Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 14th May 2024, 11:05:55am CEST
Presenter(s): Paul Hendriksen (Ecovillage Aardehuizen), Natascha Hulst (Grond van Bestaan), Just Dengerink (de Warren), Sara Pape (Timebank.cc), Maria Kaufmann (Radboud University)
Even though many people are tentatively interested and charmed by the idea of degrowth (e.g., local production instead of global exploitative approaches; commons instead of a limited number of untouchable property owners, cooperation and solidarity instead of economic profit as the main goal, focus on environmental sustainability instead of extraction and pollution; a ‘good’ life), a common reaction is to intuitively think that ‘this is not realistic, it is not possible in practice’. This reaction leads people to discount degrowth or other post-growth ideas as unfeasible utopias and stops them from genuinely engaging with them. By applying interactive and creative tools, the aim of this roundtable is to talk about several practical examples to demystify the prejudices and preconceptions people have about degrowth. We want to show that it is not only possible to implement degrowth ideas in practice, but that it is also much more common than one thinks.
The roundtable discussion will consist of practitioners from different fields (ecovillages, land property movements, housing cooperatives, local currencies) that are applying degrowth ideas in practice. Together with the audience, we will identify commonly held preconceptions on degrowth and demystify (some of) them by sharing experiences from practice. The outcomes of this panel are threefold: (1) increase awareness for degrowth initiatives among academics and non-academics and address some of the common myths about degrowth (and its feasibility). To spread the word, a very practical outcome will be an artistic illustration (e.g., cartoon drawing) of common myths related to degrowth and how they can be demystified, which everyone can share in their network. (2) The session will also connect people working on degrowth in the Netherlands and exchange experiences on best practices and challenges, and finally (3) it will allow us to identify avenues for further collaboration between practitioners and academics.
