Exploring a sustainable society and the concept of growth

Humanity currently faces massive challenges of not meeting our climate goals and breaching several planetary boundaries. Economic growth, once beneficial, now complicates things by contributing to increasing emissions, resource use, and inequality. Our belief in constant growth stops us from finding new ways to live that are good for the environment and fair for everyone. Does it have to cost the planet to live good lives?

The workshop aims to tackle these issues in two ways:

1. Understanding the economic challenges and changes needed from within the system.
2. Exploring how to live with less, and use real-world examples and organizational models to solve problems.

The goal is to have meaningful talks and share ideas from various fields, involving both experts and non-experts, in a productive dialogue. 

Program

12:00   Lunch and registration

13:00   Welcome and opening remarks  

•    Setting the scene – what is the core of the problem?

"Living Well Within Planetary Limits: Is it possible? And what will it take", Professor Julia Steinberger at UNIL and Dr. Marta Baltruszewicz (Asplan Viak)

13:20   Session 1: The growth problem and its foundations

•    Presentations  

“Degrowth in the perspective of ecological economics”, Ove D. Jakobsen, Professor at Centre for Ecological Economics and Ethics, Nord University Business School

“Why have economic models been so focused on growth until now?”, Senior Researchers Fabian Aponte and Kirsten Svenja Wiebe, SINTEF Industry

"Sustainability pathways for rural Norway: alternatives beyond green growth", Elisabeth Veivåg Helseth, Researcher Norsk institutt for naturforskning – NINA

•    Moderated discussion 

14:20   Break 

14:30   Session 2: Sufficiency, community economies and alternatives 

•    Presentations  

"What does it take to be human?", Govert Valkenburg, Researcher, Deartment of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture

"Ecologies of urban gardening", Bjørn Inge Melås, Trondheim Municipality

"Sustainability as technologies of managementality: how bitcoin becomes green", Jens Røyrvik, Associate professor at Anthropology, NTNU

•    Moderated discussion 

15:40   Summing up and closing remarks 

16:00   END of workshop