Degrowth Perspective Research Articles

Nature always recovers! A degrowth analysis of event participants’ perspective on environmental impacts

This paper highlights the challenges of self-limitation, providing insights into how event sport participants relate to and act within limits. From a cultural degrowth perspective that advocates for the need to practice self-limitation and reduce environmental waste from economic activities, we examine how event participants perceive physical impacts on nature during two types of nature-based events in Jämtland, Sweden. Based on 50 semi-structured interviews, observations and photo-elicitation observations, the findings reveal the difficulties of adhering to limitations. Initially, the informants considered only trash or greenhouse gas emissions as impacts but were stunned to see photos of how impacts such as trail and soil erosion had gone beyond what they imagined. However, responsibility for limiting the effects tended to shift to others, particularly the event organisers. These two events present a paradox in tourism. The convivial idea of visiting nature collides with resource utilisation that heavily impacts the environment. Management implicationsSeveral suggestions of measures to consider emerged to limit impacts from participant and nature-based events, as well as for sport tourism in nature. While participants tend to transfer responsibility to the organisers and local authorities, creating awareness and guide them to a sustainable behaviour are highly appreciated.1.Event organisers should implement stricter guidelines for participant behaviour, providing create encouragement, options and clear instructions to reduce environmental impacts, it may in very low degree decrease their experience, but more importantly shows signs of responsibility.2.Acceptable restrictions could include walking a few metres, imposing penalties, and offering alternative routes. Local knowledge is crucial in this regard. Well-known in the respective sport should serve as role models, influencing participants to adopt more sustainable practises.3.Policy makers must ensure that event organisers adhere to specific guidelines. Local governments must facilitate measures to protect the physical environment, providing flexibility to accommodate last-minute changes if necessary.4.What types of environmental impacts are perceived and function differently in relation to the feeling of abundance of nature. While the importance of addressing global environmental impacts, equal attention should be given to preserving the physical environment.

The Unanticipated Pleasures of the Future : Degrowth, Post -growth and Popular Cultural Economies

A renewed theory of 'degrowth' has recently emerged from different streams of political economy, ecological economics and environmental activism. Yet contemporary degrowth (and post-growth) has yet to develop any credible or inclusive theory of cultural production, art or aesthetics. A key challenge, as I see it, is to generate a progressive degrowth project that can not only more equitably share and sustain scarce resources, but also retain some sense of organised cultural production as a source of different aesthetic, symbolic and communicative needs and desires. This, I would argue, must include tastes and preferences that are rooted in shared and globally extensive forms of popular culture. The aim here, therefore, is to conceive of a degrowth perspective that might begin to imagine forms of genuinely sustainable and organised cultural economy that strive to accommodate and expand (rather than deny or frustrate) the widest array of human needs and desires in any ecologically-challenged future.

Tracing sustainable production from a degrowth and localisation perspective: A case of 3D printers

An emerging commons-oriented mode of production that combines globally accessible knowledge with distributed manufacturing has recently been presented as a better fit for sustainable degrowth and localisation, compared to incumbent practices. To tentatively test this potential we select the case of 3D printers. The production of 3D printers varies within a spectrum from proprietary and industrially produced to open-source and locally manufactured. We compare different 3D printers within this spectrum, adopting a values-based life cycle analysis tool that allows for a critical evaluation of the sustainability of 3D printers from a degrowth perspective. An emphasis on the prospects for sustainable localisation is given at each life cycle stage. We find significant advantages of open-source 3D printers in terms of education, experimentation and maintenance, and enhanced conviviality in case parts of their manufacturing is localised. Still, to a large extent their manufacturing process remains a highly centralised process, hindering additional benefits, and coherence with sustainable degrowth and localisation. We conclude with insights on how openness in terms of materials production and proper documentation of the manufacturing process, as well as a multi-level organisation for local production could lead to more sustainable practices.

Degrowth Perspective for Sustainability in Built Environments

Degrowth, as a social movement, a political project, and an academic paradigm, aims to find ways that can lead to harmonious co-existence between humanity and nature, between humans and non-humans, and within humanity, including oneself. Seen through the lens of degrowth, everything becomes subject to reflection, critique, re-evaluation, and re-imagining. This concerns environments created by humans in a long process of interaction with nature, i.e., built environments. Built environments are always in becoming. This entry contemplates the implications of degrowth for intentionally directing this becoming towards genuine sustainability.

