, the role of labour is crucial and ambiguous. This paper sheds light on past and present engagement with conversion from the perspective of industrial workers organized in the German union of metal workers (IG Metall). IG Metall has a history of environmental turns and conversion initiatives. We compare present shopfloor and union engagement in response to engine electrification at a big German supplier with past conversion debates and initiatives. Thereby, we enhance the understanding of the potentials and barriers for conversion initiatives on the plant level and the role of union strategies therein. The paper answers the following research question: Which are the decisive factors for the success or failure of conversion initiatives on the plant level and how do they relate to IG Metall’s engagement with social-ecological challenges? Thereby, one gains a better understanding of labour’s potentials and limits as actor for ecologically sufficient and socially just transition of the car industry as well as for a wider degrowth transition along the lines of a veritable circular economy. A. Katharina Keil Emanuele Leonardi 2023-08-31T16:45:00+02:00 16:45 00:15 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-358-decoupling_or_cost-shifting_air_pollution_in_a_sprawling_city_warsaw_poland https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/358 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation Both the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and Environmental Justice (EJ) address the environmental externalities of development. The first category, well-established within the hegemonic economic discourse, assumes than once a certain level of wealth is reached, further income growth brings a cleaner environment. This universal trajectory is considered appropriate at both national and local scales, among cities and countries. On the contrary, EJ emphasizes that the growing burden of environmental externalities is shifted to marginalized groups, creating an unequal socio-spatial distribution of environmental costs and amenities. Yet, these two approaches (EKC & EJ) are rarely contrasted in a single, unified study. Studies from the EKC strand focus primarily on differences between, rather than within regions, thus overlooking significant spatial heterogeneity on a local level. Additionally, the dynamic perspective is often missing, neglecting spatial processes within urban regions (such as urban sprawl evident in Eastern European cities) that creates a novel socio-ecological map. Finally, studies from both streams have limited geographic scope, which - given the importance of cultural context - limits the reliability of the results achieved so far. The purpose of this study is to apply both EKC and EJ framework to investigate the air pollution-income relationship in the Warsaw metropolitan region. Using fine-grained data and spatial econometrics tools, we examine the linkages between key air pollutants and income, gender and age. We incorporate internal mobility data to capture possible geographical sorting emerging within the sprawling city. The study help to embed the current EJ/EKC discourse in a new setting, by taking into account recent urbanization processes occurring in Eastern Europe. It is also the first attempt in Poland to uncover the socio-spatial distribution of air pollution, thus adding an equity-oriented perspective to the heated debate on haze in cities. jakub rok 2023-08-31T17:00:00+02:00 17:00 00:15 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-304-transformational_work-policies_as_pathways_to_a_degrowth_future_in_tourism_explorative_analysis_of_the_worker_s_perspective https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/304 false Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic a lot of emphasis has been put to “build back better” the tourism industry, a former largely unsustainable and polluting sector. A key factor in this endeavour would be to break up the dependency upon tourism that exists especially in many destinations experiencing or having experienced overtourism symptoms. Hence the question arises what strategies exist to escape this lack of alternatives to tourism to open up space for sustainable degrowth transformations, bringing the tourism industry back into planetary boundaries and encompassing an equitable distribution of profits from the sector for the sake of all involved stakeholders. The aim of this study is to elucidate the often neglected perspective of workers regarding their situation on the labour market and the resulting demands and proposals for change. For this purpose, through a focus group with workers from Barcelona, the current situation is analysed and furthermore discussed to what extent different policies (universal basic income, working time reduction, economic democracy, job guarantee) being debated in progressive agendas, including the degrowth debate, influence the situation of workers and thus potentially pave the way for a sustainable transformation of the tourism industry. The results outline that the workers find themselves in an exploitative system rooted in neo-colonial capitalist practice, which reproduces the precarization of predominantly female and migrant labour even more since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. To improve the situation on the labour market, the workers endorse all of the discussed policy programs, but seemingly favour bottom up initiatives for empowerment like a strengthening of economic democracy, as the trust in institutions and governmental structures implementing top down policies is lacking. Moritz Langer 2023-08-31T17:15:00+02:00 17:15 00:15 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-345-re_constructing_agents_of_power_in_the_care_economy_sector https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/345 false Comparing different approaches of the care economy movement in Germany, Austria and Switzerland Contemporary emancipatory internationalism Paper Presentation There would not be any economic action if it were not for care work to enable it. This leads to the assumption that care agents indeed have a lot of power. This changes various perspectives, firstly, the perspective on power, secondly, on where the real productive resources lie and lastly, what to look for when searching for positive images of economic agents and their power. When we acknowledge care workers to be powerful agents of economy, it is interesting to analyze the methods different care worker organizations and care economy activists take when aiming for a degrowth and future fit economy. The paper deconstructs and constructs the definition of power agency within the actors of the care movement in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It compares their different approaches to influence the economic organisation of care within a wider horizon of an economic transformation. The comparison takes several agents into view. Among them are the highly successful strikes of united care agents in the Vivantes clinics called “Berliner Krankenhausbewegung” in Germany; the Swiss platform Economiefeministe which wants to implement broader knowledge on feminist economics; or the Austrian IG24 – an activist-based special-interests group which fights for better working conditions of 24 hour-live-in-care-work. Central questions are: How do they define themselves as agents of power in the field of economic activity? How do they affect their field in transformative ways to benefit care workers and not those who try to earn profit from it? How is their power connected to current political and economic decisions? Liska Beulshausen Feline Tecklenburg Website of Wirtschaft ist Care (Economy is care) 2023-08-31T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-32-agrarian_degrowth_and_re-ruralization https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/32 false Pathways for the post-capitalist and post-fossil rural Alternative economies Paper Presentation Fossil fuel enabled industrial capitalism and the resulting processes of urbanization have been coupled with alienation from the land, and the eradication of traditional means of livelihood particularly in the rural. For degrowth to be successful, and sustainable, it is argued that the balance between urban and rural needs to be re-determined. It is shown that the prospering of modern cities can only be sustained due to the plundering of peripheries and rural regions, as there exists a fundamental asymmetry between the acceleration and stock-based urban, and the seasons and flow-based rural. For a more equal exchange in terms of ecology and the social in degrowth, it is argued that urbanized economies need to re-ruralize. Re-ruralization includes the preservation of existing, as well as the establishment of new, smallholder farms, self-provisional communities, and local peasant economies. The focal enactors of ruralization, the peasantry, and various back-to-the-land movements, represent a localized mode of living that is, at least potentially, more sustainable than urban dwelling, and possibly also resilient in the times of crises. The socio-ecological resilience of re-ruralization and rural local dwelling derives from the fact that livelihoods are tied land and to the skills for self-provisioning, but also because the undesired ecological and social impacts of such actions are often limited to the local or regional ecosystems. It is also acknowledged that to be sustainable and just, degrowth re-ruralization must address issues of inequality and violence related to gender, race and class, and the past and present forms of colonization. Toni Ruuska 2023-08-31T10:15:00+02:00 10:15 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-93-village_voices https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/93 false Degrowth Qualities and nowtopian stories of futurable rural communities Alternative economies Paper Presentation This contribution connects the quest for future-apt rural areas to the transformative degrowth discourse. Rural areas are less often in the focus of social and political debates than growing and densifying metropolitan areas, even in the degrowth context. Yet, rural areas provide central "utilities" for a good life for all across the scales: they are places of production as well as reproduction, essentially shape the conditions for our existential connectedness to diverse forms and spaces of life, and provide historic know-how and current examples for degrowth-relevant practices. At the same time, they face enormous and intensifying ecological, social, cultural, democratic, and economic challenges. As a result, people in villages and communities, even beyond transition towns and ecovillages, are increasingly looking for ways to make their places more future-apt. To support such villages and to open the transformative eco-solidary discourses around degrowth and diverse economies for the breadth of more conventional communities, we launched "The Futurable Village 2035". The research project aims at developing utopian imaginaries for villages, regions and urban-rural relations that counter hegemonic, growth-focused narratives of “rural development”, and providing examples of nowtopian village practices in various areas such as community, energy, food, health, mobility, or work. We will discuss, first, a set of normative qualities of rural futurability derived from a meta-analysis of degrowth-related approaches to regional and local transformation and from expert interviews, and second, the extent to which practices from pioneering villages in Germany, our case studies, relate to these qualities and can inspire broader change. Jana Gebauer Jana Gebauer Henning Austmann 2023-08-31T10:30:00+02:00 10:30 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-114-memories_and_hunches_of_life_otherwise_re-valuing_rurality_and_subsistence_for_degrowth_futures_learning_from_the_souths-within-the-north https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/114 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation In this article I argue for a radical inclusion of rural areas and of subsistence-oriented economies in degrowth scholarship and proposals, exploring the potential of Southern European rural peripheries as starting points for envisioning socio-ecologically sustainable futures. I focus on bringing to the center of degrowth imaginaries several marginalized entities – reproductive work, rural areas, subsistence economies, and the Souths-within-the-North – creating bridges across different degrowth-aligned fields. Starting from the materialist ecofeminist contribution, I argue for revaluing a subsistence approach, and for degrowth to take seriously 'putting reproduction back at the center', drawing on Mies and the ‘Bielefeld school’. I then address the gap in degrowth scholarship in regard to the rural, which, even in critical studies, is persistently obscured by the urban. I thus mobilize rural geography to argue for a systematic inclusion of the countryside in degrowth ideas of the future, and draw on peasant and critical agrarian studies to revalue some common senses of peasant ‘moral’ economies. Lastly, I propose a revaluation of the Souths-within-the-North, focusing on Southern Italy and building on Cassano’s Southern Thought. These peripheries, always ‘lagging behind’ the North in the growth race, could be reinterpreted as the core of a different society, where subsistence common senses persist. The theoretical contribution is complemented by a case study from a rural ‘diffused’ community in Apulia, Italy. Finally, I propose potential degrowth policy areas and research paths to kick-start a renewed attention to the rural, and to envision a degrowth society truly reorganized around joyous sufficiency for all. Donatella Gasparro 2023-08-31T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-8-degrowth_and_the_working_class https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/8 false Sufficiency palatable to Boggs and Huber Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation It is now almost unequivocal in the research community from natural science disciplines that the anthropogenic climate change, biodiversity collapse and trangression of various planetary boundaries invoke the necessity of a fundamental socio-metabolic and socio-cultural change. Invocations along the lines of degrowth proposals in material and energy flows are explicitly cited in aggregate assessments reports and strategy reviews such as those of the IPCC and IPBES, as well as global state assessments produced for international development organizations and UN agencies. Even fiction, such as Kim Stanley Robinson's latest novel can play with degrowth narratives in plots and situation setting. There is less agreement though about the socio-cultural root causes of the planetary existential crisis and the approaches to achieving the said transformation, though not for shortage of proposals: from a mechanistic Anthropocene to a power-grabbing Capitalocene. The roots specify the difference in historical power in bringing about the present state. Differences in the power to change the metabolic throughput and its ideological justification perceived to exist between core and periphery (Wallerstein) and capitalist and working classes (Marx and Weber) lead to a strong left-wing opposition to degrowth for fear of immiseration that is even more deeply unjust. If things have to change so that some things have to be reduced, what is to guarantee that for the already oppressed majority the reduction will not be a self-imposed push below what is bearable? Such fears, justified by framing and delivery of the degrowth narratives of transformation, lead to irrational questioning of justifiability of extent, timing and proposed instruments of that transformation by the representatives of the working class and peripheral majority. This papers sketches the bottom-up constructed visions of transformation aimed at addressing the outcomes of the said fears, rather than presenting a top-down holistic view of the scientifically and normatively mandated planetary transformation. Mladen Domazet Vincent Liegey 2023-08-31T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-92-crafting_alternatives_to_capitalist_labor https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/92 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation Multiple calls exist to profoundly change capitalist provisioning systems and business models to help address unique socio-ecological challenges of the 21 century (e.g. Faning et al, 2020; Nesterova, 2020). Reenvisaging work, the way it is organized, constructed and valued, is essential for reimagining these structures. Degrowth, post-growth and post-capitalist streams of literature have been discussing alternatives to the capitalist work for years, but mostly either on high theoretical level, envisioning, for example, societies free of labor, or on the level of macroeconomics and policies such us universal basic income. Yet to date, empirically grounded, micro politics of work are less well represented in these academic debates. We identify craft work as a promising field to bridge this empirical gap. As the nature of craft work includes a desire to find alternatives to capitalist models of consumption and production, and tackle environmental and social crisis (Hodson, 2001; Luckman, 2015; Parker et al., 2014), the craft scholarship holds a potential to expand our understanding of work in beyond capitalist economy. In this paper we: (i) perform critical literature review on work in post-capitalist and degrowth scholarship, as well as in craft literature; (ii) bring these strands of literature in conversation with the aim to advance our imaginaries of the future of work and transition pathways towards the vision of dealienated labor. Olga Vincent Amanda Brandellero 2023-08-31T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-355-degrowth_and_the_artisan_class https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/355 false Alternative economies Paper Presentation Five decades after The Limits to Growth was published, it is exceedingly clear that growth must be retired as a fundamental rationale of economic policy, both in the Global North and the Global South. There is also significant consensus that the growth motive is intrinsic to how capitalism functions, and that something other than capital must propel socio-economic transitions and organize work in de-growing societies. What that non-capital is, however, and how it may motivate people to work in a radically different context of interests and valuations, remains much more murky. If the capital relation produces path dependencies around growth, interest, inequality and extractivism, what class relation is capable of healing this rift? How will the macro-socioeconomic ideals behind degrowth translate into the microeconomic realm: Into concrete labor, done by whom, for what reasons, and leading to what kind of compensation? We argue that a significant part of this answer lies in re-engaging theories and practices of the ‘artisan class’: Livelihoods performed without separating tools (into capital) and worker (into labor). In studying artisan labor formations, we see the logic and ideas of degrowth in a great number of existing economic practices and spaces, from peasant farming to family-run retail and independent professionals. Artisan work is motivated not by profit, but by the need to achieve subsistence - an ideal motivational frame for work in steady-state economics. Our presentation proposes a theoretical framework for artisan labor, in the context of degrowth literature and politics. Julien-Francois Gerber Louis Thiemann 2023-08-31T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-229-dividing_roles_along_flows_instead_of_functions https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/229 false New role division within degrowth Practice Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation Degrowth has been questioning the level of role division. But we need to question also the way roles are divided. We argue that roles need to be divided along flows instead of functions. Flows include plants, recuperated materials, natural elements and living beings including humans. “Thinking like a flow” has been experienced in Can Decreix, a house of degrowth at the French/Spanish border, in the last 12 years. We argue that we need to step out of typical role divisions to explore new ways of living and organising for a degrowth transformation that take well care of ethics. New role division and degrowth can be experienced with role plays, and immersions in degrowth practices. Francois Schneider 2023-08-31T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-184-patterns_for_digital_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/184 false Concrete strategies for designing low-tech digital infrastructures Technology and science for degrowth Non-academic Session In the face of multiple crises, digital technology is widely considered central to the development of a green capitalism in which efficiency gains and „dematerialisation“ would allow industrial societies to decouple their resources use from their material wealth. But if digital technology has become a pilar of the green growth project, what could be the strategy of the degrowth movement regarding its development? With the advent of cheap devices and the internet, digital technology has promised democratisation and decentralised control – and failed to deliver. It remains far from any concept of low-tech necessary to build a degrowth-based future. Yet in contrast to, say, nuclear power, very few would advocate for a future without computers. What we need now is to rebuild our technological imaginary and envision not just a different use of existing digital infrastructures, but entirely different infrastructures. Achieving this will require „patterns“ for designing low-tech hardware and software and recombining parts of the existing infrastructures towards degrowth. This session will try to convey basic knowledge of digital technology and to sketch and discuss possible patterns. This interactive workshop will mix inputs (introducing key concepts for the design of digital infrastructures) and group discussions about patterns and possible strategies (based on the chapter on digital technology from the book „Degrowth & Strategy“). No technical knowledge is required to participate in the discussion. The workshop is meant to empower participants to actively discuss the future of a low-tech digital technology rather than view its current misdevelopment as a fatality. Nicolas Guenot 2023-08-31T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-6 9_int_dg_conf-318-degrowth_a_monetary_or_real_values_economy https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/318 false Alternative economies Non-academic Session This workshop sets up a participatory discussion on the need, or not, of a nonmonetary degrowth economy. As such it highlights a significant, yet often marginalised, degrowth topic. Drawing on grassroots experience and scholarly theory, Anitra and Vincent will discuss and debate ways that money and markets create barriers to degrowth. We will screen an award-winning short film (8mins) Beyond Money: Yenomon (2022) to show how a nonmonetary alternative based – an in-kind economy of ‘real values’ economy – might operate, feel and look like. Here decisions on what and how to produce are made via participatory co-governance (sociocracy, to achieve collective sufficiency and ecological efficiencies. After this introduction, participants will have lots of time for Q&A with Vincent and Anitra and for open discussion, for instance, exploring whether they are inclined to go beyond money, to reduce money and markets through various reforms, or to use alternative currencies. /system/events/logos/000/000/318/large/Capture_d%E2%80%99e%CC%81cran_2023-08-23_a%CC%80_09.51.33.png?1692777144 Anitra Nelson Vincent Liegey Beyond Money page at Anitra Nelson's personal website Report on Degrowth and Money: Future Scenarios 2023-08-31T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 01:30 ZV-8-6 9_int_dg_conf-365-degrowth_education-_experiences_from_the_two_degrowth_masters_in_barcelona https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/365 false Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Non-academic Session Research and Degrowth is a non-profit association based in Barcelona, dedicated to research, training and outreach on degrowth and environmental justice since 2010. For