with François Schneider
Each year half of the degrowth summer school took place in Can Decreix, a “house of degrowth” at the French/Spanish border. This webinar presents this place and ideas behind it. Other systems are possible! Especially ones that tie together simple frugal practices, convivial technologies, alternative worldviews, low-techs etc. And places of practice are super important to change our imaginaries at other scales too. It is not about a new market niche. Each solution is linked to local conditions. Can Decreix is not meant to be cloned but it is meant to encourage self-reflection about the systemic prevention of pollution, about finding creative ways to adapt to surrounding conditions. Can Decreix is also an invitation to develop a different relation to time, reuse cascades of materials , debound systems, frugal innovation, open localism and convivial encounters. We learn from mistakes, and we accumulate practical knowledge and share it. In the past 10 years we have experimented a lot and still will – join us! Let us just try!
Visit Can Decreix webpage
François Schneider is an industrial ecologist and degrowth researcher. He worked on the development of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology at the INSA engineering school in Lyon and at the CML in Holland. He organized the first conference on allocation in LCA in Leiden. He finished his PhD on allocation problems in cascade systems in 1996. He worked on material flow of carbon or aggregated material at the Institute for Industrial Ecology in Austria. He contributed to SERI development in Vienna, working on rebound effect, transport issues, sustainable consumption and regional flows. He worked at the INETI in Lisbon, Portugal on product-service systems and material/water indicators in regions. Since 2001, he has been active in the development of the degrowth concept and debate in France and Europe. Founding Research and Degrowth in 2006, he initiated and co-organised the first scientific conference on degrowth for Sustainability and Equity in Paris in 2008 as well as the second one in Barcelona in 2010. He worked on housing & degrowth at ICTA, UAB, and puts now degrowth in practice and life-style innovation on the French-Spanish border (Can Decreix). He is now dedicated to the facilitation of collective processes.