@helenczerski

Mainly because of the assumption that increasing consumption and standard of living, and thus economic growth, is an unquestionable pre-requisite for “development” and human well being.

Fair to expect that’s a Cold War hangover that neoliberalism is not going to let us shake.

It would be great if we could get mainstream education institutions on board with critical examination of the consumption, growth,
and development paradigm. I’m not holding my breath that we’ll see curriculum transition before we experience widespread social turmoil connected with ecosystem collapse.

But if we were going to reform curriculum, I’d probably start with this kind of thing:

https://youtu.be/GOLIRp9qbms

#Degrowth #HumanScaleDevelopment

"My philosophy is ecological in the sense that it is based on the conviction that human beings, in order to realize themselves, must maintain a relationship of interdependence and not of competition with nature and the rest of mankind, and equally that this must be a conscious relationship, because the ecological perspective projected on the natural environment provides fertile analogies for social ordering. It is a humanistic philosophy in that it maintains that humans are self-conscious and carry out their relationships with nature and with other human beings through culture. It also states that ecological balance cannot be left to automatism, but must be subject to human knowledge, judgement and will, in terms of conscious political action. Finally, it is anarchistic, not in the vulgar sense, but in as much as it is based on the conviction that every form of concentration of power (and all the present systems lead to this) alienates people from their environment-both natural and human-and limits or annuls their direct participation and sense of responsibility, restricting their imagination, information, communication, critical capacity and creativity. These last conditions I consider essential for the realization of the two preceding conditions: that is, an ecological conscience supported by humanistic behaviour."
- Manfred Max-Neef, 1982/92, From the Outside Looking In
#anarchism #ecology #humanism #humanScaleDevelopment #PoliticalEcology

"The kind of development in which I believe and which I seek, implies an integral ecological humanism. None of the present systems provides for this, nor has the capacity to correct itself (in order to provide it) without losing the essence of its identity as a result. And since I do not believe that any of the existing systems will work itself out of business, I have ceased to believe in the value of corrective measures. It is no longer a question of correcting what already exists. That opportunity was lost long ago. It is no longer a question of adding new variables to old mechanistic models. It is a question of remaking many things from scratch and of conceiving radically different possibilities. It is a question of understanding that, if it is the role of humans to establish values, then it is the role of· nature to establish many of the rules. It is a matter of passing from the pure exploitation of nature and of the poorer people of the world, to a creative and organic integration and interdependence. It is a matter of bringing the 'invisible' sectors into the forefront of life and of letting them, finally, have their say and 'do their thing'. It is a matter of a drastic redistribution of power through the organization of horizontal communal integration. It is a matter of passing from destructive giantism to creative smallness.

Such an eutopic society, which I conceive as oriented by apolitical philosophy which I would identify (for the sake of giving it aname) as 'humanist eco-anarchism', consolidates, in my opinion, many of the possibilities for an adequate solution of the problem."

- Manfred Max-Neef, 1982/92, From the Outside Looking In.

#anarchism #sustainment #ecology #humanScaleDevelopment

Anyone have a way to reach the folks who developed this awesome looking game #MenosEsMax #LessIsMax?

https://menosesmax.wordpress.com/inicio-2/

I’m looking to buy a couple copies but the available contact channels don’t seem to be working

#españa #spain #cantabria #HumanScaleDevelopment #MaxNeef #EcologicalEconomics #tableTopGaming

Anyone have a way to reach the folks who developed this awesome looking game #MenosEsMax #LessIsMax?

https://menosesmax.wordpress.com/inicio-2/

I’m looking to buy a couple copies but the available contact channels don’t seem to be working

#españa #spain #cantabria #HumanScaleDevelopment #MaxNeef #EcologicalEconomics #tableTopGaming