the last five years, we have been running a masters program in political ecology, environmental justice and degrowth at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Two years ago, this was followed by another masters program, run completely online on Degrowth: Ecology, Economics and Policy. These two programs stem from years of organising summer schools on degrowth and environmental justice, as well as multiple other educational events in local and regional levels, for schools and universities, to municipalities and unions. We ground our ideas in territorial projects that we use for teaching and demonstration purposes: Can Decreix, a house in the city of Cerbere on the French-Spanish border experimenting with frugal living; Can Masdeu, an ecological commune in the outskirts of Barcelona, squatting an abandoned hospital since 2002 and developed a network of community gardens with the surrounding working class neighbourhood of Nou Barris; and an olive grove in Picamoixons, in the Catalan countryside, where we produce organic oil, with the collaboration of students trained through practice in the theory of ecological economics and the art of slow agro-ecology. In this interactive discussion panel with the organizers and coordinators of the masters, we wish to share our insights and learnings from these two masters in particular, as well as more strategic discussion on degrowth education in general. /system/events/logos/000/000/365/large/R_D_OrangeC.jpg?1675029390 Giacomo D´Alisa Ksenija Hanaček Brenda Nistor Angelos Varvarousis Brototi 2023-08-31T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-6 9_int_dg_conf-125-promiscuous_infrastructures https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/125 false Artistic ecologies and eco-social practices Non-academic Session The Promiscuous Care Study Group emerged from the need to build up learning communities where we might recognize the abundance of working together in difference. Comprising students, teachers, and researchers working within an academy of art and design, the group formed around shared sensibilities, practices, and approaches that reach through and beyond our institutional roles and individual practices as artists, designers, writers, and educators. In our individual and collective practices, we explore the relations between the individual, social and institutional bodies, and infrastructures. Together we ask: How can we reclaim the word ‘promiscuous’ as an opportunity to transgress and build support and care networks within uncaring systems? What infrastructures facilitate promiscuous forms of care? The study group operates as an interruption of institutional pacing and alienation. The academy that hosts the group created the conditions that require it through its felt absence of caring infrastructure. It is a space for slowness, nourishment, grief, uncertainty, and attentiveness to bodies, relations, and needs. Shared thematics manifest in reproductive labours; of cooking, gardening, stitching, and weaving. Undervalued or under-represented histories and counter-histories are dug, dredged, reclaimed, and examined with care. The precarious, invisible, and peripheral are explored through witnessing bodies, intimate pedagogies, and testimonial forms. We host check-ins, practice workshops on building trust and safety, experiment with collective writing and transcribing, and read, watch, listen, and eat together. For the conference, we propose a session will include a presentation and discussion combined with pedagogical and artistic research experiments. /system/events/logos/000/000/125/large/279488042_5346583008739617_7855538571008483538_n.jpeg?1673713608 Michelle Teran Skye Maule O'Brien Carmen Martinez-Quintanilla Rubio Renée Turner Kari Robertson Promiscuous Care Study Group 2023-08-31T20:00:00+02:00 20:00 01:30 CMR-terrace 9_int_dg_conf-423-the_seeds_of_vandana_shiva_82 https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/423 false Film Screening Non-academic Session en The Seeds of Vandana Shiva tells the remarkable life story of Gandhian eco-activist Dr. Vandana Shiva, how she stood up to the corporate Goliaths of industrial agriculture, rose to prominence in the ecological food movement, and is inspiring an international crusade for change. In her colorful sari and large scarlet bindi, Dr. Vandana Shiva is an arresting presence: She galvanizes crowds, advises government leaders, fields constant calls from the media—then then retreats from big-city buzz to work alongside small farmers across the developing world. Who is she? What is her mission? How did this woman from an obscure town in India become Monsanto’s worst nightmare: a rebellious rock. Miljenka 2023-09-01T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-103-living_in_the_doughnut_reconsidering_the_boundaries_via_composite_indicators https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/103 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation The concept of ‘planetary boundaries’, worked out by Rockström et al. (2009), and the need to guarantee some social minima were integrated into a unified picture by Raworth (2012, 2017) who proposed a doughnut-shaped ‘safe and just space’ for humanity to live in. Since then, research has sought to focus on its empirical definition and determine in what respects countries position themselves inside or outside the doughnut. The present paper tackles this issue with a novel approach that provides results that are easier to interpret and communicate than those of previous studies. The combination of different normalisation, aggregation and weighting techniques of relevant indicators yields a set of composite indicators which, through uncertainty analysis, ends up with two synthetic robust thresholds. Our methodology allows countries’ performances to be more directly compared to social and planetary boundaries, leveraging on a balance between the need for a synthetic overview when a large number of variables is involved and the loss of significant information when indicators are aggregated into composites. /system/events/logos/000/000/103/large/doughnut.png?1673638353 Gianluca Gucciardi Tommaso Luzzati 2023-09-01T10:15:00+02:00 10:15 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-181-a_case_study_of_the_hungarian_degrowth_donut https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/181 false Transformational climate politics (METAR) Paper Presentation The Degrowth Donut (a modification of the original Donut visualisation of boundaries and foundations created by economist Kate Raworth) can be considered a visualisation tool for assessing the current environmental and social capacity of a country to transform into an ecologically and socially sustainable modus operandi. Its sufficiently rich set of criteria, including cultural, socio-economic, and biophysical indicators, enables us to get an overall picture of the problems to be dealt with and the strengths to build on in the immediate future. As such it is also a tool that can aid policymaking in prioritising decisions and seeking synergies between choices made. This research will present the Hungarian Degrowth Donut and use it as a case study against the aims and expected impacts of the operational National Clean Development Strategy of Hungary. We will illustrate the degrowth-relevant priorities and assess the adequacy of responses proposed by the Strategy, providing a critical analysis of national policy options. Behind such climate and sustainability strategies, there is always a story full of important value choices and moral considerations. Is there a safe and just operating space in the minds of the Hungarian policy makers? To what extent, if at all, are the fundamental principles of post-growth theories incorporated in a Hungarian sustainability strategy? We believe that a case study like this can also provide inspiration for further practical application of the Degrowth Donut elsewhere. Máté Fischer Alexandra Köves Mladen Domazet 2023-09-01T10:30:00+02:00 10:30 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-303-visualising_the_social_impact_of_climate_adaptation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/303 false Degrowth doughnuts as tools for comprehensive transformation communication Transformational climate politics (METAR) Paper Presentation Transition of contemporary societies to different energy flows and different distribution of social product – from linear consumption of energy stocks to utilisation of flows and abandonment of the growth hegemony – is necessitated by the biophysical and social tipping points forecast for the multiple crises of the Anthropocene. The transition itself is enabled or precluded by the constraints imposed by the dominant cultural trends, the hegemonic ideology of growth (D’Alisa and Kallis 2016) chief among them. We need models occasioned by a paradigm internally consistent with just and swift metabolic transformation in order to plan strategies and polices, to select the transition pathways through multiple dimensions of biophysical, social and political domains (Cherp et al. 2018; Hanger-Kopp et al. 2019). The causal models provided by contemporary science and serving as foundation of environmental and socio-economic impact studies are based on the premises of the current energy and socio-economic system, and thus disable insights into paradigmatically altered socio-metabolic structures and hegemonic ideologies (Koppelaar et al. 2016; Saltelli and Giampietro 2017). By invoking precedents of paradigm change in scientific worldviews in revolutionary physics of 20th century, this paper presents the mental model and analytic visualisation based on the ‘doughnut economy’ (Raworth 2017). A modification of the doughnut visual (Domazet et al. 2020) that includes socio-cultural boundaries and natural restoration thresholds, within in a principle paradigm that eludes the development-destruction trade-off, depicts impact of a set policies and awareness-raising campaigns in energy and education sectors in Croatia. We illustrate how the degrowth doughnut tool can aid communication of ‘distance to target’ for various realistic adaptation and mitigation measures, and their estimated impact on the status quo. Tomislav Cik Vedran Horvat Mladen Domazet 2023-09-01T10:45:00+02:00 10:45 00:15 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-21-exploring_degrowth_proposals https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/21 false A systematic mapping Alternative economies Paper Presentation Degrowth – the planned and democratic reduction of production and consumption as a solution to the social- ecological crises – is slowly making its way to the sphere of policy-making. But there is a problem: proposals are scattered through a voluminous literature, making it difficult for decision-makers to pinpoint the concrete changes associated with the idea of degrowth. To address this issue, we conducted a systematic mapping of the degrowth literature from 2005 to 2020 using the RepOrting standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses (ROSES) methodology. Out of a total of 1166 texts (articles, books, book chapters, and student theses) referring to degrowth, we identified 446 that include specific policy proposals. This systematic counting of policies led to a grand total of 530 proposals (50 goals, 100 objectives, 380 instruments), which makes it the most exhaustive degrowth policy agenda ever presented. To render this toolbox more accessible, we divided it into in 13 policy themes – food, culture and education, energy and environment, governance and geopolitics, indicators, inequality, finance, production and consumption, science and technology, tourism, trade, urban planning, and work – systematically making the difference between goals, objectives, and instruments. Following this, we assess the precision, frequency, quality, and diversity of this agenda, reflecting on how the degrowth policy toolbox has been evolving until today. /system/events/logos/000/000/021/large/Its_only_a_matter_of_time_%28_Barvinakur%29.png?1673078389 Nick Fitzpatrick Inês Cosme Fitzpatrick, N., Parrique, T., & Cosme, I. (2022). Exploring degrowth policy proposals: A systematic mapping with thematic synthesis. Journal of Cleaner Production, 132764. Exploring degrowth policy proposals 2023-09-01T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 01:30 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-40-a_degrowth_project_degrowth_policy_proposals_and_political_agenda https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/40 false What are the main obstacles and perspectives for a degrowth political movement and agenda? Degrowth as a political project? Special Session In 2013, in France was published a successful book translated into several languages: A Degrowth Project, Manifesto for an Unconditonnal Autonomy Allowance (Liegey et al, Editions Utopia, 2013). This book is the result of the political dynamics around degrowth in France in the late 2000's and early 2010's (Parti Pour La Décroissance, Mouvement des Objecteurs de Croissance, Association des Objecteurs de Croissance and its platform) In 2020 Exploring Degrowth: A Critical Guide also collects and offers a synthesis of what a Degrowth Project would look like, also in promoting and developing the idea of Unconditionnal Autonomy Allowance (Vincent Liegey and Anitra Nelson, Pluto Press, 2020). Since then, debates on degrowth policy proposals is still going on. In 2022, Exploring degrowth policy proposals: A systematic mapping with thematic synthesis academic paper on Journal on Cleaner solution (Nick Fitzpatrick a, Timothee Parrique, Ines Cosme, 2020) lists and tries to classifies, articulates the rich diversity of proposals published. Also in 2022, in The Future Is Degrowth book, Matthias Schmelzer, Andrea Vetter, and Aaron Vansintjan reflects on degrowth political agenda and also underlines the weak or unexplored questions. Following the degrowth conference debates at the EU Parliament, this session would offer a space to reflect on what could be a degrowth project? Which proposals, policies, and how to articulate them? Also, how to explore the weakest and unexplored dimensions of such a project? What are the main obstacles and perspectives for a degrowth political movement and agenda? Participatory session. /system/events/logos/000/000/040/large/images.jpeg?1692777876 Vincent Liegey A Degrowth Project Website Un projet de décroissance : controverses, débats et convergences AdOC Political Degrowth Platform 2023-09-01T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-131-meet_and_join_the_degrowth_movement https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/131 false Introducing the Degrowth movement, its restructuring and its international working groups Contemporary emancipatory internationalism Non-academic Session The open collective ODN (Organising the Degrowth Network) is inviting to this session all degrowthers and new-comers curious to know more about the Degrowth Assemblies, the functioning of the Degrowth network and its international working groups, and the democratic re-structuring the network is going through. This session will also feature members of the international working groups, such as the Support Group, the Activist Group, the Mapping Group, the Research Group and Degrowth.info. The session will also offer an open space for conference participants to network with members of the nodes and join projects and activities. It will hence offer both a reflection on the history of the movement, and a place to plan future action. After a brief review of the history of the Degrowth concept and network, each international working group will be introduced. The outcomes of the 4th Degrowth Movement Assembly preceding the conference will be presented to participants. Afterwards, there will be an open space for networking and sharing ideas with members of the international working groups present. Conference participants will gain improved understanding of the wider organisation of the Degrowth Network and they will have the opportunity to join international working groups. Members of the international working groups will also be able to use that space and time to connect and coordinate their actions with other nodes of the network. This session will thus contribute to bridging the communication gap in the Degrowth Network. /system/events/logos/000/000/131/large/ODN_design8.jpg?1673719683 Noémie Cadiou Jean-Louis Aillon marta Domini JP Arellano 2023-09-01T18:00:00+02:00 18:00 01:30 ZV-KC-Cres 9_int_dg_conf-410-post-growth_pluriverse_s_in_policy_spehere_s_european_green_deal_and_beyond https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/410 false Introductory talk: Philippe Lamberts (MEP, Green group in the EP), Speakers: Giovanni Allegretti (University of Coimbra), Manon Aubry (MEP, Left in the EP / online), Sandra Benčić (Croatian MP, Možemo!), Mario Munta (European University Institute), Philip Pochet (ETUI), Julia Steinberger (University of Lausanne), Milan F. Živković (SDP). Moderated by: Vedran Horvat (IPE) Panel Non-academic Session en During this high-level panel the intention is to provide a critical and post-growth friendly 'reading' of the European Green Deal. European Green Deal is a complex and multi-layered program of the European Commission to implement a green transition across the EU. Yet, it faces great challenges. The most important one in this context is that it relies on the paradigm of green growth, which implies that new technologies and re-direction of financial flows will be sufficient to deliver a sustainable future for European citizens. It completely ignores the social dimension of the Green Deal and accordingly the need for a broad re-distribution. It is also a top-down policy-driven program which lacks a great deal of democratic legitimacy and support from deliberative processes. In the world of a poly-crisis, we will aim to explore to which extent various post-growth debates can reach and make an impact on policy-making spheres both at the European and national levels. One of the main focuses of our conversation will be how European Green Deal can -or can not - ensure just climate transition. Panelists 2023-09-01T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-108-why_sufficiency_necessity_potentials_and_legitimacy https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/108 false Degrowth as a political project? Special Session The evidence supporting the notion that sustainability goals cannot be achieved solely through technological innovations, but rather by incorporating sufficiency strategies, continues to grow each year (Haberl et al., 2020). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has now recognized sufficiency as a crucial strategy for achieving climate goals (IPCC, 2022), and an increasing number of energy scenarios are integrating sufficiency approaches, acknowledging their significant potential (Cordroch et al., 2021; négaWatt Association, 2023). We define sufficiency as a strategy for reducing the consumption and production of end-use products and services through changes in social practices in order to comply with environmental sustainability while ensuring an adequate social foundation for all people. In this Session, interdisciplinary researchers from Sociology, Political Science and System Modelling will present their research. Three connected presentations and comments by Key Listeners will concern with a) Meta-Analysis of Climate-neutrality Scenarios with focus on Sufficiency (Luisa Cordroch) b) Quantitative effects of Sufficiency Policies (Ben Best) c) How European Citizen Assemblies demand Sufficiency Policies (Jonas Lage) The research presented in this Session represents intermediate outcomes of the project "Energy Sufficiency in Energy Transition and Society" (EnSu, https://energysufficiency.de/), The discussion can cover the political legitimacy for degrowth and sufficiency and criteria to design policy-mixes for sufficiency. Cordroch, L., Hilpert, S., & Wiese, F. (2021). Why renewables and energy efficiency are not enough—The relevance of sufficiency in the heating sector for limiting global warming to 1.5 °C. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 121313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121313 IPCC. (2022). Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change—Summary for Policymakers (Working Group III contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. négaWatt Association. (2023). CLEVER final report: A pathway to bridge the climate neutrality, energy security and sustainability gap through energy sufficiency, efficiency, and renewables. https://clever-energy-scenario.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/CLEVER_final-report.pdf /system/events/logos/000/000/108/large/EnSu-Logo_englisch.png?1673676976 Benjamin Best Jonas Lage Luisa Cordroch Frauke Wiese 2023-09-01T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 01:30 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-76-snails_over_teslas_how_energy_citizenship_and_energy_communities_can_push_for_a_degrowth_energy_transition https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/76 false Energy citizenship and energy communities reclaiming our energy futures through practices of deliberative, direct democracy Transformational climate politics (METAR) Special Session Community energy, a specific form of energy citizenship (ENCI), represents one of the ways for a just and inclusive energy transition towards degrowth. At a time when the moral bankruptcy of energy companies has been laid bare by their profit-making in an energy crisis, different models for energy production and consumption are more relevant than ever. This session will first look at how different forms of ENCI, including energy communities, contribute towards the active and participative empowerment of people. Then, it will zoom in on energy communities and how they are formed in practice, how they engage people, appropriate the energy sector and democratize it. Finally, building on a database of ENCI initiatives, the session will provide solutions on how to include vulnerable people in the just and inclusive energy transition, make them part of energy communities and other ENCI initiatives, and enable them to become active energy citizens, hence tackling their energy poverty situations. The session will be introduced through three short presentations (10-12 minutes each), followed by a short Q&A session (15-20 minutes). After this, a facilitated breakout session will follow (30 minutes), in which we will tackle questions, such as How to ensure that ENCI, including community energy, contribute to degrowth?; How to stimulate the widening of ENCI practices without being caught into the traps of growth?; How are energy communities shielding citizens from prices shocks and market fluctuations?; Can women’s role be made more visible in the just and inclusive energy transition? Lidija Zivcic Edina Vadovics Chris Vrettos 2023-09-01T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-KC-2 9_int_dg_conf-409-degrowth_and_the_political_left https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/409 false Danijela Dolenec (Zagreb Deputy Mayor, Možemo!), Vincent Liegey, Judith Pape (activist, Berlin), Sonja Schirmbeck (FES Zagreb Office). Moderated by: Mislav Žitko Panel Non-academic Session en The degrowth movement shares many values with other left-oriented political movements and parties. Yet, until recently, the degrowth movement has been very distant from the political, or even policy arena, mainly operating within the academic community and social movements. Given the constantly shifting boundaries of political identities of left parties – social democrats, greens and the left – in this debate we want to explore experiences of exchange between the degrowth movement and institutional politics. Needless to say, most of the abovementioned parties still don't integrate post-growth into their political programs. Therefore, we want to identify convergences and divergences that currently exist between main degrowth demands and political programs (and degrowth-friendly policies). The debate will also aim to identify potential continuities and legacies of left politics which can strengthen the connection with contemporary claims of the degrowth movement. Panelists 2023-09-01T09:00:00+02:00 09:00 01:00 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-399-the_state_class_inequalities_and_their_affective_reverberations_considerations_for_a_degrowth_transition