Please register until 26^th May 2021 via Email flumen@uni-jena.de with the following subject “registration HFR Workshop” including the following information: -> first name -> surname -> your institution

Forests are crucial ecosystems that humans have always been dependent on. Global land use changes, degradation of (forest) land or the valorization of forests and their possible implications constitute impacts on values and attitudes towards forests and various forms of its usage and exploitation. 

Individual relationships with forest can be defined as human-forest-relationships: They are the result of one’s individual and family history, cultural background, the society in which an individual lives, and the forest surrounding a person. This relationship, which combines both, historical and modern values and practices, reflects the constantly evolving global, national, communal, and individual attitudes towards forests. The varying types of human-forest-relationships indicate what forests mean to humans, and they can also provide insight into broader underlying ideas and practices of how individuals, communities, and societies relate to nature as a whole. As a bio-based natural resource linked with nature and society in multiple ways, forests are an interesting case for studying societal and political debates as well as economic and political power relations. 

As part of the field of society-nature-relations (GER: Gesellschaftliche Naturverhältnisse), the workshop focuses on the questions: 

• How do societies view, construct, investigate, use, exploit, and dominate the ‘nature’ they ultimately depend on? 
• What are the implications of human-nature-relationships for work in forestry, for the economic usage of nature and forests and for actions and decisions regarding forests? 

Exchange and debates between Finnish and German-speaking researchers working on the cultural and social implications of different types of human-forest-relationships motivate the workshop and its organizers.

The workshop is organized by

• The Junior Research Group ‘Mentalities in Flux’ (flumen) at the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany | funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education

• And the ‘Human-forest relationship in Societal Change’ – Research Project: University of Helsinki & University of Eastern Finland | funded by Metsämiesten Säätiö Foundation

The workshop is funded by the Finland Institute in Germany (https://finnland-institut.de/en/) and the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF).

More information on Special Issue on Promises of growth and sustainability in the bioeconomy of the Journal for Sustainable Consumption and Production

In current debates about the future of modern societies, one concept is increasingly marshalled as providing an answer to multiple challenges: the bioeconomy. The dominant narrative makes the claim that shifting to a bioeconomy based on the flow of renewable energies and biological resources societies can achieve both: ‘green’ economic growth and a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels and resources, thus building a sustainable future. 

The aim of this Special Issue is to shed light on the nexus of sustainability, technology and growth within the bioeconomy from multidisciplinary, critical and constructive perspectives. We invite empirical and/or conceptual contributions addressing but not limited to the following questions: 

• Can growth-based economies really be made sustainable by just basing them on biogenic instead of fossil materials and resources? 
• Do the bioeconomy and the innovations of modern biotechnology enable a decoupling of environmental throughput from GDP? 
• Would the transformation of modern societies towards post-fossil, bio-based economic activities need to involve an overcoming of unlimited economic growth? 
• What would political processes and bioeconomy implementation strategies have to look like in order to transform the economy in a democratic and participatory way?

The above mentioned Special Issue is a cooperation between Forschungszentrum Juelich as a topical editor (Sandra Venghaus) and the Junior Research Group flumen as guest editors (Dr. Dennis Eversberg, Dr. Martin Fritz, Lilian Pungas).

We would like to invite you to submit papers (various formats possible such as research and review articles, short communications). 

The deadline is June 30, 2021. 

Papers will be peer-reviewed and the aim is to have final papers accepted and sent to production by 30th November 2021, which should mean the special issue can be finalised by the end of the year/early 2022. All information you need as an author with this journal you can find here. 

Do not hesitate to write to us if you have any further questions. Also, we would be very grateful if you shared the call with any colleagues that might be interested.

Dr. Dennis Eversberg      dennis.eversberg@uni-jena.de

Dr. Martin Fritz                martin.fritz@uni-jena.de

Lilian Pungas                  lilian.pungas@uni-jena.de

„Leere Versprechen und selbsterfüllende Prophezeiungen. Bioökonomie (und Kreislaufwirtschaft) aus wachstumskritischer Perspektive“ – das ist der Titel von Jana Holz‘ Keynote, die sie im Online Workshop „Potenziale des Konzepts Kreislaufwirtschaft“ am 24. März 2021 gehalten hat.

In die Kreislaufwirtschaft werden große Hoffnungen gesetzt. Sie soll Arbeitsplätze schaffen und zum Wachstum beitragen, dabei aber auch die Umwelt schonen. Dieses Versprechen basiert auf dem Konzept der Entkopplung des Wirtschaftswachstums vom Ressourcenverbrauch. Ob und wie die Kreislaufwirtschaft ein Element einer dringend benötigten sozial-ökologischen Transformation hin zum guten Leben für alle innerhalb planetarer Grenzen sein kann, wurde in dieser Veranstaltung diskutiert.

