Introduction to Degrowth

Anitra Nelson and Derek Wall join us online at Housmans to provide an accessible introduction to the degrowth movement.

A sense of urgency pervades global environmentalism, and the degrowth movement is bursting into the mainstream. As climate catastrophe looms closer, people are eager to learn what degrowth is about, and whether we can save the planet by changing how we live.

As politicians and corporations obsess over growth objectives, the degrowth movement demands that we must slow down the economy by transforming our economies, our politics and our cultures to live within the Earth’s limits.

Anitra and Derek will cover the practice and strategies of the movement, its strengths and weaknesses and will also look at horizontal democracy, local economies and the reduction of work, arguing that degrowth is a compelling and realistic project.

To buy Exploring Degrowth by Vincent Liegey and Anitra Nelson (published by Pluto Press), click here

Speakers

Vincent Liegey is an engineer, interdisciplinary researcher, spokesperson for the French degrowth movement and co-author of Un Projet de Décroissance,  Utopia, 2013). He is also the coordinator of Cargonomia — a centre for research and experimentation on degrowth, a social cooperative for sustainable logistical solutions and local food distribution using cargo-bikes in Budapest.

Anitra Nelsonis Honorary Principal Fellow at the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is the author of Small is Necessary: Shared Living on a Shared Planet (Pluto, 2018) and is co-editor of Food for Degrowth (Routledge, 2020) with Ferne Edwards.

Derek Wall is the author of numerous books including Elinor Ostrom’s Rules for Radicals (Pluto, 2017), Economics After Capitalism (Pluto, 2015), The Rise of the Green Left (Pluto, 2010) and The Sustainable Economics of Elinor Ostrom (Routledge, 2014). He teaches Political Economy at Goldsmiths College, University of London and was International Co-ordinator of the Green Party of England and Wales.