With great success the 11th conference of the International Society for Ecological Economics took place in Oldenburg from 22. to 25.08.2010 (ISEE Oldenburg ). 780 participants had to choose in 7 presentation slots between more than 20 workshops in paralell. SERI members gave various presentations.

What comes after the age of economic growth? That is the meaning of the German term ‘Postwachstum’ (after growth) we have agreed upon to foster the debate on 'degrowth/decroicant in Germany. And how do we get there?

These are the guiding questions for a major conference SERI Germany has initiated, to be held in April 2012. We hope to get a broad range of civil society co-organisers on board, and welcome the interest to join forces announced by the Wuppertal Institute.

SERI @ 2nd Degrowth conference

Degrowth appears to be an emerging scientific challenge as well as a social movement, especially in southern European countries. In this sense the 2nd Degrowth conference organized in Barcelona from 26-29 April 2010 combined the two communities for fruitful exchange between practitioners and activists from civil society and academics. Among the 300 participants Sylvia Lorek, Elke Pirgmaier and Joachim Spangenberg from SERI followed the inspiring as well as demanding conference format of intensive working groups, poster sessions and traditional oral presentations. The intellectual work was embedded in practice on sustainability including music and art as well as fresh prepared vegan food and local wine. The input posters and papers to the conference as well as the results of the exchange between the participants can be followed at www.degrowth.eu

SERI paper on "Reducing resource consumption" highlighted as especially valuable

On 13 April German Ministries on Environment and Economic Cooperation invited to the National Dialog Forum to prepare for the upcoming meeting of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) in N.Y. In context of the Spessial Issues of the meeting 'mining' and 'sustainable consumption and production' some critic was given to the political fosus on resource efficiency. As an important contribution helpful to shift attention from efficiency approaches to those of effective resource consumption NGO representatives recommended the Friends of the Earth Europe position paper an 'Europe's Global Responsibility' written by SERI. Furtheron, Sylvia Lorek , participating in the event, highlighted the need to start considering the need for economic degrowth to meet the needs of climate change as well as resource scarity.