The Degrowth Database is a Great Resource

If you use it.

Photo by Jan Antonin Kolar on Unsplash

My degrowth story started about four or five years ago when I started hearing about, and then reading about learning about degrowth. At first, my reaction was similar to that of many other people. I thought degrowth sounded like a bad idea. Have a Great Depression on purpose? No, thank you.

But then I started learning about many of the tenets behind degrowth, and the things that I've been writing about here. Universal basic income, a four-day work week, living within planetary boundaries, stepping off the GDP treadmill, ecological economics, and many other paths that lead us to a steady state economy.

That journey would have been easier, and likely faster, if the degrowth database had existed back then. But it exists now, and I'd like to thank Juan Pablo (JP) Arellano who did most of the work on the database and those in the International Degrowth Network and others who helped him with that work.

I encourage everyone to take the time to go through the database to educate yourself. Share the database with others who are degrowth curious or might benefit from this resource.

It's not meant to be a static resource. The authors ask you in the database to send any updates or gaps you think need to be filled.

I'll highlight some of the things I think are most interesting about this work, but I encourage you and everyone to take it for a test drive yourselves, just see what it can do.

A brief review:

That database gives you numerous resources to better understand degrowth and connect with other like-minded individuals. Let’s break down the tabs to see what’s there:

Groups – Descriptions of and contact information for over 300 degrowth groups around the world. If you are interested in learning more and getting involved, this is the place to start.

Papers  - Read over 1500 academic papers and tools on degrowth, organized by topic. You don’t have to read all of them, but I encourage you to dive into some to be better informed.

Explorer – This tool lets you filter and search through academic articles, reports, books, and PhD theses. There is also a way to make sure the keepers of the database stay up to date, so let them know if you think they have missed anything.

Policies – A world in which degrowth thinking takes hold will need to include a change in policies. This tab in the database allows us to find degrowth policies around the world from education and energy to urban planning and the nature of work. Policy wonks, get going.

Media – This tab shows you the different media sources dedicated to degrowth discussion and thought. (This blog is in there).

Books – Over 500 books have been written on degrowth. The authors of the database conveniently let you know all the different languages that these texts come in. Start your Christmas shopping now for your loved ones with this degrowth book list. Let me know how that goes for you.

News – This one will be updated monthly, so you can see current developments in the degrowth world.

Education – The database itself is a great educational tool, but this tab helps you find whether or not there is formal degrowth training available somewhere close to you.

Comms – The communications tab highlights different communication channels

Take a look and spread the word.

Take care.