Welcome to the English webpage of Degrowth Norway!
Degrowth Norway was initiated as a network on the 5th of December 2022. Our network brings together researchers, activists, and practitioners, and is open to anyone who is inspired by the international degrowth movement.
We are collaborating on transformative changes in Norway, to enable emancipation from capitalism and the growth ideology. The purpose is to achieve good lives for all with respect to both nature and people, in a global perspective with justice and solidarity.
We normally use Norwegian language in our communication, and English language for interaction with people and corresponding movements globally. We work in collaboration with the “Nordic Network for Postgrowth Research (Postgrowth Nordics)”, which promotes research related to degrowth and post growth in the specific context of the countries Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Degrowth Norway is also a member of the “International Degrowth Network (IDN)”.
We emphasize understandings of reality, values and knowledge where development is not understood as the goal. Ideas about progress, development and growth have characterized our societies ever since the Second World War and permeate dominant thoughts about “sustainable development” in the global North. With the term “degrowth”, we abandon the idea of development as a moral principle for social and economic life, to create space for narratives, notions, and practices that can serve new purposes. This perspective is further substantiated by Federico Demaria and Erik Gomez-Baggethun in the book chapter “Leaving development behind: the case for degrowth” (Demaria & Gómez-Baggethun, 2023).
You are welcome to get in touch via the e-mail address kontakt@vekstfri.no, if you want to collaborate or discuss matters relevant to the purpose of our network!
References:
Demaria, F., & Gómez-Baggethun, E. (2023). Leaving development behind: the case for degrowth. In B. Bull & M. Aguilar-Støen (Eds.), Handbook on International Development and the Environment. Edward Elgar Publishing.