Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Contenido
[ocultar]
1 Datos biográficos
2 Obras
3 Referencias
4 Enlaces internos
5 Enlaces externos
Obras
La apuesta por el decrecimiento: ¿cómo salir del imaginario dominante? (Le
pari de la décroissance, 2006), Icaria-Antrazyt, 2008, ISBN 978-84-7426-984-0
Pequeño tratado del descrecimiento, 2009, Icaria
Ante un cierto desconcierto de parte del público, Serge Latouche ha dicho que el
decrecimiento no es ningún concepto. 'Se trata - ha revelado- de un eslogan mediático
creado por escandalizar, por crear impacto' En este sentido ha querido dejar claro que
hacer decrecer la economía porque sí, sin objetivo o alternativa, seria tan absurdo
como hacerla crecer sin finalidad. El decrecimiento, para Latouche, es una
posibilidad de atreverse a pensar un mundo diferente y sobre todo de 'salir de la
economía' una expresión utilizada por él desde hace tiempo.
Esta actitud, para la cual hace falta un esfuerzo intelectual, es en cualquier caso
'urgente' puesto que la forma de vida actual y el modelo económico que resulta no son,
según Latouche, 'ni sostenibles, ni deseables'. Hace falta pues - ha indicado - un
cambio de paradigma para una nueva economía, con un enfoque completamente
diferente al actual y con nuevas herramientas de medida, puesto que las tradicionales
variables macroeconómicas no reflejan bien la realidad en toda su complejidad. En
este sentido, ha mostrado la disparidad existente entre un indicador diseñado por
valorar el grado de satisfacción de las personas y el crecimiento del PIB entre 1950 y
el año 2000 a los Estados Unidos; mientras este último ha ido siempre arriba en medio
siglo, el primero, denominado GPI (Genuine Progress Indicator) se mantiene igual, e
incluso baja últimamente. Un hecho sin duda contradictorio con la idea bien
establecida que el consumo incrementa sin cesar la satisfacción individual.
Menos es más
Otra parodia es el concepto de crecimiento o desarrollo sostenible que ha centrado el
discurso ambientalista de los últimos 20 años. “Es significativa la ausencia de verdadera
crítica a la sociedad de crecimiento en la mayoría de los discursos medioambientalistas,
que se van por las ramas con planteamientos sinuosos sobre el desarrollo sostenible.
Éste ha encontrado su instrumento favorito en los mecanismos de desarrollo limpio,
tecnologías que ahorran energía o carbono bajo forma de ecoeficiencia, pero seguimos
en el campo de la diplomacia verbal porque el desarrollo sostenible, en el fondo, no
pone en duda la lógica suicida del desarrollo. El ecocrecimiento –asegura Latouche– es
objetivo del nuevo capitalismo verde, del márketing y de lo mediático.”
El decrecimiento, por el contrario, se plantea como un cambio profundo de paradigma y
como una modificación de las instituciones que lo conforman a favor de una solución
razonable: la democracia ecológica. Ya trabajan para ello numerosos grupos locales que
se autogestionan para decrecer en toda Europa y también nuevas iniciativas que se
proyectan en la misma línea.
“Si yo decido reducir mi consumo de petróleo, pero mi vecino no hace lo mismo, el
resultado que produciré es que él tenga más petróleo para consumir, pero no habrá un
cambio sustancial importante a nivel global. Por ello –sugiere Latouche–, son mejores
las iniciativas colectivas, como los grupos de familia que se organizan para que la huella
ecológica del colectivo disminuya. Este tipo de experiencias son mucho más
interesantes.”
Una de las propuestas más novedosas es la que se engloba bajo el movimiento de
Ciudades en Transición, que ha empezado en Inglaterra e Irlanda y que utiliza el
concepto de “resistencia” para valorar la capacidad de un grupo o de un sistema para
resistir los cambios en su entorno, tales como el declive del petróleo o el aumento de la
temperatura. En opinión del economista, “se trata de reabrir el espacio para la inventiva
y la creatividad dependiendo de los valores y de los objetivos de cada sociedad. El
decrecimiento es un sueño de hoy, pero hay que trabajar para convertirlo en realidad
mañana”.
Degrowth movement
[edit] 'Buy Nothing Day'
Buy Nothing Day occurs on the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United
States. This is the unofficial first day of the Holiday shopping season. Typically retail
stores offer goods for dramatically reduced prices, prompting consumers to buy more.
Buy Nothing Day is a rejection of this unabashed consumption.
More than 300 people gathered in Vancouver from 29 April till 2 May 2010 to envision
a healthy society without an expanding economy.[19][20]
[edit] Criticism
[edit] Liberal critique
Supporters of economic liberalism believe that economic growth brings about the
creation of wealth, by increasing employment, improving quality of life, and providing
better education and healthcare, in other words, there should be more resources in order
to make and improve on more things. From this point of view, degrowth constitutes
economic recession and is a destroyer of wealth.