A degrowth approach to urban mobility options: just, desirable and practical options

ABSTRACT Following Illich’s (1974) notion of convivial tools and the distinction he makes between “self-propelled transit” and “motorized transport” of mobility, we apply the emerging paradigm of degrowth to urban mobility. Based on the degrowth literature and Illich’s work, we derive principles and criteria for the mobility of a degrowth society that include institutional, energy and material use, infrastructure, local environmental impacts, social impacts and justice, proximity and speed, and autonomy. To ground our analysis in real-world conditions, we consider the practical perspective of mobility and add another set of criteria: comfort and safety, travel time, monetary cost, and health. We then compare urban mobility options, including recently developed hybrid mobility and sharing schemes. Our results show that, although private means have an advantage in terms of personal practicality, they are not desirable from a degrowth perspective, due to their high social and environmental costs and as constituting a source of urban injustice. Public, hybrid, and self-propelled mobility options would become more practical if such injustices were recognised, and if effective public policies challenged the radical monopoly of cars. Further, hybrid options and sharing/pooling schemes have the potential to reduce the use of private means for metropolitan mobility. The adoption of this degrowth framework can enrich debates on sustainable urban mobility and moves beyond the common proposition of promoting public transport as the solution.

Towards a science of deep transformations: Initiating a dialogue between degrowth and critical realism

Degrowth scholarship has enjoyed considerable momentum in recent times, resulting in a growing, diverse and vibrant field of research. Against this background, it becomes pertinent to reflect on the nature of degrowth science and on the philosophical assumptions underpinning it. Advocates of the degrowth perspective have so far largely abstained from engaging in such reflections and have yet to discuss degrowth in relation to established philosophy of science perspectives. The present paper puts degrowth in a discourse with critical realist philosophy of science to provide visions as to what degrowth as a science can see itself as and strive to become. A dialogue between the two perspectives that brings into focus ontology, epistemology and axiology is initiated. It is suggested that degrowth scholarship contains many elements that are consistent with critical realism, albeit arguably in a scattered manner. While degrowth aims to enact change in the real world, critical realism offers a deep account of the real world and proposes how knowledge of it can emerge and result in transformative practice. The paper proposes that degrowth scholarship can come to be practised in a more holistic manner and thus advance by engaging with critical realism.

Towards an urban degrowth: Habitability, finity and polycentric autonomism

Over the last decade, degrowth has offered a concrete alternative to eco-modernization, projecting a society emancipated from the environmentally destructive imperative of competition and consumption. Urban development is the motor of economic growth; cities are therefore prime sites of intervention for degrowth activists. Nevertheless, the planning processes that drive urban development have yet to be questioned from a degrowth perspective. To clear a path for a degrowth urban agenda, this paper rethinks the institutions governing urban development in growth-dependent contemporary economies. It starts by problematizing the regional territorialization of economic competition, ideology of land scarcity, and institution of zoned property rights, which together make urban development an engine of growth. It then outlines three transitions toward urban degrowth, arguing for a regional imaginary of polycentric autonomism, a paradigm of finity in development, and care for habitability as principle of spatial organization.

Are green cities sustainable? A degrowth critique of sustainable urban development in Copenhagen

ABSTRACT This paper proposes a case-based degrowth critique of sustainable urban development strategies. Copenhagen, European Green Capital in 2014, is considered a role model of planning for sustainability. Does this hold in a degrowth perspective? Sustainable development assumes that environmental impacts can decline while the economy grows. Degrowth maintains that such a process of absolute decoupling is infeasible. Analyzing Copenhagen’s planning documents in this perspective, I find three factors that make the city’s sustainability strategy ineffective for ecological sustainability. First, Copenhagen’s strategy for climate neutrality is based on externalization: only emissions produced locally are counted. Meanwhile, emissions produced outside of the city for products and services consumed locally remain high. Secondly, policies focus on the efficiency of activities rather than their overall impact: efficiency gains are considered reductions of impact, but really mean slower growth of impact. Finally, sustainability measures are proposed as a ‘green fix’, to increase competitiveness and promote economic growth, leading to increased consumption and impact. Analyzing the critical case of Copenhagen in a degrowth perspective, sheds doubts on sustainable urban development, but does not imply the rejection of all its typical planning measures. This induces reflections on how these results can contribute to a degrowth-oriented urban planning.