https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/399 false Keynote Special Session en This talk is inspired by stories collected over the last decade as part of several research projects based in Croatia. These are stories of everyday hardship told by people who eat in soup-kitchens, stories about persisting to work in civil society organisations in a political context antagonistic to CSO advocacy, stories told by owners of small businesses about their struggles during the COVID-19 pandemic, and stories of post-disaster recovery recalled by residents traumatised by flooding in rural Croatia. Emerging from these are three inter-related themes relevant for reflections on a degrowth transition: the contentious role of the state, the pang of class inequalities and their intersections, and cross-cutting affective reverberations. Indeed, both the role of the state and class inequalities have been characterised fairly recently as “gaps in the degrowth literature”. In order to unpick these three themes, I draw on voices with memories of socialism that are counter-hegemonic to contemporary expectations, and underline marginalized voices, especially those of the disempowered poor. In light of this, the overall intention of the talk is to expand our perspective on the constraints and affordances that define our shared aspiration to transition to a degrowth society. Dr. Karin Doolan is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Zadar. She holds an MPhil and PhD degree in sociology of education from the University of Cambridge. Following her MPhil degree she completed a programme in Democracy and Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science and after completing her PhD was a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute. Her teaching activities are rooted in critical and engaged pedagogy, and she conducts research on the interface between social class inequalities, education and disaster events. She led an inter-disciplinary team of researchers who revitalised social class analysis in Croatia following a hiatus going back to the end of socialist times. Her most recent project work has explored the micro-politics of schools in disaster contexts and social resilience in the midst and aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the years her interlocutors have come from diverse backgrounds, including people eating in soup kitchens, teachers in communities recovering from floods or earthquakes and activists for the public good. Such research has fostered valuable, multiple perspectives on the political, social and economic dynamics that frame people’s everyday lives. Karin Doolan 2023-09-01T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-277-spatializing_degrowth_five_steps_towards_a_radical_urban_degrowth_agenda_in_the_face_of_climate_emergency https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/277 false Transformational climate politics (METAR) Paper Presentation This paper calls for coupling degrowth with urban studies and planning agendas. This, we argue is an academically and politically urgent endeavour that will benefit both fields. Our aim is threefold: 1) to explore practices for ‘operationalizing’ degrowth concepts into urban agendas and spatial practices; 2) to sketch a pathway that can take degrowth scholarship beyond its current focus on localized experiments and can inform larger scale planning practices and international agendas; and 3) to critically assess the multiple ways in which such a radical urban degrowth agenda will have to differ in the Global North and the Global South. We outline five necessary steps for developing such a programmatic, yet pragmatic, urban degrowth agenda. First, to ground current degrowth debates within their historical geographical context. This would reduce ‘re-inventing the wheel’ practices and inform current initiatives with the wealth of past urban degrowth experiments. Second, to engage urban degrowth scholars in the production and implementation of with the role that institutions can play in linking degrowth agendas with large large-scale urbanization policies through pathways that avoid greenwashing. in the global North and the Global South. Third, to examine under which conditions insurgent degrowth groups and practices can be scaled- up without co-optation. Fourth, to focus on the neglected role that experts and professionals (architects, designers, planners, care professionals, IT and technology specialists) can play in linking insurgent degrowth agendas with broader urban and regional practices. Fifth, to acknowledge the uneven social outcomes that degrowth spatial practices would bring to the Global North and the Global South; and to high and low- income populations within the same regions. Angelos Varvarousis 2023-09-01T10:15:00+02:00 10:15 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-260-urban_food_policies_without_local_food_producers https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/260 false Building urban food movements in post-socialist entrepreneurial cities Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation Recently, urban food movements have been proliferating in Europe. They highlight the corporate food regime’s failure to tackle nutritional poverty and promote local food initiatives. Also, urban food policy is a new phenomenon in Prague and Brno, two major cities in Czechia. Against this background, we ask how urban institutions are linked to urban food movements in Czech cities. We argue that the current emphasis placed by urban food policies on environmental aspects of food initiatives are indicative of the urban food movements’ fragmentation along the lines of different levels of social capital and their integration into the corporate food regime. Drawing on our interdisciplinary concept of values-based modes of production and consumption in the corporate food regime, Manganelli’s concept of hybrid governance of urban food movements and Harvey’s understanding of entrepreneurial urban governance, we conduct actor network and social capital analysis of institutional and civil society actors constituting the urban food question in Prague and Brno. We show that post-socialist entrepreneurial cities are prone to fragmented hybrid food governance inconsistent with other urban agendas, which prioritizes food initiatives conducive to urban entrepreneurialism over traditional food producers such as gardeners, thus reinforcing the corporate food regime. We propose this fragmentation to be overcome by the formation of a coalition of food initiatives with civil society organizations engaged in urban and environmental issues, human rights, social services, and charity, to promote urban governance conducive to local food production and food system change as a steppingstone of urban resilience against multifaceted crises. Michaela Pixová Christina Plank Exploring values-based modes of production and consumption in the corporate food regime Urban food policies without local food producers: Building urban food movements in post-socialist entrepreneurial cities 2023-09-01T10:30:00+02:00 10:30 01:00 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-392-gajna_commons_fight_for_nature_people_and_climate https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/392 false Transformational climate politics (METAR) Non-academic Session Gajna is a naturally flooded grassland located in the eastern continental part of Croatia, on the Sava River, which forms the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is pre-WW2 common land which, although having State owned land status, managed to escape the intense State control and continued to exercise their common rights de facto. Gajna is an area protected on local level, de facto governed by members of local community from 19th century, co-managed by local grass root CSO Brod Ecological Society-BED from 1989, co-managed by the County Institution for Management of Protected Natural Values from 2007. By initiative of BED it has been protected as significant landscape and is also a part of Natura 2000 network (EU ecological network). On relatively small territory (cca 300 ha) in midst of agriculturally intensive area, Gajna is a pocket of abundance in biological diversity harboring dozens of mammal, bird, amphibian and reptile, fish and plant species in the strictly protected and protected species category. Members of the cooperative are small family farms which extensively graze, stopping overgrowth of pastures with invasive species and enabling biodiversity preservation. This is also a sort of an “arc” of old traditional breeds of cattle, some critically endangered. In an area facing large depopulation for years Gajna case shows possible ways of preserving the biodiversity and cultural values by keeping the low intensity and sustainable livestock production. It is done with empowering local community from within and investing a lot of energy in communication, forcing practically non existent cross sectoral cooperation. It will also show many challenges and pressures from outside (unstable legal framework concerning land use, overlapping authorities (conservation, agriculture, water) with poor coordination, low production pushing young people away, disappearance of the last generation of this type of cattle breeders, population decrease and isolation in the rural areas , social stigma and climate change, as well as unsuitable policies, all down to legal and physical pressures. Rural commons in EU, especially common pastures are currently 2 marginalized, politically isolated and without human capacity to influence policies that affect them. Iris Beneš 2023-09-01T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-321-the_importance_of_optimal_design_of_a_pv_system_in_the_net-metering_model_a_case_study_for_croatia https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/321 false Transformational climate politics (METAR) Paper Presentation The world’s demand for electrical energy is increasing rapidly while the use of fossil fuels is getting limited more and more by energy policies and the need for reducing the impact of climate change. New sources of energy are required to fulfill the world’s demand for electricity and they are currently found in renewable sources of energy, especially in solar and wind power. Furthermore, bringing the energy production closer to the final consumer and spending the electricity directly on the load site has a magnitude of benefits, of which ones to highlight are financial viability, higher degree of energy independence and lower technical strain to the existing infrastructure. Choosing the optimal nominal parameters of the household/rooftop solar PV system minimizes the unnecessary surplus of electrical energy that is exported to the grid and thus utilizing the supporting net-metering scheme to its maximum. Oversizing the PV system according to the Croatian net-metering model results in switching the calculation of the costs to the prosumer model which results in a decrease of the project’s net present value (NPV) and an increase in the payback period (PP). This paper give an overview on the usage of the optimization problem for determining the optimal nominal power of a grid-connected PV system that was formed in a easy to use tool. The case study for Croatia using multiple scenarios in the variability of electricity production and consumption corresponding to a typical annual high-tariff consumption in Croatian households are used. Furthermore, the statistical analysis of the data from the optimization tools outputs is presented and the broader social impact on the usage of this software was assessed. Luka Budin Goran Grdenić Marko Delimar Ninoslav Holjevac The importance of Optimal Design of a PV System in the Net-Metering Model: A Case Study for Croatia 2023-09-01T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-320-adaptation_of_the_electric_power_sector_to_climate_change https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/320 false Transformational climate politics (METAR) Paper Presentation The electric power sector has a significant role in the climate change mitigation. The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources significantly reduces greenhouse gases in electricity production. Nevertheless, the electric power sector is also exposed to the negative impacts of the climate change. The increase in global temperature, changes in annual precipitation schedule, and extreme weather conditions have a negative impact on the efficiency of electricity generation, power grid resilience, and the reliability of power supply. Therefore, it is necessary to implement climate change adaptation measures. The impact of climate change on the constituent elements of power systems has systematically been investigated in this work. A review of recent research on climate change adaptation measures in the world is presented. Based on the conducted research, the key threats and adaptation measures in the Croatian power system are identified. Goran Grdenić Marko Delimar Ninoslav Holjevac Abstract - Adaptation of the electric power sector to climate change 2023-09-01T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-367-systemic_vulnerability_to_fossil_fuels_too_central_to_fail https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/367 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation Phasing-out fossil fuels is an urgent, mandatory imperative to increase the chances of human survival on Earth. The global economy can be conceptualized as a highly complex network of interacting and interdependent economic sectors whose functioning is highly dependent on fossil fuels. Any energy transition away from fossil fuels will have to deal with this reality in its decarbonization processes. How the impacts of phasing out fossil fuels could cascade through the economy given this complex interconnectedness is a less investigated phenomenon. In this paper, we combine the application of the Leontief Price Model – derived from Input-Output Analysis - to simulate Peak Fossil Fuel (oil, gas and coal) and Network Analysis to assess the systemic importance of sectors within the economic system. Then, we construct global and national vulnerability maps of the economy to unveil the vulnerability of systemically important economic sectors to fossil fuel, and how they have evolved through time. We show how vulnerability is spread across the board and how systematically important sectors have increased their vulnerability to fossil fuels. The vulnerability of economic sectors involved in the energy transition, such as mining and manufacturing of minerals and metals, or vital industries for the reproduction of Modernity - the steel and cement industry, plastics and chemicals - puts the whole system at risk. We conclude by discussing how these sectors may hold a highly problematic leverage power in the decarbonization process. Christian Kerschner Mario Diaz 2023-09-01T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-383-imaginaries_of_public_and_contentions_over_renewable_energy_ownership_models https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/383 false Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation Contentions associated with the transition of the energy sector towards renewable energy (RE) sources stem from different sociotechnical imaginaries of future energy systems. This presentation focuses on contentions over RE ownership models among stakeholders from industry, academia, civil society, and public sector in Ireland. It argues that sociotechnical imaginaries of RE ownership models are based on assumptions and beliefs about the public, i.e. the imaginaries of public. Based on the qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with stakeholders we identified two imaginaries of public – the energy consumer and the energy citizen; and two perspectives on RE ownership models – the instrumental perspective and the perspective looking to “open-up” the space of energy transition through ownership models. Instrumental perspectives on ownership were grounded on the imaginary of public as energy consumer, i.e. as self-interested, economically rational individual. They emphasised private ownership over RE technologies and consumers’ ownership of their own energy consumption patterns. Likewise, ownership shares between developers and communities were suggested as means suitable for securing public acceptance of renewable energy infrastructure. Perspectives looking to “open-up” the space RE ownership models were based on the imaginary of public as energy citizens, i.e. as political actors and agents of change with collective agency to take active part in the energy transition, and emphasis was on local and public ownership models such as energy cooperatives and remunicipalisation initiatives. The societal processes underlying co-production between imaginaries of public and RE ownership models will be discussed. Vanja Međugorac 2023-09-01T15:00:00+02:00 15:00 01:00 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-402-the_role_of_utopia_in_a_degrowth_transition https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/402 false Alexandra Koves Keynote Keynote Special Session en Degrowth activists and researchers are often dismissed on account of pursuing a utopia. But why should that be a problem in a world where it seems easier for people to imagine a planet on fire where we kill each other for fresh water and the remainder of our resources than an economy that transcends the current mainstream? Humankind seems to be acting like rabbits in the headlights, frozen by the prospect of complete annihilation and the incapability of moving towards adequate solutions to avert total destruction. The presentation will rely on the combination of behavioural science and systems thinking to suggest why the Cambridge dictionary’s definition of utopia, “a perfect society in which people work well with each other and are happy” is a great way to prod humanity out of this inactive state. Beyond the theory, the experience of a series of backcasting projects will be presented to show how diverse groups – even those untouched by Degrowth concepts – end up imagining Degrowth scenarios when given the time and space to deliberate on a normative future and to suggest ways to get there. Alexandra Köves 2023-09-01T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-305-2050_emission_pathways_explorer_croatia https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/305 false Or how to achieve climate neutrality in Croatia? Transformational climate politics (METAR) Non-academic Session Achieving climate neutrality in Croatia by 2050 is technically feasible, although challenging and requires systemic changes. The 2050 Pathways Explorer is a model that transparently presents the big picture and allows cross-sectoral assessments of possible paths towards a climate-neutral economy in Croatia. Pathways Explorer helps us think and plan together in order to act in the same direction, without voiding each other's efforts. The model offers six different scenarios, looks at and analyzes key Croatian sectors - energy production, buildings, industry, transport, agriculture, forestry and land use (AFOLU) and for the first time quantitates changes in lifestyle habits. The advantage of the 2050 pathways explorer model is that it provides a comprehensive understanding of the energy and economic system and its dynamics – it shows greenhouse gas emissions, their sources and socio-economic effects, as well as the necessary investments or costs. It offers a robust analytical database that allows the user to explore different scenarios in detail on their own. The model does not serve to forecast pathways to achieve climate neutrality nor does it offer cost optimization. The aim is to contribute to the transformation of Croatia in the next 30 years and to enable an argumentative debate between sectors and policy makers based on different models, which is also the basis for our further joint work on building the capacity of local partners, co-creation of public policies and advocacy during the process of the NECP revision. Sandra Vlašić Lin Herenčić Kruna Marković Paula Damaška Transparent and cross-sectoral assessment of possible pathways towards climate-neutral economy in Croatia until 2050 Kako do klimatske neutralnosti u Hrvatskoj? CLIMACT pathways explorer Croatia 2023-09-01T18:00:00+02:00 18:00 01:30 ZV-KC-1 9_int_dg_conf-297-panel_discussion_on_sustainable_and_just_transformations_of_city-region_food_systems https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/297 false The case of Velika Gorica Transformational climate politics (METAR) Non-academic Session How would a degrowth agri-food system envision the connection of rural-urban spheres under the urgent calls for sustainable and just urban transformations? Short food supply chains and the city-region food system approach can be a way forward. The approach establishes local food networks between a city and its surrounding peri-urban and rural regions, prioritising shorter food supply chains and collaborative food governance among urban policymakers, citizens and other food actors. It also lets city-regions to adapt to their local realities. And the Living Labs approach transforms the city-regions into food commons hubs where public officials act as enablers and not just representatives while fostering the creation of synergies among food practitioners and citizens. In this Panel Discussion we will explore the characteristics and transformational potential of a small-sized city-region in the semi-peripheries. More precisely the Living Lab of Velika Gorica – a peri-urban town situated next to Croatia’s capital – will be taken as example. The city-region tries to create small arenas of action through a co-creational process with citizens and local initiatives (e.g., grassroot organisations and social enterprises). During the discussion we will explore how city-regions envision new forms of food inclusion and solidarity, and what can different institutional networks (with focus on small-sized cities) do to transform current food policies into more sustainable and just. Can city policymakers foster new synergies that meet citizens’ needs in a collaborative and collective way? Violeta Crnogaj Mario Konić Stella Archontaki 2023-09-01T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:45 ZV-8-7 9_int_dg_conf-68-em_powering_communities_on_the_journey_to_energy_resilience https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/68 false Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session The impacts of climate change are affecting regional and rural communities in Australia at an immense scale, climate disasters show intensities and frequencies that exceed past events by large. Floods, bushfires and cyclones cause loss of homes, infrastructure and access to essential services, such as electricity and communication, with long-term economic and social consequences for the region. This project explores community energy resilience in six communities across Australia using a mixed methods approach. The project brings together researchers, community organisations, emergency responders and visual designers. First, a literature review explores different concepts of community energy resilience drawing on international and Australian case studies, informing an evaluation framework for community engagement. Secondly, we select six culturally and geographically diverse communities that experienced or are at risk of future climate impacts. Through focus groups, we explore why community resilience is needed, what the drivers, barriers and opportunities are, and how energy resilience can best be delivered to communities. The outcome is a visual guide for communities living in disaster-prone regions showcasing real-world examples of building energy resilience, informed by grass-roots research. The project aims to develop an understanding of how human aspects can be best utilised to inform disaster management and meet the needs of communities in crisis, by focusing on existing social relationships and communal structures rather than relying on technical and administrative processes. It can offer guidance to communities in other parts of the world experiencing similar disasters by visualising challenges and providing practical solutions contributing to more resilient communities. Sarah Niklas Franziska Mey (Em)powering communities on the journey to energy resilience (Em)powering communities on the journey to energy resilience 2023-09-01T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 01:30 ZV-8-7 9_int_dg_conf-350-weaving_alternatives_to_polycrises https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/350 false The Global Tapestry of Alternatives Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Non-academic Session The Global Tapestry of Alternatives (GTA) is an initiative seeking to create solidarity networks and strategic alliances amongst all radical alternatives on local, regional and global levels. It locates itself in or helps initiate interactions among alternatives to the destructive hegemonic system. GTA is about creating spaces of collaboration and exchange, in order to learn about and from each other, critically but constructively challenge each other, offer active solidarity to each other whenever needed, interweave the initiatives in common actions, and give them visibility to inspire other people to create their own initiatives. It could facilitate people seeking transformative change going further along existing paths or forging new ones that strengthen alternatives wherever they are, hopefully eventually converging into a critical mass of alternative ways that can support the conditions for the radical systemic changes we need. The GTA has been participating at the Degrowth conferences since 2016 and would like to continue building synergies, collaborations, dialogues and exchanges around systemic alternatives. Through this session, we intend to share GTA’s objectives, build connections, have critical dialogue and build connections. As a non-academic session, we invite all conference participants interested in the weaving together of radical alternatives to join us in an interactive session. We will begin with a short presentation of the GTA and voices of some the weavers. This will be followed by a discussion and reflection session where all participants contribute to building ideas collective for the global tapestry of alternatives process. Shrishtee Bajpai Ashish Kothari Madhuresh Kumar Franco Augusto Alex Jensen Vasna Global Tapestry of Alternatives website 2023-09-01T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-7 9_int_dg_conf-124-degrowth_from_the_east_ii https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/124 false theoretical lessons Resilience building through degrowth Special Session Degrowth is often thought of as one ‘movement’, 'community' or conversation, which emerged in Western Europe in the 1970s and has been spreading both within academia and activist practice over the last decade. However, related ideas and activism take root very differently in different places (e.g. degrowth hotspots in Southern Europe). Debates also take place around whether degrowth is relevant only to the overdeveloped countries of the global North, or if it holds lessons and radical implications for societies North and South alike.  