This position argues that allowing market forces to take effect is the most rational way
of solving the problem, and consider that these forces are more efficient than centralized
decision systems (see economic calculation, dispersed knowledge, tragedy of the
commons). Market capitalism can take advantage of the exploitation of energy sources
that were not economically viable 10 or 20 years prior, because under new conditions
the required economic growth will necessitate their use.
The concept of degrowth is founded on the hypothesis that producing more always
implies the consumption of more energy and raw materials, while at the same time
decreasing the size of the labor force, which is replaced by machines. This analysis is
considered misleading from the point of view that technological progress allows us to
produce more with less, as well as provide more services. This is what is known as
creative destruction, the process by which the "old" companies from a sector (as well as
their costly and polluting technologies) disappear from the market as a result of the
innovation in that sector that brings down costs while consuming less energy and raw
materials in exchange for increased productivity.
At the same time, this reduction in costs and/or increase in profits increases the ability
to save, which simultaneously allows for investment in new advances, which will
replace the old technologies.
Marxists distinguish between two types of growth: that which is useful to mankind, and
that which simply exists to increase profits for companies. Marxists consider that it is
the nature and control of production that is the determinant, and not the quantity. They
believe that control and a strategy for growth are the pillars that enable social and
economic development. According to Jean Zin, while the justification for degrowth is
valid, it is not a solution to the problem.[22]
Supporters of scientific progress argue that it will solve the problems of energy supply,
waste and the reduction of raw materials. This ideology draws inspiration from the
Enlightenment to develop an optimistic technologist vision. They point to the reduction
in the relation between energy consumption and production (or energy intensity) over
the past twenty years. They propose that research into nuclear energy could provide
temporary energy alternatives to the oil crisis, while technologies such as nuclear fusion
come online.
This argument is contrasted by the data obtained by the Global Carbon Project in 2007,
which notes the stagnation in the aforementioned decrease in energy intensity, which is
one of the variables of the Kaya identity, which tends to show that either the economic
downturn, or demographic decline are essential to prevent ecological disaster.
+ share
3.31.2010
Cities and Degrowth?
This past 26-29 March Barcelona hosted the second international conference on
economic degrowth for ecological sustainability and social equity, attracting hundreds
of people from over 40 countries to learn about and collectively explore the subject.
Faced with the multiple and complex challenges of climate change and social inequities
(among others) due to Western consumption patterns, degrowth is about a voluntary
reduction of the size of the economic system, proposing a framework for
transformation to a lower and sustainable level and mode of production and
consumption. Alongside this reduction of scale, degrowth is also about decolonising the
imaginary, shifting values from ‘more is better’ towards qualitative relations and
behaviour, as well as decommodifying and pushing back the market rationality that
dominates most societies around the world.
While the first international conference in Paris in April 2008 explored and proposed
in essence this sort of a paradigm shift, largely through panel discussions and paper
presentations, the heart of the Barcelona conference laid in 30 interactive working
groups, each on an important topic related to economic degrowth for ecological justice
and social sustainability. These working groups were tasked with collectively
developing the important research and political proposals to move the degrowth
agenda forward in various areas, from topics ranging from work-sharing, property
rights and basic income/income ceilings to agro-ecology/food sovereignty, demography
and cities.
With a diverse group of about 20 people from different backgrounds, countries and
languages, the working group on Cities and Degrowth proved to be a challenging topic
and conversation, starting from the basis of defining how a ‘degrowth’ city is different
from an ecological or sustainable city. A wide range of issues were discussed, from
infrastructure, city sprawl, resource production and consumption, urban agriculture
and green spaces to having diversity while maintaining cultural identity, bottom up
driven urban planning and if urban population limitation is compatible with the
degrowth agenda – with concerns expressed over potential Malthusian interpretations
of such issues. While there was general agreement on the need for example to roll back
sprawl, remove automobile dependent development, create multifunctional spaces,
generate energy locally and through small-scale sources, there was uncertainty on if
degrowth equates to limits on urban densities or what to do about the control and
power of developers. Were we talking about post-capitalist space? Or at least post-
neoliberal spaces? Furthermore it was recognised that context is critical, as solutions
for the ‘North’ are likely not the same as the ‘South’, and that scale, from town to
megacity, must be taken into consideration.
The two political proposals, among over half a dozen, that emerged as priorities from
the session included to 1) reshape and reform current cities instead of building
(eco)cities and (eco)neighbourhoods from scratch and 2) to relocalise urban life with
multifunctionality (i.e. public space as a commons) in mind. The two research
proposals include the need to explore how the decentralisation of political power in the
city relates to bottom-up processes and the degrowth agenda, addressing concerns
around democracy and the concentration of power, and how Lefebvre’s right to the city
– the right of all urban dwellers to take part in the production of the city, transforming
social, political and economic relations in urban spaces – connects to degrowth.
So how do you think cities will look after degrowth? Can we plan for degrowth, and if so
how (multifunctional urbanism, etc.)? The discussion continues, as most of us left with
many more questions than answers