The Dangers of Decoupling: Earth System Crisis and the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’

AbstractThe question of whether global capitalism can resolve the earth system crisis rests on the (im)possibility of ‘absolute decoupling’: whether or not economic growth can continue indefinitely as total environmental impacts shrink. Ecomodernists and other techno‐optimists argue for the feasibility of absolute decoupling, whereas degrowth advocates show that it is likely to be neither feasible in principle nor in the timeframe needed to ward off ecological tipping points. While primarily supporting the degrowth perspective, I will suggest that the ecomodernists have a wildcard in their pocket that hasn’t been systematically addressed by degrowth advocates. This is the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’, which refers to convergent innovations in biotechnology, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and other developments. However, I will argue that while these innovations may enable some degree of absolute decoupling, they will also intensify emerging risks in the domains of biosecurity, cybersecurity, and state securitization. Overall, these technologies will not only place unprecedented destructive power in the hands of non‐state actors but will also empower and incentivize states to create a global security regime with unprecedented surveillance and force mobilization capacities. This reinforces the conclusion that mainstream environmental policies based on decoupling should be reconsidered and supplanted by alternative policy trajectories based on material‐energetic degrowth, redistribution, and technological deceleration.

A study of degrowth paths based on the von Neumann equilibrium model

Abstract This paper revisits the von Neumann equilibrium model from a degrowth perspective. Degrowth can be either planned or autonomous based on voluntary simplicity (VS), characterized by voluntary constraints on the private consumptions. Any share of the working population is allowed to limit their private consumptions or ecological footprint. Degrowth means a lower economic growth rate as well as reductions in the usage of materials and fossil energy; however, when the economy cannot fit within the biophysical boundary despite such reductions, degrowth can also mean a deliberate transition towards lesser and cleaner production of a smaller number of goods. Taking ecological boundaries into consideration may thus switch the direction of an economy from growth to degrowth. Degrowth is consistent with economic equilibrium in the dynamic input-output model. Degrowth equilibrium results when a critical mass of the population prioritizes diminishing the ecological deficit over increasing the output levels. Green growth can take place during degrowth. While the economy gradually shrinks, the interest (profit) rate in macroeconomic equilibrium is negative due to the conservation target (excessive consumption has negative value to VS-type agents). Degrowing private consumptions implies less work, more leisure and better quality of the environment, improving social welfare. Degrowth can be advanced by adopting a more cooperative production system or by imposing high ecological taxes. The equilibrium model yields an argument for basic income as a means of supporting welfare during degrowth and of compensating for unpaid work. The open economy version of the model shows reduced scope for intra-industry trade between similar countries.

Thinking green, circular or bio: Eliciting researchers' perspectives on a sustainable economy with Q method

The continuous emergence of new ideas and terms simultaneously enables and impedes the advancement of sustainability, because of an increasingly complex conceptual landscape. This study aims at highlighting combinations of sustainability concepts (circular, green and bioeconomy) and of development models (growth, steady-state, degrowth) which selected researchers have considered priorities for pursuing sustainability transformations. Leading scholars working on sustainability issues were asked to rank 36 statements describing activities related to either circular, green, bio, growth, steady-state or degrowth economy. Using Q methodology, an exploratory approach to the identification of shared or diverging opinions, three archetypical perspectives were identified across the respondents: 1. circular solutions towards economic-environmental decoupling in a degrowth perspective; 2. a mix of circular and green economy solutions; 3. a green economy perspective, with an emphasis on natural capital and ecosystem services, and critical towards growth. Economic growth was perceived negatively across all perspectives, in contrast to the current lack of political and societal support for degrowth ideas. Neither did bioeconomy-oriented activities have support among the participating researchers, even though half of the respondents were working with bioeconomy issues, which are currently high on the political agenda. The lack of support for pro-growth and bioeconomy solutions are unexpected results given the current political discourses. While the results are not to be generalised beyond the sample, they provide valuable orientation for emerging and under-investigated research and policy directions. If bioeconomy policies are to be implemented on a broader scale, it seems worthwhile evaluating the acceptability of the bioeconomy agenda among various societal actors. Furthermore, our results point to the (still under-explored) potential of formulating synergic circular, green and bioeconomy policies, possibly without a focus on economic growth.

