DEGROWTH: New Strategies for

Strengthening Tradition

Galileo Galilei Descartes Francis Bacon Isaac Newton

The Fathers of the Scientific Revolution

Theirs was a mechanical, reductionist vision of the world and the universe. Their vision is the basis for the concept and method of modern science and the western model of development.

Francis Bacon:

Nature has to be “hounded in her wanderings”, “bound into service”, and made a “slave”. She was to be “put in constraint”, and the aim of the scientist was to “torture nature’s secrets from her”.

Technological innovation for sustainability

Autonomy

Communality

D. of communal productive

forces

Surplus Generation

Political-cultural training

Food Sovereignty

S

M

R

R

Zoning

Restoration

Conservation

Exploitation

Participation and

Democracy

Territory as shelter

Communal Work Cultural

Cohesion

Social responsibility Environmental responsibility

Figure 3: Building sustainability: Social and environmental responsibility

Support networks

NEW COMMUNITARIANRURALITY

(Actors creating new persona)

Strategic approach:

Sustainable Regional Resource Management

(People rewriting theory)

Heterodox Ecological Economics

Moving ForwardMoving Forward

• Mainstream science: critical pol. econ. of productive structures and growth

• Heterodox paradigm : commitment w/viable alternatives for well-being

• Post-normal science: conservation, production and protection

• EE: creating new social-productive models

Alternative social modelsAlternative social models

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A homogenousmodel

Diverseworlds

• Modernization:• Urban-industrial; • Interdependence; • Integrated societies• Advanced technologies• Backwardness

Science for Capital Science for well-being

• Rural resurgence• Dynamic agriculture• Productive diversity

• market segmentation• production integrated with ecosystem use/protection

• Self-sufficiency

Struggles for local developmentStrategic principles:

• Autonomy• Self-Sufficiency• Productive diversification• Ecosystem management

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Construction–ecological, social, economic criteria

• Renewable energy sources• Local materials and natural resources• Purchasing policies: local sources, SMEs• Encourage productive networks

(linkages) and broad participation• Codify local epistemologies

(post-normal science)

SOCIAL RESPONSES

• Formulating local strategies• Building models of coexistence to

combat proletarianization• No noble savage; modern autonomy• Redefining global threats to

“los de abajo”• Population question: ≠ Malthusianism

A matter of gender equality/freedom

A SOLIDARITY ECONOMY

• Strengthen COLLECTIVE collaboration• Use local KNOWLEDGE about production and

ecosystems• Create synergies among producers:

PRODUCTIVE LINKAGES• Identify QUALITY products and ecologically

SUSTAINABLE systems

• Implement regional circuits for BARTERmarkets

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WATER: Conflict, Marginality, Sickness

Abuses (Tribunal LA del Agua):

• Inadequate services:Quantity and quality

• Deficient infrastructure:Partial coverage; bad maintenance

• Forgotten ecosystems:Recharge

• Industrial impunity:Mining; agroindustry; industrial/urban discharges

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WATER:Life, Collaboration, Sustenance

Possibilities for social organization :• Universal service:

Principle of solidarity• Quality of life :

Education to change consumption pattern• Technological change:

Quality; availability; conservation

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The New Culture of Water(Mexicanized)

Fundamental principles:1) Social Economy: (free)

• Water as a human right • Water for environmental needs• Water for social solidarity

2) Capitalist Economy: (auction)• Water for economic and social development

(punish and end illegal uses of water)

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The scandalous/careful socio-political construction of

NATURAL DISASTERSNATURAL DISASTERS

Ecotourism: Scale and control

http://www.quali.com.mxhttp://www.quali.com.mx

Water Forever

INNOVATING TRADITIONPoint of departure:“Discover” vernacular

knowledge: avocados reduce cholesterol in mammals

Response:Develop a diet for hogs to

rescue a traditional system of backyard animal husbandry for fattening pigs

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STRENGTHEN TRADITIONChallenge: “Identify” social

significance to community and problems of producers without choices

Response: Develop a diet to strengthen local economy w/ Omega-3 eggs

Result: Individual activitycommunity responsibility

D

R

I

P

IRRIGATION

State of the Art Technology

Productive Forestry

With wood from pruning

Fair Trade

(http://www.artinoaxaca.addr.com)

Waste Water Treatment Plants

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▲

Local adaptations of state of the art technologies

Water: Use / Treatment

► Opportunities for local management and work

HighHigh--valued productsvalued products

MULBERRY• Highly adaptable • Multiple uses:

– Food for silk worms– Forage for livestock

sheep, cattle, goats as well as rabbits, hogs, poultry

– Landscape values – Pharmaceutical uses

Silk Worm (Bombyx mori)

A 60 day cycle is aborted in the cocoon phase to obtain silk thread.

The Silk Worm Cycle

OBJETIVESInitiate sustainable management of

mulberry and silk worms• 1. Establish nurseries and mulberry

plantations in community forests• 2. Establish and adapt rooms for raising

silk worms in local households• 3. Produce silk work cocoons and

transform them into silk thread• 4. Market silk thread and develop its

incorporation into artisan production.

OTHER WORLDS ARE POSSIBLE

SAY NO TO “TINA”“There is no Alternative”

(Margaret Thatcher – World Bank)

7 Noviembre 2007 CISDA: Analizando el agua 31

Public Water Management Lessons for

DemocratizationDavid Barkin

Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana – Xochimilco

Sources:

Wealth, Poverty and Sustainable Wealth, Poverty and Sustainable DevelopmentDevelopment

Urban Water Management in MexicoUrban Water Management in Mexico����D. Barkin

DEGROWTH: New Strategies for

Strengthening Traditionbarkin@correo.xoc.uam.mx