Resourcefulness and Self sufficient Lifestyles

Der Suffizienzgedanke entstammt dem vormodernen Denken und hat in der heutigen Gesellschaft keinen Platz. Vielmehr zeitigt die Forderung nach Mäßigung kontraproduktive Folgen für Mensch und Umwelt. Ressourcen sparen ist zweifellos wichtig, klappt aber nur innerhalb der ökonomischen Logik – und braucht den Wettbewerb.

Authors: Sylvia Lorek & Joachim H. Spangenberg. Abstract: Experience shows that energy savings through energy efficiency measures are partly compensated by income growth, and partly by rebound effects. Therefore to be effective, efficiency measures have to be embedded in a concept of sufficiency which strives for limits and absolute reduction of energy consumption. While the sufficiency concept is not new, it only recently gained attention in the field of housing. This paper provides a basis for broader and more informed debates in policy and research on the potential of sufficiency considerations to contribute to the overall reduction of energy consumption in the residential sector. It recommends shifting the attention from energy consumption of buildings towards a concept of sustainable homes in which e.g. the size of the living area plays a crucial role. A further important aspect is the possibility to fulfill other basic needs like the provision with food, recreation and social contacts in the nearby environment. The paper describes first examples of housing projects guided by sufficiency criteria, depicts the potential roles of different actor groups and points towards some general policy recommendations.

The origins and history of the Roman Catholic Craft Guild established by Eric Gill, Hilary Pepler, Desmond Chute and Joseph Cribb at Ditchling 1920, chapter from  Chapter from Eric Gill and Ditchling - the Workshop Tradition by Ruth Cribb and Joe Cribb, Ditchling Museum 2007, avaialble from http://www.ditchling-museum.com/visit_shop.html

Many of today's organizations compete and try to survive on the basis of cutting prices and costs through redesigning business processes and downsizing the number of employees. Since there is a limit to cutting prices and downsizing,“New thinking and new approaches have become necessary for organizations to survive and to create sustainable growth and development”(Luthans, Norman, Avolio & Avey, in press; see also, Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008). This chapter proposes such a new approach: building engagement.

Gegenstand der Studie sind intentionale Gemeinschaften mit besonderer sozialökologischer Prägung. Sie begreift Ökodörfer und andere sozialökologische Gemeinschaften in ihrer Rolle als Lebensstil-Avantgarden und als Pioniere nachhaltiger Entwicklung. Sie untersucht sowohl das Nachhaltigkeits- als auch das Innovationspotential solcher Gemeinschaften. Ihre Absicht ist es sowohl das Phänomen der sozialökologischen Gemeinschaften zu beschreiben als auch auszuloten, wo solche Gemeinschaften unter dem Gesichtspunkt der Nachhaltigkeit die moderne Gesellschaft bereichern und zur Verbreitung ökologisch und sozial nachhaltiger Innovationen beitragen können.

Kapitel 1 führt in die Problematik ein und gibt einen kurzen Überblick über die Geschichte der Ökodorf- und Gemeinschaftsbewegung - nicht nur, aber vor allem der deutschen.
Kapitel 2 trägt anhand internationaler Forschungsergebnisse zusammen, inwieweit Gemeinschaften ihrem Anspruch gerecht werden, ökologisch und sozial orientiert zu sein. Durch eine quantitative Analyse von 129 Gemeinschaften aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum werden Alter, Geschlechterzusammensetzung, Konsumgewohnheiten, bevorzugte Wirtschaftsformen und
Tätigkeitsschwerpunkte analysiert. Eine Typeneinteilung erlaubt es dabei unterschiedliche Projektarten anhand ihrer weltanschaulichen Ausrichtung zu unterscheiden und zu analysieren, wie sich diese auf die Charakteristika der Gemeinschaften auswirkt.
Kapitel 3 gibt einen Überblick über wichtige Funktionseigenheiten solcher Projekte unter dem Gesichtspunkt der vielfältigen sozialen, kulturellen und technologischen Neuerungen, die Gemeinschaften anwenden. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf dabei Praktiken und Kulturtechniken.
Kapitel 4 bespricht die gesellschaftliche Ausstrahlungskraft und Wirksamkeit sowohl der Gemeinschaften als ganzheitliche Entitäten insgesamt als auch von einer ihrer zentralen Praktiken, dem gemeinschaftlichen Wohnen. (Letzteres wird als bereits erfolgtes Mainstreaming des Gemeinschaftsansatzes verstanden.) Das Kapitel zeigt auch Grenzen und Beschränkungen des modernen Gemeinschaftsansatzes auf und stellt dar, für welche Bevölkerungsgruppen gemeinschaftliches Leben, Arbeiten und Wohnen vermutlich kein wirksames Lebensstilmodell darstellen. Zudem werden Gefahren und Risiken einiger Eigenheiten der modernen Gemeinschaftsbewegung, wie sie sich als Gegenkultur am Ende des 20 Jahrhunderts entwickelt hat, besprochen.
Kapitel 5 gibt Empfehlungen an Akteure der Politik, Verwaltung und des Sozialwesens, wenn diese die vielfältigen Chancen und Vorteile, die solche Gemeinschaften als auch das gemeinschaftliche Wohnen im Allgemeinen bieten, für die Etablierung nachhaltiger Lebensstile nutzen möchten.

