Second International Conference on Economic Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, Barcelona from 26-29 of March 2010

[Michel Bauwens]

Via Enric Senabre Hidalgo :

Dear friends,

We would like to request for your participation in the Second International Conference on Economic Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, taking place in Barcelona from 26-29 of March 2010 and possibly joining the NGO
committee related to it .

The degrowth movements and ideas have been spread and discussed within a wide spectrum of society and gave rise to many meetings, conferences, marches, books, political debates (also in the European
Parliament), magazines and the establishment of many local groups in France,
Spain and Italy. The degrowth perspective challenges the growth dogma that
blocks the evolution of society towards social and environmental justice.
Degrowth touches on the material and energy flow infrastructure, on economic
institutions, on the structures that maintain inequality, on advertising, and
many other aspects of society. It therefore carries ideas which can be applied
in various fields, including climate change, sustainable development,
international financial institutions, environmental protection, creating links
between different campaigns.

The Barcelona event follows from the successful first conference on degrowth, which took place in Paris in 2008 (see http://events.it-sudparis.eu/degrowthconference/en/). The Barcelona conference will unite scientists and civil society organizations into thinking about policy proposals and research priorities. While the conference will include plenaries
with keynote speakers, its main component consists of working groups that discuss and develop
concrete proposals and
report to the general assembly. Scientific
presentations on various
topic will be conducted in the
form of posters.

The contribution of civil society groups to the discussion, modeling and development of the policy proposals is crucial. We believe that the ideas and links developed within the working groups and the conference in general, will be highly
relevant for your campaigns and work.

Thus we would like to invite you to:

- attend the conference; and/or

- support the conference by joining the NGO committee, related to it (this implies
endorsing the conference objectives and providing advice around its
organization in a format and time suitable for you).

If you are unable to attend but willing to endorse the conference, we would be grateful if you send us short statements or videos that represent your stance regarding degrowth. These will be uploaded on the conference website and
exhibited during the Barcelona event.

Please mind that due to funding limitation, we will not be able to cover travel costs.

We would be grateful if you could send this invitation to other interested organizations. More information about the conference can be found at: http://www.degrowth.net/-Barcelona2010. Please
direct your responses to [e-mail].

Warm greetings,

Filka Sekulova

Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals – Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

Research & Degrowth

Contact: [e-mail]

Leida Rijnhout

acting Secretary General ANPED

Contact: [e-mail]

What is Degrowth ?

Degrowth rests on the idea that achieving social justice and ecological sustainability requires shrinking of the size of the economy in the industrial countries or a reduction of the capacity to produce
and consume, done in a voluntary and participatory way. The transition to a
lower level of production, consumption and waste, implied by degrowth is not
meant to turn the growth fetish into a degrowth fetish. Degrowth is not a goal
in itself, but transition path to social and environmental justice, well-being
and ecological sustainability. It involves a range of concrete actions taken at
the individual, collective and state level, based on a change of values and
shift away from profit-seeking as a single objective of production. Degrowth is
also about democratization of society, about people rather than technology
deciding on the direction of societal evolution and about giving meaning to
human life which is not per se associated with conspicuous consumption and
materialism. Degrowth involves a challenge to the present economic
institutions, as well as a fundamental change in our way of thinking and
acting.

More information about degrowth can be found at: www.degrowth.net