With this session, we approach such debates from the angle of the 'East', specifically post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).  Degrowth conversations often portray so-called (semi-)peripheral countries as fodder for extractive capitalism, but in what ways are they also lively sites of postcapitalist alternatives? What is the specific position of the CEE region in todays capitalist world-economy and how does this translate into regional political patterns and prospects for radical emancipatory socio-ecological transformations? And what distinctive cultures and traditions in CEE regions can be built upon for navigating degrowth pathways? It is clear that differences in socio-political systems, histories and cultures require different approaches for degrowth. During this session, we will explore the unique ways in which CEE countries relate to ideas of degrowth, and discuss transformation in regions already having the experience of sweeping economic disruption in their living memory. Finally, we will encourage dialogue about how various post-socialist experiences influence – if at all – contemporary activism for degrowth and heterodox economics.  The session will consists of several paper presentations based on authors' engagement with degrowth activism and heterodox economies, followed by a synthethising discussion/workshop. This theoretically oriented session is complemented by our first special session where we hope to bring together empirical engagements with the position(ality) of CEE in postcapitalist imaginaries. Thomas Smith Markus Sattler Lucie Sovová Josef Patočka Ondřej Kolínský 2023-09-01T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-8 9_int_dg_conf-59-redistribution_good_work_public_services_how_the_social_crises_open_the_door_for_new_degrowth_support https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/59 false Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session Inflation-driven poverty, collapsing health systems, demographic pressure, fiscal burden –Western welfare systems are facing a severe crisis. And : the worst is yet to come when planetary boundaries limit the overall wealth to be redistributed. The visible fallacies of the neoliberal capitalist system make more and more societal actors engage in the debate on future-proof alternatives, re-opening the space for more radical ideas and new cooperation. Some call for fair burden sharing, others for decent care work and the importance of (free) public services. The ‘active (caring?) state’ experiences a revival . Much of this argumentation can be directly or indirectly linked to existing degrowth ideas. A chance we should use! As Friends of the Earth Germany we have long engaged in the debate on degrowth policies, pushing transition from an ecological standpoint . Lately, we are adapting a broader perspective. Believing in the power of ‘unusual’ alliances, we have initiated a number of cooperations alliances with labour unions, welfare and care organizations. In this workshop, we argue that promoting degrowth as solution not only to the environmental, but to the social crisis is key to (1) directly relate to people’s realities and raise identity with the degrowth narrative – both in- and outside the environmental bubble, (2) dissolve resistance for to ambitious environmental measures and the radical change needed, and (3) bring new partners on board to fight for a just future. After some key reflections on our work, the floor will be opened for the participants to share their own experiences. Together, we will discuss strategies to identify fields for cooperation, overcome practical obstacles, and make our alliances even stronger. Marie-Luisa Wahn Uwe Meinhardt Lia 2023-09-01T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 01:30 ZV-8-8 9_int_dg_conf-339-science_and_activism_together_through_the_climate_crisis https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/339 false Collaboration, Conflict and Companionship Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session In the past few years, we have witnessed a stark increase in civil society activism regarding the climate crisis, climate justice, degrowth and a social-ecological transformation. Especially forms of direct action have become more frequent and more visible, sparking solidarity as well as outrage. At the same time, traditional boundaries between science/research and activism have become increasingly blurred, leading to new forms of endorsement and connection between scientists and activists. This is not only met with approval, but also with a lot of questions and criticism. In a non-academic session in the form of an open-exchange workshop, we would like to discuss how the spheres of research and civil action increasingly interact, whether boundaries are necessary and how to communicate one’s position. We would like to explore how a fruitful collaboration between research (institutes) and activist groups could look like and how to deal with the public perceptions regarding the “neutrality” and objectivity of science. How is the alliance of scientists and activists altered by the climate crisis? Which possible research themes lie at the intersections? How do we deal with double roles, expectations and potential risks? The session would build on previous workshops and lectures on this topic. It should give room to participants to discuss their own experiences in this matter, as well as identify key issues in the navigation between research and political advocacy. The goal is to strengthen the active collaboration and impactful exchange between science and social movements. Nora Krenmayr Luzia Strasser 2023-09-01T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:15 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-364-decarbonisation_of_the_steel_industry_and_changing_places_of_work https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/364 false The role of industrial transformations in the low-carbon economies of the future Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation The transition to a low-carbon society will require extensive industrial change. These changes will have wide-ranging socio-economic implications in the locations where these industries are based. As well as economic dependencies, geographic concentration of industrial activity also creates social and cultural place-based dependencies: industries and industrial work become entwined with workers’ and communities’ social identities. While the focus has long been on the energy sector, other carbon-intensive industries also have to contribute to reduced emissions. The steel industry is one of these. In Sweden there are various changes on the way to reduce the climate impact of the steel industry. From fossil free steelmaking to a greater use of alternative materials to replace the use of steel in construction. How can industrial transformations of this kind contribute to thriving communities in the low-carbon economies of the future, and what role can such a transition play in a degrowth economy? Places where the steel industry is based often have close social and economic ties with the industry, so what will happen to these places? Can such changes be channeled into something positive? This presentation will be partially informed by a project presently being carried out through a collaboration between Lund University, Karlstad University, and Sheffield Hallam University. We seek to understand how low-carbon transitions interact with places and place-based identities in industrial communities, and how these interactions affect possibilities for successful and just low-carbon transitions. We will answer these questions through a combination of historical and contemporary case studies. Davor Mujezinovic Decarbonisation of the Steel Industry and Changing Places of Work 2023-09-01T10:15:00+02:00 10:15 00:15 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-250-degrowing_concrete https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/250 false On the history and future of the world’s most used and most destructive material Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation Concrete is the most widely used man-made material in the world, and after water, the most widely used resource. From urbanization to mobility to CO-2 emissions - concrete buildings and infrastructures form the often invisible but essential basis of the modern way of life. Over the last century, this fossil material has displaced the use of bioeconomic materials such as wood or clay (the old bioeconomy), and it is the key driver of the earth-historical development that the anthropogenic mass of the world created by human beings outgrows the global biomass of all living matter. At the same time, due to high emissions in the production process (globally 8% of CO2 emissions), resource hunger for scarce sand, and other social-ecological problems the material has been dubbed “the most destructive material on Earth” (Guardian 2019). Since the material is extremely difficult if not impossible to decarbonize, there are good reasons that only a reduction in the demand for concrete can be truly sustainable. This paper analyzes the development and growth of concrete use from a degrowth perspective and sketches ways forwards. Based on historical analysis, business history, and the application of the framework of political ecology, the paper presents trends for the development of cement production, concrete use, carbon emissions, and industry strategies for dealing with the climate crisis and links them to analyses of fossil materials and capitalist growth. And the paper contrasts these with a degrowth approach to concrete. It argues that such a material focus enables applying degrowth theory concretely, making a strong case for the need for material degrowth, and proposing alternative futures beyond techno-fixes that include social as well as technological exnovations and innovations. Matthias Schmelzer 2023-09-01T10:30:00+02:00 10:30 01:00 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-289-electrochemistry_decarbonisation_technologies_and_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/289 false Technology and science for degrowth Special Session Electrochemistry is positioned to play a crucial role in the transition towards a sustainable energy system and new multi-million funding programmes are established across Europe to support public and private research and innovation initiatives. The promise of electrochemical research lies in advancing the potential of a hydrogen economy through more efficient electrolysis, improvements to technologies like batteries for energy storage and fuel cells for electrical vehicles, and in solutions for the production of renewable hydrocarbons as feedstock for various industries. Given that many of these industries like agriculture, transportation and healthcare will be necessary in a degrowth economy, their decarbonisation is considered an essential aspect for climate neutrality. Despite the increased traction of the electrochemical field and the extended research on the techno-economic models and energy efficiency there is little discussion on some critical issues around the use of electrochemistry for decarbonisation. These include environmental aspects like resource use and geopolitics, and socio-economic aspects like carbon lock-in, ownership and profit. In this panel we therefore ask, what place can decarbonisation technologies have in a degrowth economy? And, accordingly, we wonder how current social processes of research and innovation (like funding structures, research programs and consortia) in the field of electrochemistry align with these goals. Overall in this panel we aim to discuss some of these aspects, brainstorm on if/how electrochemistry technologies can embrace degrowth values, how can we integrate these values in the early design phase, and ways to ensure that the use of electrochemistry will not serve private profit driven interests. Through paper presentations and interactive discussions we aim to reshape the concept of “responsible innovation” from a profit-driven engine to a disruptive, agonistic and sustainable practice and to rethink the role of social and natural scientists, engineers and policymakers in the shaping of degrowth low-carbon technologies. The focus of the panel is on electrochemistry, however participants working on other relevant low-carbon technologies and on topics like use of rare metals, environmental justice, and degrowth values are invited. Marula Tsagkari Jorrit Smit Diego Moya 2023-09-01T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 01:30 ZV-8-10 9_int_dg_conf-62-integrating_iams_to_mainstream_degrowth_ideals https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/62 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Non-academic Session In this 90-minute session, participants will explore the potential of Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) in promoting the idea of degrowth and its mainstream adoption. The focus will be on a new IAM called WILIAM (‘Within Limits’ IAM), which aims to make data on low-carbon pathways, including both green growth and degrowth, accessible and engaging. The tool's primary objective is to foster collective learning and empowerment among academics, activists, and the general public. Traditionally, IAMs have been utilized in policymaking and scientific analyses, yet they often neglect vital social dimensions and rely on flawed economic assumptions, primarily serving policymakers and experts. By utilizing WILIAM and its associated tool, this session aims to challenge these limitations and democratize data. The interactive workshop will start with a brief introduction to the WILIAM model, outlining its objectives, strengths, and limitations. Participants will then delve into the functionality of the tool, followed by discussions and reactions. During the breakout session, attendees will identify the necessary tools and features they require from the IAM to further advance their understanding of diverse pathways and effectively communicate insights to wider audiences. Ultimately, the expected outcome is for participants to gain valuable insights into a powerful tool to debunk misleading narratives and promote a fair society within planetary boundaries, while at the same time find potential collaborations between stakeholders, researchers, and policymakers to further develop and implement degrowth-oriented IAMs. By doing so, they will be better equipped to engage constructively with any audience and empower others in advocating for a sustainable future. /system/events/logos/000/000/062/large/locom-color.png?1673540723 Katy Wiese Iñigo Capellán-Pérez Guilherme Morlin Paola López-Muñoz Luis Javier Miguel Gonzales eleonora volpe LOCOMOTION website LOCOMOTION Factsheet: Interactive use of data for people and planet 2023-09-01T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-74-the_degrowth_opportunities_in_ongoing_eu_policy_files https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/74 false A workshop about the EU machinery—pushing the degrowth agenda in the EU capital Degrowth as a political project? Non-academic Session While the discourse on the need for systemic change of our economic system is slowly shifting in academia and civil society, we have yet to see this recognition consolidated in actual policy change in Europe. Meaningful action to tackle our systemic crisis is missing and instead there is a focus on symptomatic fixes to keep the current economy afloat. For example, the European Green Deal, promoted as Europe’s “new growth strategy”, follows the same logic. Within this context, this workshop aims to discuss key leverage points and strategies to consolidate degrowth in EU policies. As civil society organisations working at EU level, we will share our strategies to advocate for degrowth thinking from an insider perspective and in relation to policies such as the 8th environmental action plan, the EU Economic Governance Review and the REPowerEU demand reduction of 5% of energy demand. This will be followed by breakout groups discussing particular aspects to advance degrowth as a political project at EU level on topics including shaping the next European Commission’s ‘flagship’ 5-year programme to embody degrowth, a degrowth fiscal policy framework, sufficiency-based climate and energy policy, a degrowth approach to digital policy, and work and social policy. Out of these topics, we will let participants choose four groups based on their expertise and interest, and/or add others topic ideas if there is interest. Each of the breakout groups will be led by one expert from the organising team. Jan Mayrhofer Nick Meynen Katy Wiese Thomas Desdouits Lisa Hough-Stewart Meadhbh Bolger FoEE Example of our work at EU level: campaign on overconsumption 2023-09-01T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-372-ecofeminist_time_politics_gendered_working_hours_and_the_impact_of_working_time_reduction https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/372 false Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation Working time reduction, formerly a topic pushed by trade unions, is now picked up by other movements. Within the feminist movement, it is becoming apparent that the male-dominated goal of reducing working hours to a 4-day week only has leisure time in mind. However, a daily reduction in working hours should be advanced as care work occurs on a daily basis (Beechey and Perkins, 1987; Sirianni and Negrey, 2000; Dengler and Lang 2022). However, this gendered working time reduction lacks resonance in the degrowth discourse. In this paper, I will pursue the question of how young adults assess and evaluate new time policies as reductions in working hours can be valued in different ways: As a productivity gain, as a contribution to individually positive effects such as more time well-being and health (Buhl & Acosta, 2016), as a contribution to lowering ecological effects (Frey, 2019), or as a lever for a more equitable distribution of care work and gender justice (Lachance-Grzela, & Bouchard 2010; Spiegelaere and Pisna 2017). For reasons of time justice, male-coded people would also lose bargaining power in the negotiation of the “second shift” (Jürgens 2003; Hochschild and Machung 2012). In a survey, young adults will be asked about their attitudes towards WTR and which justifications they predominantly propose. In-depth interviews investigate deeper motivations of the arguments put forward. The results will be used to show where new time policies should start and how movements can form allies in the struggle for more ecofeminist and social time policies (e.g.: Won 2012). Lukas Heck Lukas Heck 2023-09-01T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-336-ecofeminism_or_death_ecofeminist_art_as_a_tool_of_practicing_degrowth_principles https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/336 false Artistic ecologies and eco-social practices Paper Presentation The aim of the proposed paper is to analyze how the principles of degrowth are applied, practiced and experimented with in ecofeminist artistic practices. Taking as an example the activities of historical and contemporary ecofeminist artists, I argue that these kinds of practices are a perfect tool for developing a vision of a good and sustainable life for everyone within planetary limits. In the first part of the paper, I highlight the connections between ecofeminism, first formulated by the French theorist Françoise d'Eaubonne in 1974, and degrowth. They both share not only the roots – discussion on political ecology and critique of development and technical advancement in 1970s France – but also the focus on how humans and more-than-human world are exploited in the name of the ideology of limitless economic growth, as well as many other observations, principles and postulated solutions. In the second part, I analyze particular creative practices developed by ecofeminist artists since the 1970s, highlighting their relations to degrowth principles. I focus on how they experiment with and apply the ideas of moderation, care and commons; expose the link between patriarchy, ideology growth and culture of overproduction and overconsumption; foster the attention towards the more-than-human world; and propose a vision of a good and sustainable life for everyone. I also underline how these practices, often neglected or looked up upon in the artworld, escape the narrow definitions of art and intervene in the real world using art as a tool for advocacy, activism and civil disobedience. /system/events/logos/000/000/336/large/One_AD_Absolutes_Intermediates_2019.jpg?1675007623 Bogna Stefańska Pamela Singh, Chipko Tree Huggers of the Himalayas #4, 1994 Betsy Damon, Meditation with Stones for the Survival of the Planet, 1982-1989 Anna Siekierska, Interspecies Services, 2019 River Sisters, Demonstration, 2019 2023-09-01T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-9 9_int_dg_conf-202-notes_towards_inquiring_the_politics_of_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/202 false Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation While recent publications have put in the centre of degrowth discussions the issue of strategy, the formation of collective actors/agents of transformation that will implement such a strategy has not been elaborated in detail. This presentation aims to provide some insights by creating an unfinished and open-ended collage, that may enable such an elaboration, while at the same time provide some real-life experimentations based on an ongoing action research in Thessaloniki, Greece. A starting point for this collage would be the challenges for the construction of collective actors that may work towards