Die Studie ist im Rahmen eines Forschungs- und Dialogprojektes entstanden, dass European Business Council for Sustainable Energy
(e5) in Kooperation mit dem Global Ecovillage Network of Europe 2013 und 2014 durchgeführt hat. Das Projekt wurde durch das deutsche Umweltbundesamt und das Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, Bau und Reaktorsicherheit gefördert. Im Zentrum standen dabei Ökodörfer und vergleichbare innovative, gemeingüterbasierte Ansätze.

Rarely ever in human history, so many things have gone so badly wrong in so short a time. The world social and economic systems must be driven into a U-turn if it is not to destroy its own physical basis.
We need to be radical in the analysis, visionary in finding solutions that are just, benign and environmentally sound, and pragmatic in their implementation. We must stop being radical in the denial of problems, visionary in defending the status quo and pragmatic in undermining all policies of change.
We are living in the Anthropocene now, and no natural mechanisms will come to save us: turning the course to allow nature turning the tide is of utmost urgency now. For that we need new orientations, and eco-sufficiency is one of the most important amongst them.
Sufficiency is essentially the antithesis to the orientation to permanent “higher, further, faster, more”, prioritising the quality of life in work, education, and leisure, the freedom of responsible choice and the right to self-determination. Freedom includes not only the freedom from suppression and discrimination, but also the freedom for an active participation in society. One of its central battle cries is “better, not more!”

Susan Thompson in Planning Australia: An Overview of Urban and Regional Planning paints a rather troubling picture of the state of the regions. More than anything, it seems to be a problem characterised by a lack of clarity over what actually constitutes a region and as a result sound regional development policy. Hence, I envisage a "tragedy of the commons" type of scenario with blurred boundary lines and somewhat ambiguous ownership of land and natural resources. The geography of the regions and regionalism is a vague concept which has meant everything and nothing to many different scholars over time. Indeed, this raises the question, If it means everything and nothing to everyone, then what does it actually mean? In 2012 I was dumbfounded to return to Western Australia – one of the largest states in the world. Why Western Australia was not broken down into more manageable, smaller states such as the South West or the Kimberley remains beyond me. Nonetheless, most leading thinkers in the field are now of the view that regional development is chiefly concerned with using the land responsibly, and as a consequence achieving maximum benefit for livelihoods --
maximising socioeconomic performance, if you will. However, this notion is soon simplistically contrasted with the view that regional development entails "everything beyond capital cities". And so there seems to be this massive disconnect with Australia's heartland, which comprises 70% of the nation's surface area and forms the direct backbone of modern civilization in the city. Having travelled somewhat extensively in the regions myself, crisscrossing all but two 'states' (Tasmania and the ACT), I can attest to the fact that modernisation has been a bit slow to touch down in rural areas. But perhaps the most important insight comes from spatial units: using a clearly defined region as a unit of analysis for evaluating different regions and their varying degrees of economic integration across the world – a unit of analysis for determining where the region sits in its development. Not quite dissimilar to global cities, this concept is proving particularly vital in an increasingly globalised world where the regions are constantly being subjected to the vagaries in the volume of world trade. In other words, the international business cycle. The major causative factors for this development are, for one thing, the downturn in emerging economies of China and Brazil and, for another, the renewed rise of protectionism and ever so stochastic breakdown of inefficient trade restrictions such as tariffs, subsidies and quotas. Uncertain international geopolitics and economic circumstances awaiting the regions may well spell calamity in terms of socioeconomic well-being, but the good news is that ongoing productivity improvements can give the regions a competitive edge. The inherently politically charged nature of the regions, although inevitable given the staggering amounts of wealth at stake is, in my opinion, given undue consideration. For stable management of Australia's regions will require not only solid policies and sustained efforts from planners which go beyond the four year election cycle but a consistent strategic direction as well. Granted, the sheer scale and geographical enormity of the regions, in itself, has led many a scholar to ponder whether triple-bottom-line, "sustainable" regional development is realistic -- indeed, if it is attainable at all. Well, one thing's for sure. As the discrepancy between lofty policy intentions and actual outcomes becomes ever increasing, and as the global city hype gradually subsides, the indispensable importance of the world's city-regions and their ecological resilience should doubtless come to the fore.

