Working groups

List of Working groups and driving questions

On the Saturday 27 March 2010

Political (and research) proposals elaboration

1- Money and currencies. What alternative monetary system could we develop in the pursuit of degrowth and how?

2 – New financial institutions. How should we change credit institutions in the pursuit of degrowth?

3- Social economy, changing the corporation status. What are the options for collective production action (non-profit organization, limited profit organisation (Limited Corp etc.), for-profit cooperative status, etc)? What types of non-profit status models can we develop and how?

4- Property rights. How can we reform property rights beyond the public-private divide? What property rights and institutions for a degrowing economy?

5- Work-sharing. How can we implement a 3-day working week? How will domestic and voluntary work and wages look like in a degrowth society?

6 - Moratoria on new infrastructures. Which infrastructures should we limit, where and how?

7- How to deal with advertising. Should we limit advertising and how?

8- Reduction of natural resource exploitation. What political tools can we use to leave natural and biological “resources in/on the ground” and how can they become effective?

9- Zero-waste. How can we minimize the production of waste?

10- Degrowth in water consumption. How can we reduce – real and virtual - water consumption in the “Global North” to 25% of its current levels (factor 4 reduction)?

11- Reusing empty houses and co-housing. How can we change future forms of housing to occupy empty houses and develop shared (communal) housing?

12- Basic income and income ceiling. How can we politically implement a basic income for all? How can we reform taxation and other policies to impose a ceiling on high incomes?

13- New technologies. How to shift research from military and other growth-oriented technologies to innovations towards frugality and sharing social organization?

On the Sunday 28 March 2010

Research (and political) proposals elaboration

14- Social metabolism and transitions. What do we know from previous, big socio-ecological transitions that is relevant in the context of a transition to degrowth? Is a degrowth transformation feasible and how?

15- Cities and degrowth. How will cities look after degrowth? Can we plan for degrowth and how (multifunctional urbanism, etc)? 

16 - Agro-ecology, food sovereignity and degrowth. Can we feed the world with locally produced, organic food and if yes, how? 

17- Trade degrowth. Should we limit global trade for degrowth and if yes, which trade and how (institutions, international organizations, etc)?

18 - Participative/direct democracy. What forms of “deep” democracy for a society that degrows? 

19 – Political strategies. What is the relative role of political parties, social movements, unions, groups practicing degrowth and academics-intellectuals in making the degrowth idea dominant in society? Which existing parties or movements can adopt the idea of degrowth?  

20- Demography and degrowth. Where and why should population de-grow? Which bottom-up movements initiate voluntary population control and how?

21- Global peace. How can we implement a general armistice? How can the militaro-industrial sector reduce?

22 - Energy degrowth and the transition to renewable energies. What sort of renewable energies for degrowth? Is degrowth in energy consumption a better strategy for transition to renewables than “burning our way fast” to renewables?

23- Environmental justice, the environmentalism of the poor and degrowth. How can degrowth “translate” to non-western contexts and who would be its allies in the “Global South”?

24- Social security and pensions. How to secure pensions in a degrowth society? How to deal with potential intergenerational conflicts?

25- Human nature and degrowth. What do we know from evolutionary biology, anthropology, cultural studies and sociology about human nature that is relevant to degrowth?

26 - New (macro)economic models for degrowth. Can we model and simulate non or de-growth economic pathways and how?

27 – Indicators for degrowth. Do we need to measure progress towards sustainable degrowth and if so, how?

28 - Steady state vs degrowth. Are these two proposals and communities compatible ? Which are the differences and similarities ?

Description of working groups

The working groups will discuss and build proposals so that the concerns of all participants are debated and integrated. Working groups are not going to be like the typical conference sessions or workshops where presentations are given, followed by discussions. They are smaller in size and make it possible for all participants to be involved. Participants will not be passive spectators but will seek to build and agree on a proposal. Divergences will also have to be agreed upon by all participants. The working groups are formed during the conference. Participants are expected to know in advance which working groups interest them. They are expected to read the steering papers associated with the each of the working groups they wish to attend in advance and do research independently on the topics.

Working groups will have a maximum of 12 participants. We expect around 15 simultaneous working groups. Some may split or join during the conference. A few participants can change working groups during the conference (when they are concerned by the position taken within another working group) but it is expected that most remain within the same working group, and meetings can be organized between working groups.

Two working group sessions will take place on Saturday (more political proposal focus) and Sunday (more research question focus) 27-28 March from 3pm to 7pm.

Possible time decomposition of the two afternoons:

10 min intro to working groups in assembly

5 transfer

55 min working groups

5 transfer

45 min assembly

5 transfer

55 min working groups

5 transfer

45 min conclusion assembly

Objective of working groups

The objectives of working groups is to identify political proposals or research priorities, which can be used in the declaration of the conference (sentences expressing the essence of the outcomes), for the conference proceedings (follow-up report from the working groups) and further research (notes of working group sessions in the conference).

All working groups have the goal of defining in detail, political proposals and research proposals within the framework of economic degrowth for ecological, social and economic sustainability, that is involving to some extend the reduction of capacity to exploit natural resources and people with the goals of ecological and economic resilience, social well-being and fairness.

Each working group deals with a “debated proposal” answering the driving question presented by steering papers.

Steps of working groups

The basis for transforming and amending proposals from steering papers will be the concerns of the working group and assembly participants. The process in the working groups will follow several steps:

Step 1- understanding the proposals of the steering papers. They are proposals to be debated, raw material to be transformed (like clay for artists).

Step 2- identifying the concerns of the assembly and dealing with them in a aggregated way (by making either large cuts, additions or transformations of proposals from the steering papers); considering whether some of the concerns have been actually answered by rest of the working groups (information sharing during the assembly will make this possible).

Step 3- dealing with the concerns one by one in order to detail the new proposal(s)

Each working group should, at the end of each session, take 5 minutes to agree on a written statement to be read to the assembly

The political proposals and research questions that are developed by the working groups should be concrete. They should elaborate the process, strategies and conditions required, the actors involved and the agenda, associated with the proposal; they should consider interaction with the other working groups, or other macro and micro adjustments that need to happen for the proposal success.

Roles within the working groups

Facilitators

Each working group will have a facilitator. Before the conference s/he works together with the organizers in contacting experts, people deeply involved in the respective topic and potential authors of steering papers, making sure that these remain within the degrowth perspective. During the conference, the facilitator gives voice to all participants and makes sure that steering papers are presented and that all concerns are taken into account. S/he thinks of the best process for the working group and makes sure that her/his position does not influence or dominate the discussion. S/he makes sure that sufficient time is allowed for agreement on the short sum-up of the proposal and/or discussion is made by the reporter 5 minutes before the assembly starts.

Reporters

Reporters will take notes of the working group discussion, paying attention to the points of agreement and disagreement. Five minutes before the end of the working group session they present a few sentences summing up the discussion or/and the proposals, making sure that the group agrees with this formulation. In case of disagreement the reporters present all diverging opinions. During the assembly reporters read the statement that has been approved within the group (for no longer than 2 minutes).