Wolfgang LuchtAug 30, 2024
On Monday, I'll be participating in the annual Sustainability Forum in the Chancellory in Berlin. We were offered to submit a 1-sentence, 250-character statement. This is what I submitted: "The guiding vision of a life in dignity for all, within planetary boundaries, requires not just efficiency and a circular economy, but also contributions from sufficiency to achieve the necessary limitations of material flows that are harmful to ecology or health."
Show threadteledyn š“‚€Aug 30, 2024

@W_Lucht

Looks good, but may I ask, what are "contributions of sufficiency"? Could that be a spontaneous consumer self-restraint in realizing we've had too much for too long?

Show threadWolfgang LuchtAug 30, 2024
@teledyn
It's deliberate governance of society's social metabolism (i.e. of the material exchange flows required with the environment to maintain their functions) - all the planetary boundaries are linked to these flows. And within these boundaries, injustices in use are an issue. "Sustainable development" promises solutions through "green growth". But that hits hard limitations. Sufficiency as a "Strategy of the Enough" addresses more fundamentally the challenge of "Ecological Civilization".
Show threadDr. JĆ¼rgen KnƶdlsederAug 30, 2024
@W_Lucht @teledyn I think itā€™s important to also use the word #degrowth, though it may not have a good German translation. This will contribute to shifting the Overton window.
Show threadWolfgang LuchtAug 30, 2024
@jknodlseder @teledyn
I think it's good to differentiate - we need growth in renewables, awareness, organic farming etc - but not in harmful material flows (those need to degrow), GDP as a measure of welfare, or social & financial institutions that structurally depend on growth. Growth is central to ecology, but embedded in negative feedbacks. We humans create positive feedbacks (i.a. to alleviate the brutality of neg. feedbacks). But yes, let's read Matthias Schmelzer! https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362762776_The_Future_Is_Degrowth_A_Guide_to_a_World_beyond_Capitalism/link/62fe2a06eb7b135a0e430bf5/download
Show threadanlomedadAug 31, 2024

@W_Lucht @jknodlseder @teledyn

Then let's coin a term we can put on protest signs as demand.
Degrowth is a term everyone knows. And usually, everyone understands what it means, which things do need to degrow.

Everyone who isn't deliberately mis-interpreting the term.

But what it stands for does need a gripping expression.
So, I think, you either come with a replacement term, and fast,
or consider to stop nit-picking SelbstverstƤndlichkeiten.

Degrowth is the phase of controlled reduction in material and energy use. Think Churchill's England, their 15 years of itemised rations and resrouce allocations only for select companies is also a good number to work with.

It is followed by a post-growth economic system that is designed and implemented during the Degrowth phase. It will guarantee that just and safe planetary boundaries aren't ever breeched again.

Show threadpeterFAug 31, 2024

@anlomedad @W_Lucht @jknodlseder @teledyn

I don't like the word 'De-Growth'.

People are conditioned (wrongly) that growth is good, so it is a negative for many.

A new word or phrase could give a better 'on- point' message.

I like 'Sufficiency', 'Nature', so how about...

"Natural and Sufficient Growth"

Show threadteledyn š“‚€

@PeterF @anlomedad @W_Lucht @jknodlseder

Piketty summarizes 400 years of data to show a 'natural' growth (in real wealth) of 2 to 3%, and Capital in the Twenty-first Century suggests the expected (demanded) ROI at 3-5%, so a fuse has been burning. Post-war booms turn out to be nothing more than replacing lost assets, leveling off once that is work is done.

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Aug 31, 2024 at 6:15pmWeb