30.05.2012-01.06.2012 in Vienna

RESPONDER Multinational Knowledge Brokerage Event on
Green ICT for Growth and Sustainability?
Linking Science and Policy

ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) are widely regarded as enablers of “green growth” in various sectors of the economy and important means to tackle environmental challenges such as climate change. ICT systems enable more sustainable production and consumption processes (ranging from product-specific improvements to entire “smart systems” e.g. in transport or buildings) and have the potential to influence consumer choice and behaviour (e.g. reduced travel needs through telework; change of driving behaviour and energy use patterns through “smart technologies”). At the same time, ICT are expanding the use of technology, which leads to increased energy consumption and ICT also have considerably direct environmental impacts in terms of materials throughput and end-of-life treatment. Hence, there are various puzzling questions raised within the ICT domain with regards to its contribution to economic growth and sustainable consumption.

The RESPONDER Knowledge Brokerage event on “Green ICT for Growth and Sustainability?” focuses on potentials and challenges within the ICT domain with regards to their contribution to green growth and sustainable consumption. In particular, the aim is to stimulate discussions on the issues of network standby consumption, energy labeling, and smart metering, amongst others. The event aims to foster networking, mutual understanding and knowledge exchange between policy-makers and experienced researcher in the field.

Exemplary topics to be explored in system mapping sessions:

1. What impacts on residential energy consumption can be expected from the introduction of energy labeling on consumer electronics?
2. What is the potential of smart metering in encouraging energy savings in the long run?
3. Will cloud computing lead to overall savings of energy and other resources

Keynote Speakers:
Lorenz Erdmann, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research
Lorenz Hilty, University of Zurich & Empa
Peter Johnston, European Policy Center & Club of Rome
Inge Ropke, Technical University of Denmark
Vida Rozite, International Energy Agency

Number of participants limited to 40 people
Registration Deadline: April 20, 2012

Time: May 30 to June 1, 2012
Place: Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria

Further information find here.

30.05.2012-01.06.2012 in Vienna

The 10th annual ASPO (Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas) conference will bring together decision makers, scientists, the business sector, public authoritities and NGOs to discuss challenges and opportunities of Peak Oil and review scenarios on energy supply and demand. High-level speakers, discussions and networking opportunities will allow exchange and know-how transfer on an international level.

The diversity of the program and participants from many different regions will bring new aspects into the discussion and create new perspectives on analyses, strategies and solution approaches.

The conference aims to provide insights about managing the challenges related to economic stability. The attendees will have the opportunity to obtain updates on the latest research on fossil fuel availability, on short and long term economic consequences of increasing energy prices.

Here´s an outlook on some of the topics planned for the ASPO 2012 conference:

• The Future of Energy Supply and Demand
• The Decline of Conventional Oil & Gas
• Europe´s Shale-Gas Perspective
• The Availability of Fossil Energy
• The geopolitical Perspective of Energy supply and infrastructure
• Economical and Societal Consequences of the Second Half of the Oil Age
• Strategy Options: Resilience & Transformation
• Peak Oil & Urban Design

Time: May 30 – June 1, 2012
Place: Palais Niederösterreich, Altes Landhaus, Herrengasse 3, 1010 Vienna

Find more information about the conference and the registration form on the conference website.

15.-19.05.2012 in Grand Rapids/MI

The 2012 BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) Business Conference: Real Prosperity Starts Here connects you to the best people, resources and ideas to unleash local prosperity. Join more than 700 community innovators, business owners, and investors to:

• Learn from pioneering entrepreneurs what business practices have the most triple bottom line impact
• Network with the nation’s local movement founders and visionaries
• Witness how the latest community capital techniques are transforming the local economy landscape
• Catch the latest local business developments in public policy and economic development
• Be inspired by local, community-supported everything: food, finance, manufacturing, energy, retail, and more

Real Prosperity Starts Here is proud to be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, named “America’s Greenest City” by Fast Company magazine. As home to nationally acclaimed BALLE network and conference cohost, Local First West Michigan, Grand Rapids has put apathy, malaise and economic decline on the ropes, and you don’t want to miss the final round.

Time: 15.-19.05.2012
Place: Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

Please find more information here.

13.-19.05.2012 in Montreal/CA

Twenty years after the Earth Summit in Rio, the linkage of sustainable development to economic growth requires profound rethinking. It has not offered a convincing solution to one of the most dramatic crises in history: how to avert ecological collapse while enhancing social justice and improving life’s prospects. In advance of Rio plus 20, our Conference seeks to challenge and move beyond the sustainable development agenda. A degrowth perspective will help us visualize and build towards a truly prosperous world.

Drawing from previous degrowth conferences in Paris and Barcelona in 2008 and 2010 respectively, the Montreal conference will focus on the particular situations and dynamics of the Americas. What does degrowth mean for our Hemisphere with its rich geographical, cultural, social and economic diversity? How can degrowth models apply to different contexts from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego? What does degrowth mean for the indigenous peoples of the Americas and their aspirations for their lands and peoples? How can degrowth concepts be made audible, understandable and acceptable to rich North Americans?

