Friday October 7th, 10:30am – 5:30pm
Room 410, 35 Berkeley Square, GSOE, University of Bristol
This event is FREE but we will ask for £3.00 for tea and coffee: we need numbers for this so please register at: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1782241733/eivtefrnd
A day of talks and discussion focussing on questions of sustainability and the ‘Big Society’ drawing on contemporary aspects of the work of E.F. Schumacher
The sustainability movement focuses on social justice and equity along with ecological health but it is still often represented as a ‘green’ movement in the more limited sense. This has the effect of leaving open the question of whether capitalist and individualist forms of economy can deliver on sustainability. This research day will focus on the ideas, perspectives and alternative practice that the sustainability movement can offer. This will be informed by the work of E.F. Schumacher, interpreted for the 21st Century by the Schumacher Institute as aiming to ‘put people at the heart of a sustainable economy’. Along with the emphasis on sustainable economy, comes a willingness to open up questions of governance and the relations between state, regional and local forms – linked to questions of participatory democracy. These have resonance with the new kinds of discussions held by protesters in Greece and Spain for example.
Further questions we want to explore concern the alienation of large sections of the population from governance systems, community and from the ecological roots of life. With these points in mind we also want to critically explore the attempted revival of aspects of communitarianism in the idea of the ‘Big Society’. Can these be analysed in a way that can inform our own reconstruction of the role of the local and state organisations in social and ecological care? Can a study of the ‘new localism’ in its different varieties help to inform the new options for governance that the sustainability movement might want to propose? What kind of new economic models are being proposed in the light of the current ecological and monetary crisis? How might such an analysis help us find new and creative ways forward in the struggle to found societies, federations and global organisations that can really address the linked well being of people and planet?
Programme
10.30 – 12.45: Schumacher in the 21st Century
Jenneth Parker, Schumacher Institute: Welcome and Agenda for the day
Philippa Bayley, Cabot Institute: Cabot research: linking biophysical, social and economic themes and public engagement
Ian Roderick & Nicola Jones, Schumacher Institute: Schumacher as a systems thinker: how can this approach help us contribute to positive social change in a complex world?
Rosa Vasilaki, University of Bristol: Thinking like a Greek: social and economic crisis and opportunities for new thinking
Tea and coffee in foyer
Discussion groups: what has the sustainability movement got to offer in understanding and responding to crisis in Europe?
LUNCH – Bring your lunch or go out to the many varied eateries near the University
2.00- 5.30 The ‘Big Society’ and Sustainability
Hugh Atkinson, London South Bank University: Localism and Centralism from New Labour to the Coalition: what ways forward for sustainability?
Neil Stammers, University of Sussex: The ‘Big Society’ and Liberal Individualism: symbiosis or toxic combination?
Tea in foyer
Workshop: implications for Sustainability in a time of financial crisis, led by Molly Scott Cato, University of Wales Institute Cardiff
Can we view recession as an experiment in a no-growth economy? Implications of the financial crisis for our thinking about the green economy. Linking economic questions with issues regarding the state, localism, bioregionalism and the transition to sustainability.
We will capture key points from the discussions to inform future activities and to generate questions for the speakers at the Centenary events at the Colston Hall on Saturday 8th October & Sunday 9th October various venues.