desirable, viable and achievable destinations, which were identified by Erik Olin Wright. However, these destinations should not be predetermined. In contrast, the paths towards them may be speculative (in the sense of creating themselves the pluriverse), autonomous (following Dinerstein’s definition of autonomy as the art of organizing hope), complex, diverse, and even contradicting. Following such lines of though, hegemony, a potential answer to the creation of collective actors, may now be portrayed as a decentralized system. This system could have diverse nodal points with each of them having contingent articulation both in itself and with other nodal points. Therefore, new hegemonic formations starting from the local level, that embrace social contingency, creative social praxis, and systemic complexity, can either be inspired by or be compatible with degrowth values and discourses, and can also co-construct, co-produce and co-evaluate relevant transformative public policies. At the last part of the presentation, a brief illustration of the above will be attempted based on the aforementioned ongoing action research. Giorgos Melissourgos 2023-09-01T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-45-degrowth_re-localization_and_multi-level_governance_in_european_solidarity_economy_networks https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/45 false A comparative analysis Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation The social, economic, and environmental externalities of industrial mass production and neoliberal approaches to globalization led to the multiplication of degrowth-oriented community-led initiatives (CLIs). Many of these initiatives were developed as part of grassroots, citizen-led strategies of promotion of resilience from the ground up. Although often small in scale, low in resources and sparsely networked, these CLIs promote multidimensional approaches to protecting or rebuilding the fabric of life from the impact of market pressures, as they tend to treat environmental sustainability and the promotion of economic democracy as inherently linked. They foster degrowth by supporting the re-localization of supply chains and policy processes. The goal is to capitalize upon local resources to arrest and reverse the loss of the capabilities necessary to form synergistic interrelationships among people and with nature. Still, multi-level governance, in the form of a strong connection with regional, national, and supranational levels of peer-to-peer collaboration, as well as policymaking, is recognised as needed to properly tackle the economic, political and institutional challenges faced by CLIs. Solidarity Economy is a term used by scholars and practitioners to refer to emerging social movements that are organizing CLIs in webs of mutual recognition and support. Based on fieldwork, this paper compares how the strategies of degrowth and re-localization, adopted by three social movement networks aligned with Solidarity Economy principles, affect their approaches to multi-level governance, from the local to the European Union levels. The European hub of the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN-Europe) and its urban and peri-urban “brainchild”, the Transition Network (TN), share a bioregional approach to “solidarity economy” that focuses on de-linking productive activities from the carbon-based economy by making them sensitive to resource limits and ecologically enriching. The European hub of the Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of Social Solidarity Economy (RIPESS), promotes an intersectional approach that focuses on furthering the practice and institutional recognition of economic self-organisation by marginalized groups and territories. Ana Margarida Esteves 2023-09-01T10:15:00+02:00 10:15 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-63-degrowth_enthusiasm_and_the_eastern_blues_iv https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/63 false Reflections on the integration of post-socialist transformation experiences into the transformational degrowth discourse Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation Our paper traces the links between post-socialist transformations and the degrowth movement. We note that the degrowth debate in general and Western degrowth research and activism in particular rarely refer to experiences from socialist societies and post-socialist transformations. Our experiences in the diverse degrowth circles in the "West" have shown that lessons from post-socialist Europe tend to be overlooked, even though degrowth promotes and calls for large-scale social-ecological transformations. We consider the special systemic and transformation expertise of post-socialist Europe and the task of building bridges between the two areas of experience and knowledge as indispensable for the degrowth movement and its systemic transformation efforts, but also for re-evaluating and better handling Eastern European developments and prospects. Therefore, we organised a workshop series on "Degrowth Enthusiasm and the Eastern Blues" at the 2018/2019 "Degrowth" and "Great Transformations" conferences in Malmö and Jena, followed by a salon discussion with former central planners and general directors of the GDR's state-owned combines in Berlin 2020. We mapped open questions and discussed perceptions and narratives on experiences and practices before and after 1989. The aim is not only to valorise the expertise of the people in the "East", but also to overcome their often-attributed transformation fatigue and to unleash their potential for a social-ecological transformation alliance. We present central results of our workshops, which we combined with empirical evidence of our own from Estonia and a theoretical examination of (post-)socialist economics to form six theses that we consider essential for a decolonial degrowth debate. Jana Gebauer Jana Gebauer Gerrit von Jorck Lilian Pungas 2023-09-01T10:30:00+02:00 10:30 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-259-the_unwritten_yugoslavian_history_of_degorwth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/259 false How and why the self-governance in Yugoslavia is essentially important for the future degrowth policies? Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation Self-management in Yugoslavia was an authentic form of joint labour. It lasted four decades and was constantly built, re-shaped, and re-defined through institutional changes. Compared with the economic systems of a given time, it is possible to distinguish specific self-management features in Yugoslavia that are important for the history of degrowth and future theory. A minimum of three concepts are worth mentioning. a) Social ownership of the means of production Basic means of production (not all) were collectively owned, or more precisely, social ownership was introduced in self-management, which implied the main distinction–to most of the other socialist central-planned economies and other contemporary capitalistic systems of the time. b) Direct democracy in market-oriented conditions, through substantial decentralization and management of the means of production, represented the main difference compared to centrally planned economies in most of the other (socialist and capitalist) cases. c) Amortization rate as the base for sustaining simple reproduction. Many authors from the times of self-management noticed that “the main problem” of self-governance in Yugoslavia was slowing economic growth. Self-management structural problems lay in the fact that simple reproduction was achieved in most cases, while extended reproduction was a challenge. Furthermore, the importance of self-management as factual know-how and dissonant Yugoslav heritage for Degrowth is great. First, by self-management in Yugoslavia, new ways to finance "common and social" needs and services were introduced through the established institutions (SIZ and their operations with DPZ). As such, the institutions introduced in the 70s are the inspiration for future Degrowth eco-social-care provisioning systems. It was the last form of "direct democracy" in the management system at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels, while the category" of "social ownership" is essentially important - at least in terms of future polycentric systems to govern the natural, cultural and social goods and capital - that are endangered by the work of contemporary capitalism. Milica Kocovic De Santo Abstract with title involving reviewer sugestions 2023-09-01T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-18-turning_away_from_growth_with_state-less_democracy https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/18 false Expanding the Degrowth Debate with the Idea of Democratic Confederalism Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation Degrowth, as a broad spectrum of proposals and advocacies, is united in the demand that economic activity must undergo a ‘right-sizing’ to a level that respects socio-ecological boundaries and the minimum social foundations that ensure a dignified and good life for all. From the demand to establishing societies and economies that stay within those boundaries, the question arises of what role the state has and to what extent particular political formats are suited to facilitate that. With the insight that the liberal state is incompatible with degrowth, the search for alternatives references the Kurdish Freedom Movement and the associated political format of Democratic Confederalism. Democratic Confederalism is a political format that calls for the abolition of the state and the inclusion of environmental protection and feminism. This event presents the determination of whether Democratic Confederalism is a viable political format for degrowth societies. To fulfill the goals, a theory synthesis is used as the methodology to combine two different theories to generate knowledge that goes beyond the two theories on their own. The compatibility is determined by utilizing the Gramscian analysis and understanding of the state. The presented paper examines whether Democratic Confederalism edits and handles actors and elements within the integral model sufficiently to allow the implementation of degrowth to measure their compatibility. Because Democratic Confederalism aims at dismantling hierarchical and centralized state structures, the material conditions, as well as actors and structures within the civil and political society, are sufficiently addressed to foster the advocacies that degrowth proposes. Lasse Steffens 2023-09-01T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-210-the_degrowth_movement_needs_a_critique_of_state_sovereignty https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/210 false Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation Max Koch (2022) argues that the degrowth movement needs to adopt a multi-frontal approach, working both within and outside of the state. I argue that this strategic proposal further needs a critique of state sovereignty, as well as a vision for what we want the state to be. This is not a reversal from strategy to vision: it is strategy through vision. Critiquing and reimagining the state is strategically relevant for three reasons. First, we need to adopt a metric for when to change the state and when to work outside of it. To say both paths are necessary is one thing, to have a sensibility for when to walk one instead of the other is another. Second, we need a vision of what we want a degrown state to be like. Degrowth is primarily a vision for our economies, but we also need to understand that uncritically reproducing state sovereignty may be antithetical to the broader societal ambitions of the degrowth movement. Third, we need to connect with struggles that do not share our vocabulary of degrowth, but do have an articulated critique of the kind of sovereignty that has perpetuated growth thus far. This includes indigenous struggles against settler colonialism, but also the epistemic struggle against the anthropocentrism latent in existing notions of sovereignty. In my presentation, I will explicate this question and point to some preliminary avenues for theorising what we want sovereignty and the state to be like under a degrowth society, starting from decolonial thought. Meindert Boersma 2023-09-01T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-33-from_marxist_development_theories_to_their_translation_in_the_degrowth_discourse_transforming_unequal_international_structures_for_environmental_sustainability https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/33 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation This chapter aims to connect two important movements that have dealt with the issues of international structures and injustices but tend to stay disconnected in the literature: dependency theory and degrowth. We argue that degrowth, as an academic and societal discourse, could draw on the theoretical insights from dependence theories to continue building its legitimacy as an alternative to green growth. High-income countries are primarily responsible for global warming due to their historic greenhouse gas emissions. However, the Global South being historically less responsible is more exposed to its consequences, while having less capacity to adapt to them because of international economic and political structures. Even worse, the transition to environmental sustainability through Green Growth in western countries is perpetuating this pattern. Focusing on policies to achieve climate-neutrality, this article explains how the green growth approach to transition towards sustainability is stabilising the older schemes of domination between western countries and the global South and (re)producing existing injustices. To achieve global sustainability, green growth-based policies that focus on weak sustainability are not sufficient. The degrowth paradigm, in contrast, aligns with a strong sustainability perspective and represents a more transformative approach, which criticises the foundation of environmental problems. Juliette Alenda-Demoutiez Maria Kaufmann 2023-09-01T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-102-degrowth_for_peace_proudhon_s_international_theory_and_its_relevance_for_the_geopolitical_implications_of_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/102 false Contemporary emancipatory internationalism Paper Presentation Degrowth has failed to adequately address the geopolitical implications of the transformation it envisages. Degrowth has equally failed to build a convincing theoretical basis for how the political project it puts forward might manage violence and build peace. Conventional international relations scholarship offers few routes and precedents with which to confront the question of how security can be provisioned, and violence mitigated between actors outside of militarization, economic growth, and relative power accrual. This paper looks to the international theory of the 19th-century anarchist thinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, whose theory may help us think anew about collectively abrogating violence without relying on militarization and vertical structures of coercion. Proudhon’s international theory suggests warfare’s root rests in humanity’s unsustainable desire to consume and in the parasitism of hierarchical (particularly capitalist) social relations, and that only a decentralized, mutualist political program that places economic justice at its core can balance antinomic social forces and bring peace. Framing the geopolitical questions surrounding degrowth in Proudhon’s terms, this paper argues that the political, economic, and ethical prescriptions of degrowth, particularly its anarchist and autonomist currents, offer a robust paradigm wherein the drivers of warfare are ameliorated, and a positive peace engendered, in doing so, further concretizing degrowth’s “concrete utopia”. This theoretical argument is accompanied by an account of the security challenges faced by a prospective degrowth project in the context of a transition. Assuming the continuation of a violent, expansionist, and colonial geopolitical landscape in the short term, the usefulness of several pathways and policies going forward are explored. Jack Ainsworth 2023-09-01T13:00:00+02:00 13:00 00:15 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-172-urban_commoning_politics_and_policies https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/172 false Alternative Urban Strategies in Spanish Municipalism Alternative economies Paper Presentation This paper will present an interpretation of Belgian Philosopher Isabelle Stengers concept of ‘ecology of practices’ applied to the urban commons provesses developed in Barcelona during Barcelona in Comú mandate. It will reflect on how the development of situated urban commons policies resonate with the political goal of impossing a limit to capitalism in the context of climate emergency, and how it could be articulated within the Degrowth movement objectives and strategies discussed in the Conference. Ana Méndez de Andés 2023-09-01T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-1 9_int_dg_conf-333-supporting_schools_to_de_grow_from_natural_hazards https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/333 false Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session School resilience as the ability of organizations to anticipate, prepare for, respond and adapt to sudden disruptions caused by natural hazards, is becoming increasingly recognized. The more frequent natural hazards as a result of climate change affect millions of people as well as their biological, and social environment. Although natural hazards are unpredictable and difficult to control, schools and communities have control over how they increase awareness of personal and collective responsibility for these events, what kind of support they will provide to students, families, and school staff during recovery, and search for ways to support sustainable futures. During the interactive workshop, the process of participative development of the resilience development plan which promotes the principles of degrowth theory such as building more resilient and adaptable infrastructure and procedures, and promoting the values of appreciation of all human and non-human species in education will be demonstrated. The process incorporates the self and group reflection of each school member regarding personal and professional experiences before, during, and after the natural hazard and how it affects school life and the life of the local community. In that sense, the appreciative inquiry approach will be implemented, which primarily refers to questioning and discovering what worked well before the change influenced by hazard took place. This method of inquiry enables and invites people to a common dialogue, a conversation to create an understanding and meaning of collective experiences and desired future. At the same time, it can help to plan and implement adaptations in education to the current and future impacts of climate change. Lana Jurko Sanja Brajković Sanja Brajkovic 2023-09-01T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-359-proximity_and_care_towards_alternative_ethics_of_future_tourism_practices https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/359 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation The paper aims to grasp and rethink proximity tourism in the context of recent degrowth debates, mapping out how might travel practices that take place near home and encourage slow travel on the ground cultivate much-needed perceptive attentiveness, ethical sensibilities and response-abilities in the surrounding environment. Andreja Trdina Nejc Pozvek Trdina__Pozvek_abstract.docx 2023-09-01T10:15:00+02:00 10:15 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-24-how_a_care_centric_degrowth_is_necessary_to_promote_a_sustainable_eco-social_future_that_values_everyone https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/24 false Care Centric Degrowth Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation Capitalism reproduces injustices and inequalities across social and ecological life. System change is required, and systematic change is only transformative if addresses the conjunction of growth surplus and care deficits which are core causes of gross inequalities and environmental destruction. A care centric degrowth strategy can support a transformative equalising system change. This paper explores some feminist led intersectional struggles that seek to centre a care narrative as a way to promote degrowth. Arguing for radical forms of institutional imagination, it argues that the challenge is not to produce blueprints but to democratically fix the compass firmly in the direction of transformative change and to establish the first steps in the journey towards that compass point. Recognising the reality of multiple pathways, the paper examines one possible pathway towards a care- centric degrowth; one that intentionally seeks to create institutional mechanisms to value and reward forms social participation that enable inclusion, democracy, equality and socio- ecological wellbeing. This section of the paper focuses on a form of eco social welfare future that seeks collectively mechanisms to meet need largely in the form of enabling institutions and universal basic services complemented by a form of income support that socially values care work and broader caring activity, a Participation Income. The paper concludes a form of degrowth narrative that opens up our imagination and democratic deliberation beyond western imaginary can advance forces of ecological and social reproduction towards a care centric world. Mary Murphy Fiona Dukelow care centric degrowth 2023-09-01T10:30:00+02:00 10:30 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-257-degrowth_meets_feminist_political_ecology_towards_a_care-full_and_pluridiverse_intersectional_degrowth_transformation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/257 false Part II Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation In this two-parted session, affiliates of the Feminism and Degrowth Alliance (FaDA) put Degrowth and Feminst Political Ecology (FPE) into dialogue. We aim to explore what a degrowth transformation might entail from intersectional, pluridiverse and placed/situated perspectives (Haraway, 1988; Kothari et al., 2019). The sessions will be centred around the guiding question “what would it mean to make degrowth truly care-full and to put social reproduction at the heart of socio-ecological transformations?” In the first part, we dive into Commoning stories of the reproductive caring economy from various geographies. In the second part, we explore the Co-weaving of theories and praxis for an intersectional degrowth transformation. We propose the following questions to steer the explorative sessions’ discussion: What can we learn from the ‘caring commoning’ citizens’ movement, and movements from the South who are prefiguring, feminising and decolonising the path to change within, against and beyond the confines of the growth-oriented system (Motta, 2021)? What kinds of insurgencies of care, ecologies of intimacy and socio-ecological transformations might we need to re-member and co-weave (Simpson, 2017)? To what extent is this also a cosmopolitical and epistemological pluridiverse task and praxis (Lugones, 2010)? How are emancipatory and critical lineages of pedagogical practices central to the how of these processes? To what extent do the categories of social reproduction capture this politics of ecology and how would we develop categories of critique and being-knowing through engagement with Indigenous and communities of colour and extend beyond human and non-human kin? Simona Getova Sara C Motta Lavanya Suresh Lina Hansen Degrowth meets Feminist Political Ecology: Towards a care-full and pluridiverse intersectional degrowth transformation (Part II) 2023-09-01T10:45:00+02:00 10:45 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-256-degrowth_meets_feminist_political_ecology_towards_a_care-full_and_pluridiverse_intersectional_degrowth_transformation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/256 false Part I Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation In this two-parted session, affiliates of the Feminism and Degrowth Alliance (FaDA) put Degrowth and Feminst Political Ecology (FPE) into dialogue. We aim to explore what a degrowth transformation might entail from intersectional, pluridiverse