This gathering will bring together academics, activists, environmentalists and indigenous peoples to discuss our needs and hopes for diverse and more equitable societies in the Americas, on a post-growth healing earth.

Time: 13.-19.05.2012
Place: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

More Information

“Limits to Growth Revisited”

The Volkswagen Foundation invites applications from young scholars of all related disciplines who wish to attend the Winter School and are dedicated to working together and giving significant input for and during the Limits to Growth conference.

Background

The buzzword of our time, “sustainability”, is closely related to a book published 40 years ago, in 1972: “The Limits to Growth” written by an MIT project team involving Donella and Dennis Meadows. Using computer models in an attempt to quantify various aspects of the future, “Limits to Growth” has shaped new modes of thinking. The book became a bestseller and is still frequently cited when it comes to analyzing growth related to finite resources.

It seems that since then few things have changed. Stagnant growth in some countries, exponential growth in others, finite resources, and an unbroken depletion of the environment still pose pressing questions and should be issues of great concern for everyone. Again the various developments in different societies call for new matching modes of thinking that promise a secure future for everyone. Major questions are: What is smart or good growth? What are the limits of the future? Why are so many findings of the report still unresolved? Will there be solutions? And which ones could that be?

Objectives of the Winter School

In order to give fresh impetus to the debate, the Volkswagen Foundation aims to foster new thinking and the development of different models in all areas related to the “Limits to Growth” study at the crossroads of natural and social sciences. The Winter School “Limits to Growth Revisited” is directed specifically at 60 highly talented young scholars from related disciplines. The Foundation intends to grant this selected group of academics the opportunity to create networks with scholars from other research communities.

At the end of the Winter School shall stand a position paper along with system models containing new hypotheses, ideas, and questions. These results will be presented at an international conference on “Limits to Growth” on November 28 to November 29, 2012 in Hanover. The conference is held by the Volkswagen Foundation and Dennis Meadows together with highranking international experts from various disciplines on the “Limits to Growth” topics. Members of the Winter School will be presenting their ideas either as a group, as panel discussants, as chairs of a session, or during Q&A sessions.

The following themes will be the starting point for discussion at this Winter School:

a) What questions have not been resolved since 1972?
b) What are new questions that are not dealt with in the report?
c) How should one rewrite the “Limits to Growth” study at the beginning of the 21st century?

Applications are to be submitted before April 30, 2012.

For details, please see here.

18.-20.06.2012 in Annandale-on-Hudson/NY

Conference of the New Economics Institute on “Strategies for a New Economy”.

“Economics is not an exact science; it is in fact, or ought to be,something much greater: a branch of wisdom. ” -E.F. Schumacher in Small is Beautiful

We are at a turning point in history. Rising temperatures are now recognized as a sign of a planet in crisis. Inequities between rich and poor, North and South, grow ever deeper. The global economy has failed in its promise to produce and deliver basic goods in an efficient manner for an expanding population, leaving increasing numbers in abject poverty.

The environmental crisis, the equity crisis, and the crisis of distributed production, all have their roots in the current economic system with implications for our culture, our society, and for our health and well being.

What would an economy built on principles of fairness and sustainability look like? How do we model it; where is it emerging; how do we collectively strategize to fully implement it? These are the pressing questions of our time.

In response, the New Economics Institute is convening “Strategies for a New Economy,” a conference June 8-10th at Bard College on the Hudson River in New York State. It will gather together what are often diverse and scattered efforts to reshape our economic system, place them under one tent, and raise the flag to announce that transitioning to a new economy will mean engaging politicians, researchers, media, educators, citizen activists, business leaders, financial experts, scientists, union workers, cultural leaders, advocates for the disenfranchised, and youth — all working together to achieve a common goal.

The three-day conference will include over 60 workshops, plenary gatherings, and participatory strategizing sessions organized in 10 theme areas (see below). “Strategies for a New Economy” will highlight best research and best practice under each theme and ultimately demonstrate that a decentralized, sustainable, cooperative economy is already taking shape. Registration is now open. We invite you to be part of the dialogue.

Time: 18.-20 June 2012
Place: Annandale-on-Hudson, New York State, USA

For more details please visit the website.

29.02.2012 in Brussels

Invitation to the book presentation of

29 February, 7-8:15pm
Permanent Representation of Austria to the EU, Avenue de Cortenberg, 30, Brussels

Edited by: Friedrich Hinterberger and Elke Pirgmaier (SERI), Elisabeth Freytag and Martina Schuster (Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management)

About the book:
Stimulating growth through adjusting macroeconomic conditions remains the principal policy response to pressing problems of unemployment, poverty and environmental degradation. However, the current growth trajectory has neither led to a reduction of our overall resource use – as we use resources and energy more efficiently we consume more – nor created the conditions for full employment and increasing wellbeing.

Growth in Transition presents detailed key arguments for reconsidering the conditions for sustainable economies, with an international cast of commentators from politics, administration, civil society, business and science.

