Politics of Sufficiency

General strategies

• Focus on local policies (bottom-up participation)

• Offer alternatives:

  • both infrastructural & actual policies to try out alternative activities (like free bus pass)

  • particularly to new residents because of higher acceptance of habits change when the life context changes

  • present sufficiency in a positive way

• Recognize sufficiency supporting policies in mainstream policy fields, start by implementing these “low hanging fruits”

• Campaigns accompanying policies

Concrete Ideas for Policies

• Check where are blockades for sufficiency in the tax system + ecological tax reform: increase tax on resources and energy + lower tax on labor while addressing social impacts

• Better functioning of emission (reduction) systems

• Increase transparency

  • product labelling (positive and negative)

• Progressive electricity tariffs

• Speed limits : highways: 120, city 30, elsewhere 80

• Right to lower working hours

• Sufficiency education

  • p.e. ecology, consumer awareness, sustainability, excursions... at all levels of edu

  • Communicate it as basic education (no special course) eg global awareness

  • p.e. like at Lüneburg University first year only for sustainability studies

  • Practice School gardens

  • Theory: documentaries, information material, workshops

Controversial

• Use of terms: “Sufficiency Politics” or “Politics of the good life”

• Individual ecological footprint limit

Here you can find the results of the GAP at the Degrowth Conference 2010 in Barcelona that are particularly relevant for this working group. More.