and placed/situated perspectives (Haraway, 1988; Kothari et al., 2019). The sessions will be centred around the guiding question “what would it mean to make degrowth truly care-full and to put social reproduction at the heart of socio-ecological transformations?” In the first part, we dive into Commoning stories of the reproductive caring economy from various geographies. In the second part, we explore the Co-weaving of theories and praxis for an intersectional degrowth transformation. We propose the following questions to steer the explorative sessions’ discussion: What can we learn from the ‘caring commoning’ citizens’ movement, and movements from the South who are prefiguring, feminising and decolonising the path to change within, against and beyond the confines of the growth-oriented system (Motta, 2021)? What kinds of insurgencies of care, ecologies of intimacy and socio-ecological transformations might we need to re-member and co-weave (Simpson, 2017)? To what extent is this also a cosmopolitical and epistemological pluridiverse task and praxis (Lugones, 2010)? How are emancipatory and critical lineages of pedagogical practices central to the how of these processes? To what extent do the categories of social reproduction capture this politics of ecology and how would we develop categories of critique and being-knowing through engagement with Indigenous and communities of colour and extend beyond human and non-human kin? Nadine Gerner Myfan Jordan Winne van Woerden Simona Getova Degrowth meets Feminist Political Ecology: Towards a care-full and pluridiverse intersectional degrowth transformation (Part I) 2023-09-01T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-248-the_long_way_home_the_politics_of_selfcare_and_yoga_in_global_capitalism https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/248 false Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation The caption read, “Took the long way home, away from the hustle and bustle where the air is fresh and life moves more simply…In my next life I’m moving [here] to Bali and becoming a rice farmer…” The author is an upbeat, ex-model, Californian yoga instructor. We taught at the same local yoga studio. She has a large, global following for her Instagram account which features an array of picturesque body images in “exotic” retreat landscapes. Each post is accompanied by New-Age sounding aphorisms such as above. My project explores how mediatized space (at the site of the body, in social media, and in tourism-driven capitalist economies) not only re-contextualizes and reinforces existing social and economic hierarchies on a global scale, but how these relationships are upheld through a language of “selfcare” and metaphysical transcendence. The industry’s gig-economy style labor regimes are bolstered by the economics of exclusion that often re-inscribes colonialist tropes. Selfcare and self-actualization depend on racialized, class-based, and nationalist hierarchies within this context. Based on my ethnographic research and personal experiences as a yoga instructor in for-profit studios and radical communal mutual aid groups, I show how the discourses and philosophy of the community often reinforce exploitative labor structures even as they portray yoga as a form of an alternative community. Indeed, yoga culture claims to offer practitioners a way to live differently, promoting ideas of self-actualization, environmentalism, and humanitarianism—ideologically, functioning as a form of an alternative economy. My paper concludes with a reimagining of the place of physical and care and health in a degrowth-based, non-hierarchical society and the possibilities for communal and individual well-being (and pleasure in inhabiting a body) this would offer. Kimberly Spencer 2023-09-01T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-338-concepts_of_health_and_illness_within_the_portuguese_degrowth_movement https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/338 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Paper Presentation In 2022, the Portuguese Degrowth Network organized a series of events on the 50th anniversary of the report ‘The Limits to Growth’ under the motto ‘Crescer até rebentar?’ (Growing till bursting?). One of the events consisted of an interactive workshop on degrowth, health and care and aimed to stimulate a co-creation process to build critical perspectives collectively. The main questions that steered the process were: “To what health do we aspire?”, “Is health, rather than complete well-being, a dynamic process that includes happiness, prosperity, physical and mental independence, and active participation in the community?”, “Why is care devalued and invisibilized instead of being assumed as a central dimension in individual and collective life?”, “Should we assume care as an institutionalized service, or is it something more comprehensive?”. Participants were challenged to think about health and care from a degrowth perspective that focuses on promoting the flourishing of life on the planet, the interests of present and future generations, and the fair sharing of resources within planetary boundaries. After creating shared mind maps about keywords (degrowth, health and care), the facilitators then randomly distributed questions between one online and five onsite working groups and clarified that these were explorative and aimed at feeding doubts rather than achieving proper answers. In this paper, we present outcomes, issues raised, and disquiets that surfaced when participants were challenged to think beyond an existing system which is focused on individual action and responsibility and only allows for incremental improvements. Drawing on the concept of post-normal science and the need for ‘extended peer communities’, we emphasize - together with workshop participants – that collective critical thinking must transcend hierarchical relationships of current institutions to enable citizens to question science and build the common good. Graça Rojão Hans Eickhoff 2023-09-01T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-222-lessons_from_death https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/222 false Perspectives of disability studies and degrowth from a palliative caregiver Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Paper Presentation Following the diagnosis of a stage four glioblastoma, a family member with pre-existing chronic illness was given three to six months to live. Over their final months they experienced a continual decrease in motor function, requiring increasing amounts of personal care and support in the home. During their final four months I moved in to provide this care, allowing them to live and die in their home surrounded by their close-knit community. With permission they gave me before they died, I hope to discuss the reflections and complications that arose during our time together. Of greatest significance was the failure of the United Kingdom’s policies to provide appropriate care and financial support during this difficult experience. Additionally, the nurses and carers that support patients are underpaid and overworked, making the provision of care unnecessarily strenuous. However, while this period presented many challenges, it became apparent that the opportunity I had to provide care for someone I love was a privilege that others are denied due to societal prioritisation of work and productivity over care and community. With these experiences in mind, this presentation will focus on how degrowth can contend with the realities of disabled people, chronic conditions and terminal illness. Using my experiences and disability theory I question whether degrowth can provide a better alternative to current approaches to palliative care, and, if so, how they would manifest according to degrowth theory. Hannah J. Duffew 2023-09-01T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-2 9_int_dg_conf-294-towards_a_forum_for_caring_societies https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/294 false Networking activity Resilience building through degrowth Special Session The world is currently facing multiple, interconnected crises including poverty, global and gender inequality, climate change, and biodiversity loss. These problems are all symptoms of the same systemic crisis and need holistic interventions to solve them. Systemic change requires a powerful vision, and we suggest that a caring society offers an appealing vision for holistic eco-social transformation. Caring societies prioritise the well-being of all beings, including humans, non-humans, and nature. They challenge the current paradigm of constant economic growth and competition, aiming for a fair and equitable distribution of resources, redressing systems of oppression, and reducing carbon emissions and resource use. Based on these insights we are about to set up a 'Forum for Caring Societies'. The session will consist of short inputs from colleagues already engaged in this network activity with most of the time allocated for further and in-depth discussion with the participants of the session towards strengthening and enlarging alliance building around the topic. Sylvie Lorek Lewis Akenji Kate Power Economies that Dare to Care 2023-09-01T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-206-degrowth_strategy https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/206 false how to bring about social ecological transformation Degrowth as a political project? Special Session As the cost of living crisis deepens, Lützerath hamlet in western Germany is being evicted with an extreme show of force, and COP28 will be chaired by an oil executive – what is to be done to ensure a social-ecological transformation? This question is key not only for degrowth but also many social movements, eco-left political parties, and others concerned with transforming our societies. Degrowth & Strategy: how to bring about social ecological transformation (Barlow et al. 2022) was the first substantive attempt to address the topic of strategy in a systematic way within degrowth. With over forty authors, contributing with both theoretical insights and practical examples, the book brings together activists, organizers and academics to collectively advance degrowth’s approach to strategy. The book attempts to not only sketch a theoretical framework for reflecting on strategy but also to explore how strategy is enacted in practice across various sectors and fields – from care and mobility to trade and finance – with the multiplicity of degrowth at the core. In this session we will present the book’s key findings, reflect on some shortcomings, and share some key conversations related to the book over the last year. With the session’s participants we will collectively discuss areas of further research, but also the implications of strategy for organizing and activism in degrowth. Strategy is crucial to social-ecological transformation, so join us in the messy and honest work of figuring out what can be done. /system/events/logos/000/000/206/large/Screen_Shot_2023-01-15_at_8.36.57_PM.png?1673813014 Nathan Barlow Nathan Barlow Ekaterina Chertkovskaya Degrowth & Strategy: how to bring about social ecological transformation 2023-09-01T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-65-political_strategies_for_a_socio-ecological_reduction https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/65 false Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation Growth-based eco-technological modernisation will not succeed in curbing global warming and other eco-social crises. Degrowth, the climate movement and other actors of a socio-ecological transformation should already discursively and politically adjust to this conflict-laden situation. We consider a bundle of strategies to be urgent, which we call socio-ecological reduction. It aims - in addition to previous left transformation strategies - at political interventions in (re-)production processes, which achieve ecologically relevant savings without extensive investments. Ulrich Schachtschneider Frank Adler Political strategies for a socio-ecological reduction 2023-09-01T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-56-can_politics_cope_with_hard_limits_on_societal_metabolism https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/56 false Forcing a reckoning with the physics of climate disruption: the Irish experiment Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation In July 2021, following long-running campaigning by Irish civil society groups, Ireland enacted a new domestic climate law. This created a statutory framework for the adoption of rolling "carbon budgets": voluntary limits on total domestic GHG emissions over successive 5-year periods, starting (retrospectively) from 2021. These were constrained to be prepared in a manner "consistent" with the Paris Agreement temperature goal. Quantitative levels for the first budget programme (2021-2035) were developed by the independent Irish Climate Change Advisory Council. These were subsequently adopted, without change, by the Irish parliament, and came into formal effect in April 2022. The law now imposes ongoing obligations on whatever governments may be in power to perform their functions "in a manner consistent with" these carbon budgets, "in so far as practicable". The budgets represent significantly more stringent limits than any that have previously existed in domestic policy. Unsurprisingly, there is already a clear tension, if not outright conflict, between the tacit, pre-existing, political consensus to pursue indefinite growth in economic activity, and measures that would be necessary to credibly comply with even the first carbon budget. As yet, however, the Irish political (and media) system appears to be proceeding in a mode of implicatory denial: not acknowledging even the existence of such a tension. In this presentation we will critically review the status and prospects for this evolving attempt at using an enduring statutory framework to force a meaningful reckoning between previously hegemonic socio-political views and the harsh physical realities of global climate disruption. Barry McMullin Paul R. Price Aideen O'Dochartaigh 2023-09-01T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-285-the_revolutionary_politics_of_a_degrowth_transition https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/285 false Deepening the multiplicity of strategies for social-ecological transformation Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation Research in degrowth has provided a detailed analysis of the social injustices and ecological unsustainability of a capitalist mode of production predicated on everlasting economic growth. It has also put forward a robust set of policy proposals that could allow us all to live well within planetary boundaries. The politics of a degrowth transition from global capitalism to a pluriverse of alternatives have received far less attention, however. To date, most of the scholarship on strategy for degrowth espouses a multiplicity of approaches described by Wright’s modes of transformation. While this framework situates degrowth within anticapitalist struggles, it fails to provide a clear direction for action. Here, I argue that this strategic indeterminacy results from a failure to acknowledge divergent political tendencies within the degrowth movement. I review the literature on strategy for degrowth as it pertains to state power and a collective agent of change. Many policies for degrowth assume their implementation by a state, but much of the movement’s political orientation follow anarchist positions that reject the use of state power. Despite relying on Marxist theories of the state (Gramsci, Poulantzas) and Marxist strategy (Wright), most strategy for degrowth does not align with Marxist thinking, particularly as pertains to the position of workers as an agent of change. The recognition of divergent political tendencies does not preclude a multiplicity of strategies for degrowth; instead, it creates the theoretical space to develop these strategies, and to catapult degrowth from theory to practice. Charles Stevenson 2023-09-01T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-238-towards_modelling_degrowth_scenarios https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/238 false Degrowth pathways in an Integrated Assessment Model used in IPCC reports Technology and science for degrowth Paper Presentation The scenario database used in the most recent IPCC Assessment Report on climate mitigation does not feature any modelled degrowth scenarios. This means that in assessing the available literature, the IPCC was unable to include degrowth as a strategy for climate action. As a consequence, much is unknown about the global energy, technology, and emissions dynamics of degrowth pathways, making it difficult to quantitatively compare degrowth to more commonly modelled green growth scenarios (Figure 1, for an illustrative comparison). Using the most prominent tool for creating socioeconomic and technological scenarios, the integrated assessment model, we have created a set of degrowth scenarios for Australia (Figure 2). These new scenarios assume a stronger coupling between GDP and energy consumption than most IPCC mitigation scenarios. Our GDP/capita outcomes range from $10,000/year to $70,000/year. We will present the methods, results, and lessons learned; and suggest a research agenda for the modelling of global degrowth climate mitigation scenarios that can inform climate reports, climate negotiations, and just transition targets around the world. Compared to a default growth pathway, we show that our degrowth scenarios, exhibiting lower GDP, are related to lower pressures on the upscaling of renewables and come with a lower reliance on carbon dioxide removal in the second half of the century. At the same time, we also show that radical reductions in energy consumption demand stronger inequality reductions and much faster increases of highly energy efficient provisioning systems to prevent increased decent living standards deprivations. Manfred Lenzen Mengyu Li Lorenz Keysser Paul Brockway Jason Hickel Jarmo Kikstra file 2023-09-01T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 00:45 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-48-regenerative_communities_resistance_existence_and_re-existence https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/48 false Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the deep fractures and the baseless promises of well-being that the capitalist model made to the whole world. Neither the market nor the State will be able to take care of a vast number of peoples, except in a transitory and limited way. People’s struggles for survival and their expression of agency will be a significant factor in defining the outcome of these exceptional circumstances. The crisis points to the terrible physical, cultural, and spiritual alienation of Homo Industrius from its own home ‘oikos’. Over the past three years, the COVID-19 crisis has been well documented, highlighting the plight of the working class, small scale farmers, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, urban migrants and many people living in the margins of our societies. It has shown the deep links between ecological devastation and socio-economic deprivation. Overall, the inequality and unsustainability of predominant models of ‘development’ have been clearly demonstrated. The crises showed the vitality of using this opportunity to simultaneously rethink the economic, social, political, cultural and ecological approaches to life and find alternative pathways of well-being. However desperate the current situation has been, communities across the world responded to the crises with resilience, care, innovation, and adaptability. The resurgence of life that we see in innumerable actions of solidarity, cooperation, love, and care in these times are rooted in the aeons-old articulations of indigenous peoples and local communities who are directly dependent on the rest of nature for their well-being. This session will highlight stories from the Global South demonstrated by communities, initiatives and civil society who give us important lessons and pathways for just, equitable, and ecologically resilient futures. Shrishtee Bajpai 2023-09-01T17:15:00+02:00 17:15 00:45 ZV-8-3 9_int_dg_conf-77-degrowth_practices_at_local_level_participative_community_management_of_local_resources_in_slovenia https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/77 false Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session The key elements of community based sustainable management of local resources concept are community – defined by a common location or common interest – and its resources: natural and those that have emerged as fruits of its culture (e.g. tradition, skills). It emphasises horizontal relationships (participatory processes and management), sustainable degrowth and interests of the community. In community projects, the key role is usually played by local inhabitants, representatives of local economy , local authorities and civil society. In Slovenia, organisations Focus and Umanotera are promoting degrowth practices by fostering the concept of community based sustainable management of local resources, building capacities of local stakeholdres, and supporting local communities in identifying potential for and implementing of community projects in the fields of energy, mobility, spatial planning, food, sustainable consumption and participatory management. This session aims to present the concept of community based sustainable management of local resources and its multiple benefits, tools created to support Slovenian local communities in developing and implementing community projects (platform »Enough for everyone«, training for community managers), and showcase existing good practices and two ongoing demonstration projects – the first Slovenian energy cooperative to build solar power plant on public building for community self-consumption in Hrastnik and sustainable mobility centre in Postojna. After the introductory presentations (three presentations of about 15-20 minutes), the session will engourage a facilitated debate between the panellists and the audience with the aim of gathering ideas for spreading the degrowth practices, improving participative practices and exchanging information on good practices from elsewhere. Marjeta Bencina Živa Kavka Gobbo Barbara Kvac Lidija Zivcic Enough for all 2023-09-01T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:15 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-291-towards_a_post-growth_deal_introducing_the_real_eu-erc_synergy_project https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/291 false Degrowth as a political project? Special Session In this presentation, we will introduce the recently awarded project “REAL: A Post-Growth Deal”, an EU ERC Synergy project, and the largest project awarded by the EU to degrowth/postgrowth topics to date. The project starts in May 2023, with a duration of 6 years. It is organised around 5 work-packages: (1) planetary possibilities, (2) postgrowth policies, (3) postgrowth provisioning, (4) postgrowth politics, and (5) postgrowth in practice. We will identify what we see as the core research questions for post-growth/degrowth research in this moment, and share some of the ways we have been thinking of dealing methodologically and empirically with these questions. As degrowth research expands in scale and complexity, we hope our presentation will serve as a space to discuss the state and future of degrowth research, and consider formats, structures and processes for collaboration beyond individual projects. /system/events/logos/000/000/291/large/REAL_Logo.jpg?1674815062 Julia Steinberger Jason Hickel 2023-09-01T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 01:30 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-271-geopolitics_and_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/271 false How to build real degrowth project and not to be invaded Degrowth as a political project? Non-academic Session Degrowth policies aim to respect planetary boundaries, while allowing the Global South to develop. This calls for a compelling narrative about a future in which we consume more frugally but live better together, as is being developed by the degrowth community. However, the end of GDP growth also raises geopolitical questions. If state or region start degrowth project will it be able to defend itself, its