Contributors: Erik Assadourian (Worldwatch Institute), Kurt Bayer (EBRD), Gianfranco Bologna (WWF Italy), Andreas Breitenfellner (European Commission), Yang Cuihong (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Herman E. Daly (University of Maryland), Junko Edahiro (Japan for Sustainability), Sheng Fulai (UNEP), Maja Göpel (World Future Council), Tim Jackson (University of Surrey), Jo Leinen (European Parliament), Tomoo Machiba (OECD), Robin Miège (European Commission), Michaela Moser (European Anti Poverty Network), Philip Reuchlin (WBSCD), Juliet Schor (Boston College), Martin Sieker (European Economic and Social Committee), Māra Zīra, Guntars Ruskuls, Agrita Jēruma (Riga City Council).

To register for this event, please reply to growthintransition@seri.at by 23 February 2011.

For more information on the programme, please see the attached flyer.
Please feel free to forward this invitation to other potentially interested persons.

We look forward to meeting you in Brussels!

11.01.2012 in London

As the economic crisis deepens, this is the moment to consider moving towards much shorter, more flexible paid working hours – sharing out jobs and unpaid time more fairly across the population.

nef would like to invite you to an event that takes forward the ideas from its highly acclaimed report 21 Hours to examine how this could help to address a range of urgent social, economic and environmental problems we face.

On 11 January, nef brings together a panel of leading experts in partnership with the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) at the London School of Economics:

• Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology at Boston College, and author of Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth, and The Overworked American.

• Lord Robert Skidelsky, Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick and biographer of J. M. Keynes, and Dr Edward Skidelsky, University of Exeter, and co-authors the forthcoming book, How Much is Enough? Economics and the Good Life.

• Tim Jackson, Professor of Sustainable Development at Surrey University, and author of Prosperity without Growth.

When: Wednesday, 11 January 2012, 6:00pm-7:30pm
Where: Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 2AE

The evening will comprise of a public lecture followed by a drinks reception with the speakers. We would love for you to join us.

This is an open conference, with places available to all on a first-come-first-served basis. Please arrive early to guarantee your place in the main theatre. Join us afterwards for a drinks reception at 7.30 pm.

25-27.01 in Lisbon

Food is a fundamental necessity of life. It is also one of the consumption areas with the
greatest environmental impacts. The debates over sustainable food production and
consumption, both in academia and politics, have spurred over the last decade. Growth
policies in the food and agriculture sector pay attention to increasing productivity and
providing enough food for an increasing population in a globalized world. Nevertheless,
progress has been uneven and growth has been unsustainable in some regions, leading to
escalating pressures on ecosystems.

In the course of the EU project RESPONDER, our partners in Portugal are organizing a high profile workshop on 25-27 January in Lisbon. The RESPONDER
RESPONDER is to promote sustainable consumption by exploring novel ways
of knowledge brokerage that help to improve the management of potential political, social and
economic contradictions with economic growth.

To get more information and to apply for participation please follow this link.

05.11.2011 in New York

This Saturday’s Thirty-First Annual E. F. Schumacher Lectures in New York City is one of many events celebrating the centennial of the birth of the author of “Small Is Beautiful.”  Juliet Schor and Gar Alperovitz, Charles Young, Rina Kuusipalo, and Kyle Gracey of Youth for a New Economy, and two representatives from Occupy Wall Street will address the emergence of a  new economy, a next economy, a green economy, a responsible economy, — the necessity of which Schumacher described in his influential book.

SCHEDULE:
9:30   Registration, Community Church 40 East 35th Street, New York City
10:00 Welcome by Neva Goodwin
10:15 Talk by Juliet Schor
11:15 Audience response and questions
11:45 Lunch – Pre-order brown bag lunch or bring your own
1:00  Panel with representatives of Youth for a New Economy and Occupy Wall Street moderated by Dan Levinson
2:00   Audience response and questions
2:30  Break
2:45  Talk by Gar Alperovitz
3:45  Audience response and questions
4:30  Closing remarks by speakers

SPEAKERS:
Juliet Schor
Co-founder of the Center for a New American Dream

Author of:
“Plentitude: The New Economics of True Wealth”
“Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture”
“The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure”
“The Overspent American: Upscaling, Downshifting and the New Consumer”

Gar Alperovitz
Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland
Founding Principal of The Democracy Collaborative
Former: Legislative Director in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate
Special Assistant in the Department of State
President of the Center for Community Economic Development

Author of:
“America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty, and Our Democracy”
“Unjust Deserts”

Panel “Voices of Today’s Youth: Occupy Wall Street and the Call for a New Economy”
In this forum we will hear directly from participants of the New York City Wall Street protest, as well as other student activists who, in growing numbers, are rejecting our “broken economy system” and seeking to shape equitable, sustainable alternatives.

TICKETS
$50 each, pre-registration recommended
$17 optional vegetarian brown bag lunch

Tickets may be purchased online or by calling the offices of the New Economics Institute (413) 528 1737.

Further Information.