Degrowth School

REDEFINING PROGRESS: Nature, Care, & the Working Class

DEGROWTH! Political School 2024: PROGRAM

Welcome to a New Frontier of Political Thought!

Welcome to an experiment in the making, a laboratory for rethinking the socially accepted truths and dogmas of the 21st century. This year we invite you to the second edition of the Degrowth Political School in Slovenia, entitled “Redefining Progress: Nature, Care & the Working Class”, building on the foundations laid by our first edition, “The Limits to Growth”.

The themes of the 2024 Biennial School will revolve around: solidarity and class consciousness in the face of climate collapse, the intersection of the climate movement and the working class, and the value of the invisible parts of the economy (nature, the caring classes and the working class).

The aim of this international multi-stakeholder event is to promote solidarity, build bridges, and stimulate the imagination of alternative economic arrangements that reconcile the provision of human needs with ecological goals. Here, surrounded by nature, the school is more than just an educational laboratory – it is a convivial space for vibrant social exchange.

Our mission

Our mission goes beyond the program’s duration. Addressing the void in transformative imaginaries, we strive to cultivate new ideas, arguments, and problem framings. Through international policy debates, we seek a global impact.

In an era of polycrises and depoliticization, we champion active citizenship and critical thinking. Our emphasis on systems analysis, over an individualistic consumer-centric model, aims for enduring social well-being and sustainability.

The school serves as a crossroads for diverse generations, cultures, professions, and educational backgrounds, fostering a rich exchange of ideas. Bursting professional bubbles between academia, civil society, and policymakers, we counter depoliticization, fostering greater public engagement with critical political issues.

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Degr0wth 2022

Degrowth School 2022

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Limits to Growth 2022

To mark the 50th anniversary of The Limits to Growth report, which raised crucial questions about the sustainability of endless economic growth on a planet with finite resources, Policy Lab hosted the Degrowth Policy School 2022. While the report’s warnings were once considered controversial, today’s challenges require a re-evaluation of its hypothesis. Degrowth, which critiques the ideology of perpetual economic growth, proposes a transformative downscaling of high-income economies towards zero-carbon societies.

Our school provided a platform for connection, fostering alliances and cultivating critical narratives that contribute to alternative pathways of social and economic development. Explore the vibrant moments of School 2022 in our photo album below.