allies, democracy, human rights and a rules-based international order against attacks by other imperialist and growth oriented states? The transition to a society without GDP growth must be a democratic one. That is far from obvious at a time when authoritarian, imperialist regimes are invading or threatening their democratic neighbours. Geopolitical power is usually measured by wealth and military capabilities. We want to organize panel debate where someone who is an expert in degrowth will debate with experts from the field of geopolitics on how to build real degrowth projects in the current geopolitics context. Predrag Momčilović 2023-09-01T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-4 9_int_dg_conf-340-inclusiveness_in_practice https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/340 false Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Non-academic Session How to become a movement which is truly inclusive of non-white, non-cis-male people? As activists from the Decolonial Feminism Working Group of the Association Degrowth Switzerland, we would like to address this question by sharing our thoughts, experiences and difficulties so far. By sharing questions and reflecting together we would like to foster mutual learning, be inspired by each other and gain courage for our work. In this workshop we will address the practical and strategic implications that allow us as a movement to strive for a good life for all. Giulia Fontana 2023-09-01T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-79-transport_poverty_in_central_and_eastern_europe_cee https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/79 false Transport poverty as an unwelcome side-effect of unsustainable degrowth Climate (in)justice Special Session Transport poverty is a phenomenon, which is on the rise in CEE. Upcoming EU expansion of emissions trading scheme into the transport sector is likely to add more pressure on the people who already now have difficulties in accessing transport for their basic needs, such as work, care or education. While we need to degrow our transport sector, we also need to protect the most vulnerable groups from the adverse side-effects of the European climate policies. EU agreed to establish a Social Climate Fund to support vulnerable households, but without understanding transport poverty aspects, the support might not be directed where it is needed. This session will first introduce the concept of transport poverty and discuss its various aspects, such as affordability, accessibility and exclusion. Transport poverty occurs in different forms in different countries, depending on settlement conditions, the organization of public transport, social policies and other factors. Thus, the session will briefly present analysis of the transport poverty situation in six CEE countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia). Finally, it will discuss the parallels in the focus countries and provide policy recommendations for tackling transport poverty. The session will consist of introductory presentation of about 15 minutes, 6 short presentations of country situation – about 3-4 minutes each – and one concluding presentation of about 15 minutes. A discussion with the authors and audience will follow (about 30-40 minutes) on how to tackle transport poverty in practice in order to ensure sustainable degrowth. Lidija Zivcic Marjeta Bencina Ana Stojilovska Vladimir Halgota Zvonimir Lozic 2023-09-01T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-278-exploring_minimalist_emotions_a_cross-cultural_study_in_the_united_kingdom_and_thailand https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/278 false Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Paper Presentation Minimalists, i.e., individuals who live with fewer material items than other people and, are emerging as an essential area of both academic and non-academic study (Rebouças and Soares, 2021; Hook et al., 2021). It is interesting to note that links between minimalism and other concepts such as well-being, the dark side of marketing, and its connection to sustainability. However, despite some existing research looking at minimalism and emotions (Lloyd and Pennington, 2020), the role of minimalist emotions has not been explored much in developing countries and cross-cultural contexts. The current study aims to identify "what dominant emotions minimalists experience when they generally talk about their chosen lifestyle". Rather than trying to explain why the attitude-behaviour gap related to sustainable consumption could never be bridged (Carrington, Zwick and Neville, 2015), by better understanding minimalist emotions, we might be able to shed light on ways to create a “plausible and comprehensible narrative to prevent overconsumption”, which aligns with the “Communicating Degrowth within a Consumerist Common Sense” theme of the conference. In doing so, we contribute to academic knowledge in minimalist emotions. By offering the insights from two countries, Thailand and the United Kingdom, it also contributes to the area of minimalism in cross-cultural studies. The beneficiaries and users of this study will be policymakers, sustainable and social marketers, and researchers, who can use this insight to promote sustainability. Also, this could provide strategies for households and individuals to survive the financial crisis through the embrace of minimalism. Kanawat (Kenny) Asawachatroj "Exploring Minimalist Emotions: A Cross-Cultural Study in the United Kingdom and Thailand” 2023-09-01T12:15:00+02:00 12:15 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-284-emergent_more-than-human_anarchisms_in_a_pyrenean_agro-ecosystem https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/284 false Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation This paper explores the concept of more-than-human anarchisms by connecting eco-anarchist ideas and practices with recent literature on cosmopolitics and more-than-human political work. We try to understand the practical emergence of autonomous human-other-than-human political communities. For this, we study an agro-ecosystem in the Catalan Pyrenees where a peasant collective runs a 90 ha mixed animal husbandry farm. We use a variety of methods (participant observation, more-than-human participatory methods) to map and explore different human-more-than-human alliances, contradictory or conflictual relationships, as well as question their potential for building multispecies democracies. As such, this paper’s contribution is threefold: 1. it establishes the theoretical basis for exploring more-than-human anarchisms, 2. it proposes a rich empirical account of these emergent anarchisms in action, and 3. it explores degrowth's potential political alliances with agrifood movements and more-than-human nature. Jacob Smessaert 2023-09-01T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-331-identifying_different_narratives_of_agroecology_in_turkey_the_cases_of_nilufer_and_seferihisar_municipalities https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/331 false Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation Agroecology, as a 'science, practice and movement', and especially as a pillar of the food sovereignty movement, has been gaining attention globally as well as in Turkey. However, despite several local initiatives focusing on supporting agroecology, it is a novel term conceptualized differently by several stakeholders in Turkey. In this study, we aim to identify different narratives of agroecology mobilized by local governments and farmer cooperatives in two district municipalities in Turkey, namely, Seferihisar (Izmir) and Nilüfer (Bursa), by conducting in-depth interviews and surveys with representatives from these local governments, farmers cooperatives, as well as civil society organizations like Farmers Union (Çiftçi-Sen) and academics working on agroecology. These two local governments were chosen on the basis that they support ecological production and farmer cooperatives in their districts while putting differing degrees of emphasis on agroecology in their discourses: While Nilüfer municipality is explicitly using agroecology and food sovereignty concepts as part of a transformative imaginary, Seferihisar municipality relies mostly on narratives such as farmers’ livelihoods, and export opportunities. We would like to test this observation and identify any other emerging narratives by constructing several key statements based on the academic and grey literature and in-depth interviews. Constructed statements will be rated by key stakeholders in a face-to-face survey, where they will rate each statement on a 5-point Likert scale. We will then analyze these results using Principal Component Analysis to understand which narratives emerge and which statements fall specifically under which narratives. The results will enable us to explore the potential for linking agroecology movement with local governments in Turkey as well with broader social movements like degrowth. Pınar Ertör-Akyazı İpek Ronay Gündüz 2023-09-01T12:45:00+02:00 12:45 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-153-contestation_expertise_and_time_an_ethnographic_case_study_of_the_swiss_citizens_assembly_on_food_policy https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/153 false Degrowth as a political project? Paper Presentation For food system transformation, there is growing interest in deliberative participatory processes at the governance level, following good examples for other controversial issues such as climate policy. However, it is contested whether such citizens’ assemblies in their currently most implemented form can contribute to a profound sustainability transformation. In 2022, 85 citizens gathered to deliberate the Swiss food system transformation. The Swiss Citizens' Assembly on Food Policy (BEP) was unique in that it was the first national assembly and applied Scharmer's Theory U approach, which generates new collective intentions in a non-agonistic way. I focus on the question of whether the process’ framing was capable of realizing its transformational and democratic potential. Combining ethnographic approaches (participant observation, autoethnography, and semi-structured interviews) and constructivist grounded theory, I gained insights into how facilitators and citizens experienced the deliberative process and what emerged from these different experiences. I placed these emergences in the context of contestation, expertise, and time, drawing on critiques related to sustainability transformation by both deliberative and agonistic scholars. My results indicate that the BEP could empower collective action and make a more citizen-led democracy imaginable. However, proactive measures are needed to address structural problems and societal ideas that impede a truly democratic and transformative deliberative process. This includes (1) enhancing contestatory forms of communication next to harmonic ones in consensus-seeking cultures, (2) challenging the dominance of rational argumentation in Western policy-making processes and empowering citizens’ ways of knowing, and, especially in polarized contexts, (3) recognizing plurality within a narrow consensus-oriented framework. These insights have been echoed in numerous studies of participatory and deliberative processes, but are rarely applied in citizens’ assemblies in Western democracies. By proactively experimenting with the above, food democracy can be envisioned. Samira Amos Prof. Dr. Johanna Jacobi Prof. Dr. André Bächtiger Website of the Swiss Citizens' Assembly for Food Policy 2023-09-01T13:00:00+02:00 13:00 00:15 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-334-coercive_power_and_the_shaping_of_civil_society_activism_a_study_of_bologna_s_social-ecological_transformation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/334 false Resilience building through degrowth Paper Presentation In Miraftab (2017), the relationship between civil society activism and the authorities is described as shaped by the coercive use of power, in which the authorities manipulate activism by suppressing some forms and promoting others for the purpose of maintaining control. The city is a space where activism can take various forms, ranging from loosely organized movements that utilize both legal and illegal methods to bring attention to issues, to more mainstream forms such as cooperatives and ethical purchasing groups (Gruppi d’Acquisto Solidale). The Italian city of Bologna, is a prime example of the coexistence of these different forms of citizen resistance, where activism on issues like food sovereignty, eco-spatial inequalities, and the precarity of life in the western welfare state has helped to re-imagine and re-shape the city. Despite the relatively open space for imagination, reshaping is not without the involvement of the municipality, whose response, particularly towards more radical movements, has been repressive - the forced evictions of XM24, Labàs, and the former Telecom stand as prime examples. This paper will examine how the relationship between social movements and municipal institutions shapes insurgent planning in the context of social-ecological transformation. The paper will be using Bologna as a case study for its unique mix of social activism and unsustainable urban development. Maddalena Landi Maddalena Landi 2023-09-01T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 00:45 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-373-a_free_store_grows_in_manhattan https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/373 false from vacant storefront to alternative economy sharing hub Alternative economies Non-academic Session In this session, I will bring participants on a journey and discussion exploring the transformation of a vacant storefront in the heart of bustling NYC into a community asset and living museum. Leave what you can and take what you need at the Hell’s Kitchen Free Store, a 24/7 outdoor sharing hub. Run by neighbors for neighbors, this landfill diversion and mutual-aid initiative was a rogue initiative launched without permission (though granted forgiveness) and has been mind-bending for neighbors in this highly consumerist, capitalist city. The session will cover Hell’s Kitchen Commons’ commitment to engaging a neighborhood in alternative economies, beginning with it’s Swap, Share & Shmooze and Fix, Tinker & Craft events and online tools promoting sharing/gifting economies – and will include discussion about the future of our now nearly 2 year-old 24/7 neighborhood sharing hub (referred to lovingly as our free store). Learn about the successes and challenges of collaborating with other free stores throughout NYC and get tips from (and help expand and contribute to) The Free Store Network, /system/events/logos/000/000/373/large/hk_free_store_early_days.JPG?1675055688 Chana Widawski 2023-09-01T17:15:00+02:00 17:15 00:45 ZV-8-5 9_int_dg_conf-215-translating_degrowth_ideas_and_permaculture_principles_to_housing_practices https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/215 false Suburban sustainable house presentation Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session Large part of everyday consumption is related to housing. Conventional housing is extremely resource intensive, regarding both a) construction and b) dwelling. How to organise degrowth-friendly small-scale housing? Although sustainable housing is 'nothing new', examples of sustainable sub-urban houses in south-eastern and eastern Europe are rare.The presentation will show the project (and process) of re-making a conventional house into a sustainable one, keeping eco-footprint and cost low by sourcing materials locally, learning self-build skills, and testing new building ideas. Moreover, food and energy aspect of described project correspond with current escalation of energy crisis and environmental crisis. The presented project is based on permaculture principles and solutions, so on one level it can be seen as short compendium of permaculture thinking. However, since alternative housing in permaculture is dominantly placed in rural setting, sustainable self-build in urban zones (which are inhabited by majority of world population) is less developed. Presentation is practically oriented, however on a theoretical side it will try to raise several important questions, such as: how to apply low-tech solutions in sub-urban housing for lower resource consumption, can we move typical permaculture project from a countryside closer to urban center, and how to integrate degrowth ideas and permaculture principles. Ivan Gregov 2023-09-01T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 ZV-8-6 9_int_dg_conf-186-linking_the_levels_actors_strategies_and_alliances_for_postgrowth_transitions https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/186 false Degrowth as a political project? Special Session While postgrowth approaches are gaining discursive momentum, the development of encompassing strategies for a degrowth transformation has only started. Particularly, there appears to be a strong divide between bottom-up and top-down approaches (D’Alisa & Kallis, 2020). We argue that it is necessary to integrate a variety of approaches at different institutional levels based on an expanded science-based understanding of transformation. Such ‘multi-level’ transition strategies, including new alliances, policies, and governance arrangements, are needed to unlock deep path dependencies, promote alternative pathways, and facilitate societal negotiation processes in the light of conflicting interests. Some conceptual considerations on transition theory and examples from practice-oriented sustainability research in Germany serve as starting points for the interactive 90-minutes session. We view postgrowth transition pathways through the lens of the Multi-Level Perspective, which aims to understand change processes through the interaction between niche innovations (e.g., degrowth practices), changing landscape factors (e.g., cultural and narrative trends) and the dominant socio-technical regime(s) (Geels, 2019), and suggests transformative policy mixes (Kivima & Kern, 2016). Combining this with Wright's transformation strategies (Wright 2010), we aim to develop diverse intervention points and tools to think about their dynamic interaction for systemic change. Spotlight 1 explores the role of niche actors in postgrowth transformations based on a comparative case study of an energy cooperative, a community-supported agriculture project and a socio-ecological telecommunications business in Freiburg, Germany. The analysis finds that despite contextual differences, all three initiatives engage similar principles and strategies of institutional work to promote an emerging socio-ecological paradigm of economic organization, but face structural barriers that require political intervention. Spotlight 2 focuses on the potential of transformative bridging concepts, like the precautionary postgrowth approach (Petschow et al 2018), to engage mainstream actors. Insights from dialog project with German ministries highlights the importance of linking postgrowth ideas to concrete and familiar policy debates. Finally, Spotlight 3 addresses one possibility for linking the different institutional levels. It traces the emergence of new alliances between social and environmental civil society organizations for a Just Transition in Germany, and discusses impact and challenges associated with these new forms of institutional collaborations. In the subsequent synthesis and open discussion, we want to reflect together how to involve different stakeholder in postgrowth transformations, what concrete strategies are needed to link the levels, and which alliances can promote these. We invite perspectives from labour unions, environmental and social associations and other fields of research. In doing so, the session seeks to foster a vibrant, dynamic exchange of experiences, shaping a way forward for a sustainable postgrowth future. /system/events/logos/000/000/186/large/i%C3%B6w-Logos_4k_5.jpg?1673807317 David Hofmann Jannis Niethammer 2023-09-01T12:00:00+02:00 12:00 01:30 ZV-8-6 9_int_dg_conf-274-the_de_gruyter_handbook_of_degrowth_propositions_and_prospects https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/274 false A Discussion with the Editors and Contributing Authors Degrowth in the year 2023 Special Session Special Session Proposal Format: Book Discussion of De Gruyter Handbook of Degrowth: Propositions and Prospects Participants in the special session will include both Co-Editors of the De Gruyter Handbook of Degrowth along with several of the contributing authors (names not included in this proposal for anonymity). The Co-Editors will discuss the challenges of compiling a “handbook” on a field so diverse as degrowth. They will also briefly address why they see this project as an important one. In addition, the contributing authors in the session will talk about their own contributions to the volume along with their viewpoints on the critical discussions that scholars/practitioners of degrowth need to be having at this current juncture. The hope is that the book will be out in print by the time of the conference, as the manuscript is due to be submitted to the publisher in May of 2023. Kai Heron Anitra Nelson Lauren Eastwood 2023-09-01T16:30:00+02:00 16:30 01:30 ZV-8-6 9_int_dg_conf-175-practices_of_conviviality https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/175 false Lessons from Feminist Movements Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies Non-academic Session This panel will bring together contributions from Ecofeminism, Feminist mutual support groups and Community Accountability experiences to illustrate some of the challenges and opportunities for practising convivial ways of living and relating in the context of gender based violence and ecological crisis. Starting from the concept of “conviviality”, as “the creative relationships that emerge between people and their material surroundings, sustained by grassroots trust and responsibility” (Montgomery and bergman, 2017), the discussion panel will explore questions of alternative forms of relating in the web of life - in dialogue with eco-feminist voices - and questions of “trust” and “responsibility”, coming from the experience of mutual support groups and community accountability. There are many systemic obstacles to practising conviviality which Degrowth, Ecologist and Feminist movements, among many others, have amply identified: the dispossession caused by colonial and patriarchal extractivism, as well as the gender based, racist, and ableist violence which create fractures in communities which are very hard to heal. In response to this, conviviality is what increases autonomy and freedom from capitalism’s precarious systems of provision. Both the eco-feminist and the community accountability movements give us an insight into how autonomy is built in the here and now. By stirring away from offering universal solutions, and by sharing an understanding of context-bound and locally routed knowledge, they inform different understandings of what conviviality may look like, both in terms of our relationship with the non-human world and with each other. Montgomery N., bergman c. (2017) Joyful Militancy: Building Thriving Resistance in Toxic Times, AK Press. Stephanie McDonagh Maria Lorena Murra 2023-09-01T18:00:00+02:00 18:00 01:30 HDLU 9_int_dg_conf-418-francoise_verges_maja_solar_launch_of_the_croatian_translation_of_un_feminisme_decolonial https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/418 false Panel Non-academic Session en A book launch of the Croatian edition of F. Verges' book Françoise Vergès 2023-09-01T20:00:00+02:00 20:00 01:30 HDLU 9_int_dg_conf-419-exhibition_opening https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/419 false Marwa Arsanios, Željko Beljan, Marina Naprushkina, Rupali Patil, Dan Perjovschi, Selma Selman, Marko Tadić Non-academic Session en Marwa Arsanios, Željko Beljan, Marina Naprushkina, Rupali Patil, Dan Perjovschi, Selma Selman, Marko Tadić… Under the same title as the conference 9th International Conference on Degrowth Planet, People, Care-It Spells Degrowth!, the exhibition is conceived in a dialogue with the conference. The focus of the exhibition is on potentialities of socio-metabolic transformation that our societies need to undertake to return to their fair share within planetary boundaries, and to maintain emancipation and solidarity for all in their population. The artists