Read the full version of the open letter here
The current economic downturn is not Degrowth, even if some people misleadingly call it that. Degrowth means ensuring everybody's basic needs are met by transforming our societies. With policies in place to do that, we could shut down much of the economy for months and everyone would still have enough food, shelter, and healthcare. In a Degrowth society, with relocalized economies, a pandemic like COVID-19 would be less likely, would spread less, and would cause less suffering. The economic crisis triggered by the pandemic is related to our dependence on growth. All interested individuals and organizations are invited to engage in an open debate to re-envision economy and society in the wake of the corona crisis. From May 29 to June 1, the (now online) international conference “Degrowth Vienna 2020: Strategies for a Social Ecological Transformation” will be held, and the Global Degrowth Day on June 6th.Catalan Croatian Danish Dutch French German Greek Hungarian Italian Korean Mandarin Portuguese Russian Slovenian Spanish Swedish Turkish
By Christiane Kliemann After six days of workshops, discussions, practical activities and fun the summer school on degrowth and climate justice at the climate camp Rhineland has come to and end. With the slogan "Degrowth in Action", the summer school did not only break down the rather theoretical ideas of degrowth into concrete actions such as those against lignite mining in the region. It als...
By Niko Paech The legend of green growth depends on three basic principles: (1) Increase of resource-efficiency, (2) closed material flow cycles and (3) renewable energies. However, despite a host of innovations in the field of climate protection, the ecological damages in the area of energy have been and still are on the rise. The process of ecological modernization reveals itself as a histo...
As a manager for “Bios funeral directors“, Dr. phil. Haimo Schulz Meinen, ex-journalist, teacher and writer, suggests the next steps to relieve the planet from the human objective of growth. In fact, “Bios Funeral” appears to be a very profitable start up and worthy of investment. After a short moment of surprise we finally published [...]