By Chris Ward Despite attending the conference, not everyone will fully understand what ‘Degrowth’ is, or the multitude of related terms that will be mentioned during the conference. Thankfully the first session on the schedule, offered by Federico Demaria and Giacomo D´Alisa was ideally suited for getting your knowledge up to scratch. Judging by audience responses to the question “What is Degrowth?” there isn’t a concrete definition yet, but one is needed to make the term more understandable to the wider world. Currently ‘Degrowth’ is more of an intersection of several concepts, we need to be clearer with our vocabulary to emphasise ‘different’, not ‘less’. ‘Degrowth’ was first mentioned as a term by Gorz and later by Roegen and Grinevald in the 1970s Degrowth lost some interest in 80s and 90s due to the prevailing neo-liberal thoughts of the era. It re-entered the public’s interest in the 00s especially around Europe and Latin America in some of the more traditionally activist countries and those worst hit by the Global Financial crisis. Leipzig is 4th international conference on Degrowth, and now the term is being mentioned in mainstream media, academic courses and articles. Let’s break apart the vocabulary apart a little… The Limits of Growth
Local action is often the best remedy for the failings of the current system — a worldwide confederation of democratic communities can have the same impact at a global scale. Today we are seeing an inspiring resurgence of progressive action at the local level, even as reactionary nationalist movements in Europe and beyond seek to position themselves as the true voices of a renewed localism. ...
Gemüsekooperative Rote Beete [Vegetable Cooperative „Rote Beete“] from Marc Menningmann on Vimeo. What has agriculture to do with the climate? A lot. Modern, industrialized agriculture is heavily dependent on fossil fuels. This video shows an excursion which took place in the context of the Degrowth Conference in Leipzig last year. Participants visited the vegetable cooperative "Rote Beete" o...
By Bernard Herry Priyono Grand Indonesia is a gigantic shopping mall at the heart of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Across its gate is Plaza Indonesia, another luxury shopping destination for the country’s elite and middle classes. The malls’ isles are always lined with sleek Italian sports cars, German premium BMW and Mercedes-Benz or grand British-made Bentleys. Thirty-five years ago the...