Building new foundations: the future of education from a degrowth perspective

Considering education in the context of making and unmaking sustainable futures, a growing relevance is attributed to the role of shared beliefs or mental infrastructures which shape the way people perceive crises and solutions. The currently dominant capitalist economic paradigm is seen as one such powerful belief that generates imaginaries which cannot accommodate sustainable futures. At the same time, in educational practice, social movements, and academic discussion, the perspective of degrowth has gained attention as an approach which challenges this paradigm. In this article, we address the role of education in processes of socioecological transformation in the context of degrowth. We do this from a perspective of practice, linking our experiences in non-formal education to academic discussions on education and sustainability. The aim of this article is to contribute to a pedagogy of degrowth as one path within a complex search for ways to imagine and support sustainable futures, which address root causes of the current crises. Analysing these crises as crises of conviviality, resulting from imperial modes of living and producing, we sketch the framework for sustainable futures marked by world relations of interconnectedness and solidarity. Relating a theory of transformative learning to a critical-emancipatory understanding of education, we propose two interlinked aspects for pedagogy of degrowth: creating spaces for reflection and emphasizing the political in educational settings. We discuss our practical experience as learning facilitators in non-formal educational contexts. As a cross-cutting challenge, we will touch upon the role of strengthening psychological resources in education for a degrowth society.

Sharing, togetherness and intentional degrowth

This article proposes a social phenomenology of intentional sharing and togetherness from a degrowth perspective: extending human relations instead of market relations; deepening democracy; defending ecosystems; and realizing a more equal global distribution of wealth. Social phenomenology looks beyond individual mutual exchange to the rich but fragile social construction of collectively negotiated ethical purpose. Intentional communities of cohousing are identified as part of a solution to dismantle privatized, conspicuous consumption. This approach challenges the tendency in popular sharing economy discourse to conflate different types of togetherness, highlighting instead the social significance of skilful cooperation and conviviality in groups and associations.

Capitalism, Democracy, and the Degrowth Horizon

ABSTRACTThis papers seeks to contribute to a dialogue between the degrowth perspective and Marxist approaches on the sources and possible solutions to the ongoing ecological crisis of capitalism. While I agree with the general critique that the degrowth movement has raised not only against the consequences of growth but also against the idea of growth itself, I argue that the root causes of the destructive character of capitalism are not to be found in growth, but in capitalist accumulation. I present my reading of three of Marx’s most important contributions to our understanding of capitalism and argue for an understanding that puts the emphasis on the separation of the labourers from the means of production, alienated labour, the imperative and the dynamic of competition, and the limited nature of liberal democracy. I argue that growth could be greened in a post-capitalist society if the institutions and dynamics that drive capitalist accumulation were abolished and full democracy was established. The paper ends with a description of how the Zapatista movement in Chiapas and the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil managed to unevenly and contradictorily challenge and subvert some of the social institutions and dynamics that sustain capitalist accumulation.

Viable and convivial technologies: Considerations on Climate Engineering from a degrowth perspective

Faced with the urgency of climate change, Climate Engineering has been framed as a fast and feasible technological solution. At the same time, however, critique against it is getting increasingly louder. This paper articulates a critical analysis of Climate Engineering technologies from a point of view situated within the degrowth discourse. In the first part two approaches discussed within the degrowth debate are presented: the concept of viability based on a biophysical perspective and the concept of conviviality based on a socio-cultural approach. In a second step formalized arguments from the point of view of applied ethics are articulated and applied to three Climate Engineering Technologies: Sulfate Aerosol Injection, Bio-energy with Carbon Capture and Storage, and Afforestation. In a third step, an extended version of the trade-off argument about mitigation versus Climate Engineering solution is discussed from a degrowth perspective: accordingly, within the current dominant growth paradigm, climate engineering technologies might lead to reduced mitigation efforts. The paper follows the argumentative turn in applied ethics and displays a formalization of arguments that can help clarify decision-making and identify the different dimensions at stake. The paper articulates arguments against the deployment of CE technologies and advances a new version of the trade-off-argument based on a degrowth perspective. From the point of view of a degrowth-based critique of technology, the only type of Climate Engineering Technology ethically acceptable would be afforestation under specific conditions.

