Thanks, Hans. I was interested to see Tim Jackson listed as one of the conference participants. He is the author of the Sustainable Development Commission's "Prosperity without Growth?" report. Here is a point-form summary of that report by David Bent of Forum for the Future:
1. Economic growth fails to deliver prosperity, now or in the future. Poorer nations urgently need further economic development, but do already-rich nations? 2. The current turmoil and recession is the result of the sort of growth we were pursuing. 3. Understanding prosperity as possessions or income has failed because, beyond a certain point, more of either does not increase people's life satisfaction or development indicators. 4. The growth dilemma: The current economic configuration means that growth is unsustainable but "de-growth" (planned reductions in economic output) is unstable. 5. There has been relative decoupling (less impact per unit of activity) in the recent past, but we need absolute decoupling (less impact in total). 6. We are currently trapped in an "iron cage" of production and consumption of novelty. 7. A green stimulus is sensible in the short term but still assumes a return to continual consumption growth. 8. A new macroeconomics for sustainability would be based on stability, distributional equality, sustainable levels of throughput and protecting natural resources. 9. The current culture of consumption will need to become a social logic of "flourishing within limits." 10. Governments need to find a new way of ensuring stability that also secures the future of prosperity. http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2009/05/28/understanding-prosperity-without-growth On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 9:00 PM, ehrbar <[email protected]> wrote: > > I'm just paging through the Proceedings of a De-Growth conference in > Paris last year, whose web site is > > http://events.it-sudparis.eu/degrowthconference/en/ > > This 322 page pdf is a treasure box of articles dealing with the > Jevons Paradox, Georgescu-Roegen, Daly's steady state economics, > sustainable development, etc. If you wonder where the relevant > literature about steady-state or no-growth economics is, this > collection is an excellent entry point. > > Here is the declaration passed by the conference participants: > > DECLARATION > > We, participants in the Economic De-Growth For Ecological > Sustainability And Social Equity Conference held in Paris on April > 18-19, 2008 make the following declaration: > > 1. Economic growth (as indicated by increasing real GDP or GNP) > represents an increase in production, consumption and investment > in the pursuit of economic surplus, inevitably leading to > increased use of materials, energy and land. > > 2. Despite improvements in the ecological efficiency of the > production and consumption of goods and services, global economic > growth has resulted in increased extraction of natural resources > and increased waste and emissions. > > 3. Global economic growth has not succeeded in reducing poverty > substantially, due to unequal exchange in trade and financial > markets, which has increased inequality between countries. > > 4. As the established principles of physics and ecology demonstrate, > there is an eventual limit to the scale of global production and > consumption, and to the scale national economies can attain > without imposing environmental and social costs on others > elsewhere or future generations. > > 5. The best available scientific evidence indicates that the global > economy has grown beyond ecologically sustainable limits, as have > many national economies, especially those of the wealthiest > countries (primarily industrialised countries in the global > North). > > 6. There is also mounting evidence that global growth in production > and consumption is socially unsustainable and uneconomic (in the > sense that its costs outweigh its benefits). > > 7. By using more than their legitimate share of global environmental > resources, the wealthiest nations are effectively reducing the > environmental space available to poorer nations, and imposing > adverse environmental impacts on them. > > 8. If we do not respond to this situation by bringing global economic > activity into line with the capacity of our ecosystems, and > redistributing wealth and income globally so that they meet our > societal needs, the result will be a process of involuntary and > uncontrolled economic decline or collapse, with potentially > serious social impacts, especially for the most disadvantaged. > > > We therefore call for a paradigm shift from the general and unlimited > pursuit of economic growth to a concept of "right-sizing" the global > and national economies. > > 1. At the global level, "right-sizing" means reducing the global > ecological footprint (including the carbon footprint) to a > sustainable level. > > 2. In countries where the per capita footprint is greater than the > sustainable global level, rightsizing implies a reduction to this > level within a reasonable timeframe. > > 3. In countries where severe poverty remains, right-sizing implies > increasing consumption by those in poverty as quickly as possible, > in a sustainable way, to a level adequate for a decent life, > following locally determined poverty-reduction paths rather than > externally imposed development policies. > > 4. This will require increasing economic activity in some cases; but > redistribution of income and wealth both within and between > countries is a more essential part of this process. > > > The paradigm shift involves degrowth in wealthy parts of the world. > > 1. The process by which right-sizing may be achieved in the > wealthiest countries, and in the global economy as a whole, is > "degrowth". > > 2. We define degrowth as a voluntary transition towards a just, > participatory, and ecologically sustainable society. > > 3. The objectives of degrowth are to meet basic human needs and > ensure a high quality of life, while reducing the ecological > impact of the global economy to a sustainable level, equitably > distributed between nations. This will not be achieved by > involuntary economic contraction. > > 4. Degrowth requires a transformation of the global economic system > and of the policies promoted and pursued at the national level, to > allow the reduction and ultimate eradication of absolute poverty > to proceed as the global economy and unsustainable national > economies degrow. > > 5. Once right-sizing has been achieved through the process of > degrowth, the aim should be to maintain a "steady state economy" > with a relatively stable, mildly fluctuating level of consumption. > > 6. In general, the process of degrowth is characterised by: > > -- an emphasis on quality of life rather than quantity of > consumption; > > -- the fulfilment of basic human needs for all; > > -- societal change based on a range of diverse individual and > collective actions and policies; > > -- substantially reduced dependence on economic activity, and an > increase in free time, unremunerated activity, conviviality, > sense of community, and individual and collective health; > > -- encouragement of self-reflection, balance, creativity, > flexibility, diversity, good citizenship, generosity, and > non-materialism; > > -- observation of the principles of equity, participatory democracy, > respect for human rights, and respect for cultural differences. > > > 7. Progress towards degrowth requires immediate steps towards efforts > to mainstream the concept of degrowth into parliamentary and > public debate and economic institutions; the development of > policies and tools for the practical implementation of degrowth; > and development of new, non-monetary indicators (including > subjective indicators) to identify, measure and compare the > benefits and costs of economic activity, in order to assess > whether changes in economic activity contribute to or undermine > the fulfilment of social and environmental objectives. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Sandwichman
_______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