AbsolventInnen legen im Zuge ihrer Graduierung ein Gelöbnis ab, das ihnen weitreichende Verantwortung gegenüber Gesellschaft, Umwelt und Wissenschaft abverlangt. Dabei fragt sich, inwiefern Hochschulausbildung geeignet sei, Studierende für die Erfüllung ihres Gelöbnisses zu qualifizieren. Dazu werden die Charakteristika dieses als Didaktik-Ethik bezeichneten Zugangs erörtert, die mittelfristigen großen sozialen, wirtschaftlichen und ökologischen Herausforderungen für die Gesellschaft skizziert und in Relation zu dominanten Lösungsparadigmen gesetzt, um sodann Kompetenzen zu diskutieren, deren Vermittlung der Bewältigung dieser Herausforderungen zuträglich erscheint. Dem wird eine soziologische Skizze der heutigen StudienanfängerInnen angeschlossen, um daraus spezifische didaktische Anforderungen abzuleiten. Im letzten Schritt wird der didaktisch-ethische Ansatz der „guten Lehre als Liebesbeziehung“ entwickelt und dessen Eignung diskutiert, um Studierende bestmöglich in ihrer Qualifikation für die Erfüllung ihres Gelöbnisses zu unterstützen.

In many histories of postwar Britain the 1940s have been presented as a period in which architects and town planners became increasingly caught up in ‘utopian fantasies’ about how to go about rebuilding Britain’s bomb-damaged cities. Typically these narratives have applied the term ‘utopian’ in a fairly disparaging way; using it to emphasise the naivety and infeasibility of their plans for the future. This article attempts to tell a different story. Using the plans and proposals that were drawn up for the council estates of the future as the case studies through which to gain an insight into the mindset of this period, this article shows that although some of the ideas and proposals put forward may have been fairly ambitious they were not without ideological foundations and, as such, should be treated with more seriousness by historians.

So a few years ago, I decided to make some lifestyle changes and left my career as an investment advisor to teach on-line and work from home. This provided a means to reduce my expenses, nominalize my income taxes, spend more time with my young family, and enjoy the tranquility next to the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

We investigate the prospects of voluntary ecological sufficiency for environmental and climate policy under the
constraints implied by political liberalism. We find that freedom of choice restricts sufficiency to rather wealthy
societies and that a sufficiency threshold cannot be derived by referring to the poor. Sufficiency can be in
conflict with the demands of social justice, i.e. if the sufficiency threshold is below the social minimum implied
by social justice. Benefits from sufficiency are highly related to individual perceptions. Such benefits cannot be
expressed in a standard preference framework. Consequently, alternative measures of welfare and inequality are
required if sufficiency is a significant phenomenon in society. ‘Standard’ environmental policies can have a
pronounced interaction with voluntary sufficiency, i.e. if ‘quantity regulation’ is present. Overall, the voluntary
notion of sufficiency causes a dilemma as sufficiency is largely a matter of civil society. However, voluntary
sufficiency is expected to make important contributions to the preservation of ecological resources if properly
balanced with social and environmental policies and framed by public discursive control.

Project aims at reshaping the traditional local Chinese rural culture by the reconstruction of rural eco
community-based organizations, developing eco community standard principles for the young (with special
space for intergenerational elderly) to be replicated in continental China.
An innovative sustainable development model for Chinese rural areas, driven by modern agricultural
techniques and sustained by a self sufficiency energy production from renewable sources, as well as with
a full integration urban “green infrastructure” for renewed “green living” standards for rural China.
This basic unit (based of feasible use of land change within Chinese territorial laws) of 13.3 ha and 1.080
Rural hand force Green living & Food productive unit, reproducible to higher standard, if needed.

Craigslist.org has become the primary free online personal ad interface where people solicit one another for relationships and sexual hookups. With no limit on free expression, craigslist users have begun to employ new grammatologies for use in their hyperlinked lifestyles. While the option of romance is offered, there is a notable absence of it from the cultural agendas expressed therein. Many self-proclaimed gay men would claim to be romantic, but this lifestyle component is one that is not evidenced upfront, and is perhaps evidenced after-the-fact, or, more specifically, after-the-sex. For many, romance is what one expects to ensue after bodies have commingled, and it has been determined that there is the fire of a potential relationship at work. Many other users have zero interest in romance, and use the craigslist site solely for their kinkiness, offering to provide sexual gratification to anyone who is willing to visit them in their physical space, where they are often blindfolded and waiting naked in the middle of the room for someone to sexually gratify them ‘right now,’ a not uncommon craigslist scenario. The site is also a haven for traveling bisexual and married people who are ‘coming to town’ on given dates and are looking for anonymous trysts to happen in their hotel rooms once they arrive. This study looks at ease of access and availability, diverse personalities, suggestive language, and overall cultural makeup of the vast community of people found ‘trolling for sex’ in the personal ads section of your local craigslist.org.

... I am also grate-ful to Duke University Press's editorial director, Ken Wissoker, for taking on this project and for the guidance he and his edi-torial staff (especially Leigh Barnwell and Tim Elfenbein) pro-vided to see it to completion. ...

“Counter-culture and self-management as imaginary and practical response to urban crisis”, in “Imageries of cities: the role of cultural policies and activism in self-representations of cities and citizens”, EURA “City Lights: Cities and Citizens within/beyond/notwithstanding the Crisis”, Turin, June 2016.