included in the exhibition are preoccupied with reconfiguring new subjectivities through reimagining commons, reusing, repurposing, agitating and sharing, as well as igniting new imaginaries through collective desire, joy and solidarity. Curated by: Ana Dević/WHW In collaboration with: The Croatian Association of Visual Artists (HDLU), Zagreb Produced by WHW: Ana Kovačić, Gordana Borić, Sara Mikelić Exhibition design: Marko Tadić Technical support and set up: Marin Kovačević, Vedran Grladinović Opening hours of the exhibition at HDLU: Saturday and Sunday 10am - 6pm Closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and holidays Wednesday - Friday: 11am - 7pm 2023-09-02T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 CMR-mala 9_int_dg_conf-413-green_european_journal_can_degrowth_rescue_climate_politics https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/413 false Jamie Kendrick, Edouard Gaudot, Natalie Benett, Predrag Momčilović and Winne van Woerden Panel Non-academic Session en Climate politics is facing a backlash. From mining to migration, everywhere we look new conflicts and dilemmas are emerging around the climate crisis and the green transition. Media partner of the International Degrowth Conference, the Green European Journal invites you to a discussion on its latest print issue on the new environmental divides reshaping politics and the role of degrowth. Panelists 2023-09-02T11:30:00+02:00 11:30 01:30 CMR-mala 9_int_dg_conf-412-gef_knowledge_communities_philippe_pochet_welfare_states_and_climates_change https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/412 false only per invitation Panel Non-academic Session en only per invitation Panelists 2023-09-02T14:00:00+02:00 14:00 02:00 CMR-mala 9_int_dg_conf-434-gef_knowledge_communities_mike_duff_cities_and_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/434 false Panel Special Session en only per invitation Panelists 2023-09-02T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 CMR-klub 9_int_dg_conf-67-un_maker_faire https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/67 false Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Non-academic Session Within contemporary economic rational thinking, the act of “making (producing)” has been central, whether or not one complies with environmental standards. So called ecolabels, of which there are more than 450 kinds operating in 199 countries and 25 sectors, are designed to reduce ecological footprint in the process of rolling out an economic output. While these labels are meant to function as a safeguard against environmental abuses, corporates are finding loopholes to allure eco-conscious consumers who are often willing to pay a premium. An example of an absurd eco product is organic palm oil. When consciously considering the sustainability of the planet, one might notice that the most environmentally friendly approach is not making more products but “trying NOT to make as much as possible”. In other words, productivity measurement should not be based on how much one can make, but “how much one can GET AWAY WITH MAKING”. Here, I would like to introduce “(un)making”, a passive making practice. (un)making is akin to Kata (型 or 形), a choreographed pattern of martial arts movements which involve minimal effort. An example of an (un)made object is EROI, an energy drink made from the process of controlling an invasive plant. Now, the question is what does the economy look like when everybody best avoids production? (un)maker Faire collects and disseminates outputs or by-products (un)made by (un)makers from across Europe. The aim is to try making a complimentary supply chain via connecting (un)makers beyond traditional areas of specialization. /system/events/logos/000/000/067/large/%28un%29maker_faire.png?1673561745 Inari (un)maker Faire (project website) 2023-09-02T11:30:00+02:00 11:30 01:30 CMR-klub 9_int_dg_conf-16-advertising_degrowth https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/16 false A workshop on promoting degrowth to a wider audience Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Non-academic Session One of capitalism’s greatest tricks is to make so many believe that they can buy their way to utopia. Although reality may differ greatly from the adverts, that concept has seeped through screens and into the minds of billions. For any alternative way of thought to compete with that of endless and increasing consumerism, it must create and promote its own image of a better future worth fighting for. This creative writing workshop will use the medium of short advertisements as a way of clarifying aspects of degrowth and promoting them. It will start with an investigation into some of the basic techniques used by on-screen advertisers, leading into a discussion / brainstorming of the positive characteristics of degrowth for which we would like to advocate. Finally, participants work together to script / enact a short advertisement to promote their chosen aspect of degrowth. This workshop will take an inclusive approach and will require all participants to contribute in a way that suits them. Adam R. Mathews 2023-09-02T14:00:00+02:00 14:00 01:30 CMR-klub 9_int_dg_conf-228-germinar-t_a_community_based_degrowth_art_residency https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/228 false Artistic ecologies and eco-social practices Non-academic Session To create a space at the intersection of degrowth and art is necessary, because the arts are powerful in kicking us out of our mental and practical routines. They tickle our imagination and help us co-create alternative, desirable futures. They can mobilise for socio-ecological change, as they transmit more than we can rationally grasp. To respond to the need of taking this discourse about art and degrowth to an embodied level, we created a community based degrowth art residency. Germinar-t took place from the 4th to the 11th of December 2022 in the eco-community Sunseed, in the off grid village Los Molinos in Almería, Spain. The group of participants consisted of fourteen activists and artists. The first two days were dedicated to integrating with the social tissue of local communities, the landscape and putting some degrowth lenses and boots on. The group explored the intersections of ecovillages, degrowth transitions, environmental justice struggles and the arts, connecting the local and the global. Several groups were formed to create and exchange tools for art based degrowth practices. In this session we present processes and reflections which sprang from the artistic investigations and moments of conviviality. Afterwards, we open the space to discuss with the participants a set of practices for art-based degrowth and degrowth-based art; values of community, conviviality, interdependence, deep democracy, global justice, decolonial feminisms and political ecology. /system/events/logos/000/000/228/large/_Germinart.png?1673820313 laura chica castells lara stammen carlo sella germinar-t website 2023-09-02T15:30:00+02:00 15:30 01:00 CMR-klub 9_int_dg_conf-309-feminist_alternative_economies_towards_radical_emancipatory_horizons https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/309 false Alternative economies Non-academic Session This activity has two objectives. The first is to make visible various economic alternatives built by feminists, women and LGBTQIA+ people in different parts of the world and in different sectors of our economies and spheres of our lives. These alternatives include care economies, housing alternatives, agroecological initiatives, food sovereignty and seed sovereignty, various cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy initiatives, and unions among other alternatives. The second objective of this activity is to present our political vision and feminist decolonial approaches to the economy that transcend binarisms between the microeconomic and the macroeconomic, and allow to foster more bridges and articulations between thousands of radical alternatives that already exist, towards systemic changes and of paradigmatic shifts that we need in the face of these multiple crises that we are facing. Marta Music 2023-09-02T10:00:00+02:00 10:00 01:30 CMR-park 1 9_int_dg_conf-217-unleashing_fantasy_for_transformation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/217 false Ursula K. Le Guin and the Power of Imagination Artistic ecologies and eco-social practices Non-academic Session Building on the work of novelist Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) we explore the possibilities of Science Fiction and Fantasy for an “education of imagination” that is essential for a degrowth transition. “We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words”, said great novelist Ursula K. Le Guin in 2014. This artistic session considers Le Guin’s uniquely original work and explores her manifold connections to the degrowth discourse. The “education of imagination” (Le Guin) as well as the “education of desire“ (Miguel Abensour) are crucial in building degrowth societies. Unlike theoretical texts and discussions, fiction may directly widen the space of possible futures that we are able to imagine. Le Guin was a master in building worlds and writing speculative stories that depict societies who opted for other social structures then the current capitalist world system. She also wrote lucid essays on degrowth perspectives without mentioning the term, exploring feminist and anti-patriarchal perspectives, subsistence work, anarchy, Daoism and the general role of the imagination for societal change. Many feminist and postcolonial theoretics such as Donna Haraway or Bayo Akomolafe have built on her thoughts. In this artistic session, the five contributors – experienced degrowth scholars and publishers – will in a choreographed performance read passages from Le Guin’s work and contrast them with essayistic thoughts on degrowth topics such as (convivial) technology, gender, subsistence, commoning, and postcolonial practices. The audience will become imaginative contributors, too, developing and discussing their own speculative thoughts on possible degrowth futures. Andrea Vetter Jana Gebauer Corinna Dengler Matthias Fersterer Aaron Vansintjan 2023-09-02T11:30:00+02:00 11:30 01:30 CMR-park 1 9_int_dg_conf-132-strategies_for_basic_provisioning https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/132 false Erik Olin Wright in Practice Degrowth as a political project? Non-academic Session In the context of environmental, inequality, housing and energy crises, Degrowth Vienna has chosen to focus its 2023 activities on basic provisioning. Through interactions with various boroughs, associations and networks, Degrowth Vienna is developing general and field-specific degrowth proposals for meeting everyone’s basic needs in the city. Building on its expertise on strategy, Degrowth Vienna aims to bring the session’s participants to think strategically at the local scale, and to wisely use theoretical knowledge for informing practical proposals and policy-making. We will explore basic provisioning in cities, resting on the examples of Vienna and other cities or policies participants will be familiar with. Experience that Degrowth Vienna gained from the publication of "Degrowth & Strategy" as well as its knowledge on the Erik Olin Wright framework will serve as the base of our common reflection. Following an introduction to Chertkovskaya’s adaptation of the Wright framework for classifying strategies (Chertkovskaya 2022) and some of its main criticisms, participants will get updated on the guidelines and concrete proposals that Degrowth Vienna will have developed since January 2023 on basic provisioning in Vienna. Participants will be invited to critically reflect on the Wright framework, firstly theoretically, and secondly based on their reflections on concrete proposals for basic provisioning at the city-level. They will be encouraged to be creative, and to bring their own insight and examples. Following a comparison of theory and practice, participants should come out of the session with realistic tools to propose, and assess, concrete urban degrowth proposals. /system/events/logos/000/000/132/large/logo.png?1673720675 Noémie Cadiou Lisette von Maltzahn Dario Feliciangeli Alina Heuser Degrowth Vienna 2023-09-02T14:00:00+02:00 14:00 01:30 CMR-park 1 9_int_dg_conf-7-revolutionary_love_and_relation https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/7 false Strengthening bonds and building alliances Resilience building through degrowth Non-academic Session In light of the multiple crises advanced by late-stage capitalism, movements for socio-ecological transformation embrace a new kind of political belonging and relation, as they articulate alternative positions to the status quo and theorise and practice change. Hence, they challenge a system that seeks to alienate people from nature and from each other. Inspired by Glissant’s “poetics of relation”, a relational conception of human existence can act as a tool to counter the West’s imposition of universalist values. Glissant endorses the idea that local action needs to be combined with global consciousness of Relation, aligning local struggles into a context of a larger struggle. Living in a global system that fundamentally disagrees with your values is highly disturbing and alienating. Thus, we must create and strengthen bonds and solidarities as self-sustaining practices and engage in broader alliances. As James explains, Revolutionary Love originates from a desire for the greater good that entails radical risk-taking for justice. Creating a common struggle front from the “Left and the bottom” is an experimental practice that takes a fundamental ontological revolution and a rethinking of what it means to be in relation to each other. This is a convivial space of exchange where we explore what it means to be in relation to each other and to nature, reflecting on how we are organised and practice activism to find new ways of creating bonds and alliances. Franca Marquardt 2023-09-02T15:30:00+02:00 15:30 01:30 CMR-park 1 9_int_dg_conf-433-municipalist_politics_for_the_change_we_need_-_experiences_from_zagreb https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/433 false Tonko Bogovac (District Council Novi Zagreb – East), Marija Brajdić Vuković (City Assembly of Zagreb), Marina Ivandić (City Assembly of Zagreb), Iva Ivšić (City Assembly of Zagreb), Marin Živković (City Assembly of Zagreb), Moderated by: Branko Ančić (ISRZ) Degrowth as a political project? Special Session en Zagreb je NAŠ!/Možemo! neighbourhood, district and city councilors will discuss the efforts of the current green-left municipal government in Zagreb to institute a more democratic, more just and more sustainable city to live in. Tomislav Medak 2023-09-02T19:00:00+02:00 19:00 02:00 CMR-park 1 9_int_dg_conf-416-final_party_and_open_air_concert https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/416 false concert and party in the park Non-academic Session en Rundek Degrowth Trio Concerts followed by a convivial party with citizens and conference participants. A farewell to degrowth conference in Zagreb 2023-09-02T11:45:00+02:00 11:45 01:15 CMR-park 2/glazbena 9_int_dg_conf-14-the_evolution_of_our_consciousness_drives_the_evolution_of_our_economy https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/14 false simulation of our new economy and book presentation of http://free-to-serve.org Communicating degrowth within a consumerist common sense Non-academic Session in this session we play a simple yet powerful simulation of our new economy. thus it is an explanation of my manifesto: http://free-to-serve.org the simulation and manifesto investigate the relationship between consciousness and economy. they operationalise the notion of consciousness and from the premise that our consciousness is evolving derive a vision of our economy to be. one of the main statements is that as consciousness evolves, trust will grow and hence transactions costs will drop. the latter will provide ample space for economic growth within the boundaries of our planet. /system/events/logos/000/000/014/large/free-to-serve-2020-2000.jpg?1672589275 jeroen van beele homepage of the manifesto manifetso: free to serve 2023-09-02T14:00:00+02:00 14:00 01:30 CMR-park 2/glazbena 9_int_dg_conf-432-democratic_confederalism_in_theory_and_practice https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/432 false Mario Rudra (Academy of Democratic Modernity) and Matej Kavčič (Academy of Democratic Modernity) Panel Non-academic Session en Democratic Confederalism is a social concept that takes the basic principles of the degrowth idea and translates them into a system of self-government for the people of the Middle East. The concept's mastermind, Abdullah Öcalan, sees Democratic Confederalism as a response to "capitalist modernity" and its three pillars of capitalist economics, the nation-state and industrialism. What Degrowth and Democratic Confederalism have in common is that they oppose a growth-oriented and centralized social structure and instead strive for a decentralized, grassroots democratic and sustainable social order. Both concepts also emphasize the importance of solidarity, justice and ecological sustainability. Despite these similiarities, there has been very limited exchange between the two theories. Therefore, we would like to present in a panel both the emergence of the Demcratic Confederalism as a concept self-administered society and its practical implementation in Rojava/Northern Syria. 2023-09-02T09:30:00+02:00 09:30 01:30 CMR-velika 9_int_dg_conf-414-nithi_nesadurai_equity-based_de-growth_pathways_for_living_well_within_the_ecological_limits_of_one_planet_workshop https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/414 false Head of the Climate Action Network South East Asia from Malaysia Contemporary emancipatory internationalism Non-academic Session en The intersection between Degrowth, and Equity and Ecological Limits will be the focus of this interactive workshop. After on-the-spot assessments of participants’ views on Degrowth, the workshop will address the questions of: Who should be the first movers on implementing Degrowth, and Why? Breakout sessions have been incorporated to identify transformational solutions for two complementary approaches on enabling Degrowth – strategies and campaigns. By attending this workshop, participants will get an overview of Degrowth based on Ecological Limits and why Equity is key to effectively addressing it. They will also get to recommend their own transformational solutions for Degrowth and design the means to implement them. The creation of a platform for continuing the conversation on this issue after the workshop will also be explored. 2023-09-02T11:00:00+02:00 11:00 01:30 CMR-velika 9_int_dg_conf-427-eunice_asiedu_bridging_the_divide_-_the_european_african_and_asian_labour_market_and_the_degrowth_nexus https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/427 false Economic Policy Competence Center (EPCC, Ghana) Alternative economies Non-academic Session en By 2050, Africa’s population is projected to reach 2.2 billion. A key question is how to great create enough, and at the same time, decent jobs. COVID-19, Russia-Ukraine War and Climate Change have exacerbated the unemployment situation in Africa. In particular amongst the teeming youth in Africa, and women who are largely found in the informal economy and hardest hit by global shocks. The workshop on Employment Generation in Africa – Learning from Good Practices will bring to the fore drivers of employment in Africa, gender dynamics in Africa’s labour market and how progressive policies (national and international) can foster the promotion of decent jobs on the African continent. Panelists 2023-09-02T12:30:00+02:00 12:30 00:45 CMR-velika 9_int_dg_conf-436-mirela_holy_degrowth_and_circular_economy_synergy_approach_for_sustainable_croatia https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/436 false Hegemonic worldviews and degrowth horizon Special Session en Friedrich Ebert Stiftung sessions Panelists 2023-09-02T14:00:00+02:00 14:00 01:30 CMR-velika 9_int_dg_conf-431-olha_boiko_walking_a_mile_in_eecca_activists_shoes_towards_climate_justice https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/431 false Coordinator of CAN EECCA and a board member of the Ukrainian Climate Network Climate (in)justice Non-academic Session en What do we know about being a civil society activist in Eastern Europe, Caucasus or Central Asia? Be it Ukraine, Georgia or Kyrgyzstan – all countries need to move towards climate justice and implement better climate policies. At the same time, being a climate activist means you might have to risk your reputation, safety or financial wellness in order to even be heard. In this role-play workshop, we will discuss the issue of making an impact in a very challenging environment with new crisis emerging one after another. But don’t be scared, we will find a lot of inspiration and power through this process. Panelists 2023-09-02T15:30:00+02:00 15:30 01:30 CMR-velika 9_int_dg_conf-428-maritza_islas_living_in_the_capitalocene_bodies_territories_and_the_web_of_life_workshop https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/428 false Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Panel Non-academic Session en At the beginning of the 21st century, the concept of the Anthropocene entered the political and scientific arena announcing the beginning of a new epoch characterized by human influence on Earth's systems. However, from the perspective of various social thinkers, it is more accurate to employ the notion of the Capitalocene to underscore capitalism's responsibility in the destruction of nature. Despite the significance of these discussions, both concepts remain overly abstract, and distant from everyday realities. In this workshop we will explore the meaning of living in the Capitalocene, how it affects our bodies and our territories, and how it amplifies the connections between us. Panelists 2023-09-02T17:30:00+02:00 17:30 01:30 CMR-velika 9_int_dg_conf-415-closing_plenary https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/415 false LOC and SG round up the next steps and strategies, present the 10th International Degrowth Conference Non-academic Session en The LOC present concluding remarks, reflections on the conference preparation and degrowth movements' first post-pandemic physical assembly, and the diverse team putting the conference together over 2 years and 5 intense days. The SG charts the evolution of conferences and events over 15 years, and representatives of the Pontevendra (10th Int Deg Conf and ESEE conf) team introduce the next conference. Strategies of of transformation discussed. Panelists 2023-09-02T14:30:00+02:00 14:30 01:30 CMR-terrace 9_int_dg_conf-198-capturing_the_european_other https://zagreb.degrowth.net/en/9_int_dg_conf/public/events/198 false Sunprinting workshop Artistic ecologies and eco-social practices Non-academic Session My name is Mina Archontaki (b. 1997, Rethymno, Greece) and I am an interdisciplinary artist based in Amsterdam working with biomaterials and natural resources. I am interested in commonism -with an O in the middle - and the urban and environmental commons always come to the fore in my artistic practice. Emphasis is given to concerns about environmental sustainability and climate emergency. My interest in ecological practices comes from my practical experience gained at my family’s farmland on Crete. Departing from the fact that this year’s International Degrowth Conference is being held in Croatia, a Balkan city, I would like to propose a sunprinting art workshop with the title “Capturing the European Other”. This workshop will lead to a collective artwork from all the participants and a small discussion around Balkanism and the idea of the European Other, a notion constructed by Western Europe. This year's conference gives us the opportunity to ask questions like who is considered Balkan, how the rest of the Europeans see the Balkan peninsula, and how this “periphery” of Europe will play an essential role in the degrowth movement. Sunprinting is an easy photographic printing technique that uses sunlight to capture the negative print of a physical object placed on a paper/fabric that is prepared with light-sensitive ink. This accessible printing method is ideal for a short-length workshop and can happen almost everywhere where is light and access to water. Mina Archontaki Sunprinting workshop in elementary school in Greece Personal work of sunprints