Agriculture and degrowth: State of the art and assessment of organic and biotech-based agriculture from a degrowth perspective

Agriculture stands as the foundation of modern human societies. Any changes in social functioning should seriously consider how to guarantee people a proper supply of food, in terms of both quantity and quality. Degrowth is a movement that aims at achieving a radical change in the societal metabolism of societies, toward a more frugal, sustainable and convivial lifestyle. The movement envisages a society where concepts as sharing, conviviality, care, commons, justice could stand at its foundation, and replace the call for economic growth, which is, obviously, biophysically unsustainable. This paper aims to (1) review how agriculture has been addressed within the degrowth discourse, (2) analyse the relation between agriculture and societal metabolism and its relevance from a degrowth perspective, (3) discuss how different agricultural techniques and technologies may represent appropriate technologies (sensu Schumacher, 1973), and meet the call for conviviality (sensu Illich, 1975). The latter point focusses on a comparison between organic agriculture (OA, which bans the use of agrochemicals and Genetically Modified Organisms - GMOs) and biotech-based agriculture (BTA, reliant on GMOs). The paper points out that although many relevant socioeconomic, political and environmental issues have been addressed by degrowth scholars, agriculture is still poorly analysed. Recommendations are made with regard to studying possible alternative transition paths, by assessing their impact on society's structure and functioning. It is argued that “conviviality” and “appropriate technology” concepts are rather complex and multifaceted. Therefore, different practices might be considered convivial and appropriate under some criteria, and not under others. With regard to conviviality, organic agriculture might not fully respond to the call for autonomy. Notwithstanding claims made by GMOs supporters, BTA does neither suit the call for appropriate technology, nor represent a convivial tool under any criteria.

It's not (all) about efficiency: Powering and organizing technology from a degrowth perspective

Transgressions of ecological boundaries and increasing social inequality question the paradigm of continual economic growth guided by technological efficiency - often cited as the only solution to these crises. This paper develops a critical and diversified viewpoint on technology for degrowth. ‘Classical perspectives’ of Illich's convivial society, Elull's critique of technique, Mumford's tools and machines, and Schumacher's critique of gigantic techno-infrastructures are explored and combined with Arendt's instrumentality of technologies and Marxist perspectives on ownership. Two questions are posed regarding technology. First, which technologies are 'suitable' for a degrowth context? Previous frameworks by Illich and Schumacher are extended by ecological aspects to assess the suitability of technologies. Second, how should 'suitable' technologies be structured to enable egalitarian utilization? Here, Schumacher's “intermediate technologies” and ownership are central elements. The frameworks and analysis add value for degrowth activists and bridge the gap scientifically between Marxist views and those of degrowth. In conclusion, technologies in degrowth are suitable if they reduce ecological impact, enhance autonomy and conviviality, and are structurally available in an egalitarian way based on open-access regimes. In the discussion further research questions are posed regarding transforming agents and power relations between grassroots and the state. Limitations of the framework include the role of digital technologies for communication, here treated as electric tools, and the focus on industrialized societies.

The convergence of digital commons with local manufacturing from a degrowth perspective: Two illustrative cases

The emerging discussion about the sustainability potential of distributed production is the starting point for this paper. The focus is on the “design global, manufacture local” model. This model builds on the conjunction of the digital commons of knowledge and design with desktop and benchtop manufacturing technologies (from three-dimensional printers and laser cutters to low-tech tools and crafts). Two case studies are presented to illustrate three interlocked practices of this model for degrowth. It is argued that a “design global, manufacture local” model, as exemplified by these case studies, seems to arise in a significantly different political economy from that of the conventional industrial model of mass production. “Design global, manufacture local” may be seen as a platform to bridge digital and knowledge commons with existing physical infrastructures and degrowth communities, in order to achieve distributed modes of collaborative production.

Sumak Kawsay, Feminisms and Post-Growth: Linkages to Imagine New Utopias

This article explores the different understandings of gender that correspond to different concepts of sumak kawsay, tackling both ‘gender’ and ‘sumak kawsay’ as polysemous concepts. The article focuses specifically on the degrowth perspective, which is part of the ecological post-developmental understanding of sumak kawsay. It explores the implications that follow from these perspectives when questioning androcentric gender relationships. Additionally, the article exposes the meanings which the feminist economics of rupture attributes to the conceptual category of ‘the sustainability of life’, highlighting the overlaps and divergences with the post-growth understanding of that same category. The article defends the importance of resituating political and feminist debates under utopic horizons, such as those of sumak kawsay and post-growth.

Alternativy podnikání v nerůstové ekonomice

Aggregate economic growth has proved to be deeply detrimental to the environment, yet it remains an icon of mainstream economic discourse. The paper suggests that we need to start thinking instead about degrowth strategies, and looks at the concept of social enterprise from a degrowth perspective. With the central question of “what should an enterprise in today’s altered circumstances look like?”, it looks at six examples of successful current and historical social enterprises and discusses some of their strong and weak points. Finally, it attempts to identify aspects of social enterprises which make them a better choice in a future degrowth society.