Der Workshop war Teil der Diskussionsreihe „Degrowth – Zukunftspfad oder Illusion“

Die AK Wien und Degrowth Vienna knüpfen mit der Diskussionsreihe „Degrowth – Zukunftspfad oder Illusion?“ inhaltlich an die Konferenz Degrowth Vienna 2020 an, die im Mai 2020 mit über 4000 registrierten Teilnehmer:innen online und mit Unterstützung u.a. der Arbeiterkammer stattfand. Entlang diverser Themenstränge diskutierten Wissenschaftler:innen sowie Vertreter:innen aus Zivilgesellschaft und Institutionen Strategien für eine sozial- ökologische Transformation. Im Themenbereich Arbeit angesprochene Diskussionspunkte möchte die AK Wien in dieser Veranstaltungsreihe weiterentwickeln.

Jana Holz nimmt am 17. und 18. März 2021 am 3rd International Forest Policy Meeting (IFPM3) (https://ifpm3.info/) teil, das von der Professur für Forst- und Umweltpolitik der Universität Freiburg zusammen mit der IUFRO Division 9.05 ausgerichtet wird.

Im Panel “Global Forest Bioeconomy: Continuity or a Pathway to Transformations?” hält Jana einen Vortrag zum Thema „Forest-based Bioeconomy in Finland: Extractivist Loopholes?“.

Außerdem beteiligt sie sich an der 3MT Challenge (Three Minute Thesis), wo sie innerhalb von drei Minuten das Thema und Anliegen ihrer Promotion für ein breites Publikum präsentieren wird. Hier mehr Infos zur ‚3MT Idee.

flumen als Mitveranstalterin lädt alle Interessierten herzlich ein:

Fachtagung „Kartoffel, Kürbis, Vaterland – Landwirtschaft aus rechter Hand“ – eine digitale Fachtagung zu rechten Vereinnahmungsversuchen im Ökolandbau

Wann? 22. und 23. März 2021

Die Veranstaltung richtet sich vor allem an Menschen aus der landwirtschaftlichen und gärtnerischen Praxis sowie aus Beratungs-, Netzwerk- und Verbandsarbeit. Die Teilnahme an der Fachtagung ist kostenfrei.Gerne können Sie diesen Termin über Ihre Verteiler und an Interessierte weiterleiten. Den Flyer mit vielen weiteren Informationen und die Möglichkeit zur Anmeldung finden Sie HIER

Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Die AG Rechte-Tendenzen des Netzwerkes Solidarische Landwirtschaft
E-Mail für Rückfragen: gegen-rechts@solidarische-landwirtschaft.org

Hintergrund:

„Nicht erst im Kontext des gesellschaftlichen Rechtsrucks
ist in den vergangenen Jahren deutlich geworden,
dass Akteur*innen mit antidemokratischer und
rechtsradikaler Gesinnung im Ökolandbau mitmischen.
Menschen, die sich Gruppierungen wie z.B. den
völkischen Siedlern, der AfD oder der rechtsoffenen
Anastasia-Bewegung zugehörig fühlen, ziehen aufs
Land und verbreiten dort unter dem Deckmantel der
romantischen Idylle ländlichen Lebens ihre menschenverachtende
Ideologie. Doch wie erkennen wir, ob auf
einem Hof menschenfeindliche Gesinnung Normalität ist?

Und wenn wir es erkennen, welche Handlungsstrategien
gibt es? Auf dieser Fachtagung werden
in Impulsvorträgen und vertiefenden Workshops
aktuelle rechte Strömungen auf dem Land im Kontext
der ökologischen Landwirtschaft thematisiert.
Es werden Handlungs- und Organisationsmöglichkeiten
diskutiert, um gemeinsam rassistischer und
menschenfeindlicher Gesinnung entgegenzuwirken
und Alternativen hervorzubringen.“ (Veranstaltungs-Flyer)

Lilian Pungas (2020): „Caring dachas – Food self-provisioning in Eastern Europe through the lens of care“, in: Nelson, A., Edwards, F. (Hg.): Food for Degrowth. Perspectives and Practices. Routledge, London & New York, 59-74.

Abstract zum Artikel: The notions of care and stewardship are at the root of all practices concerning food production – from ploughing the soil and sowing, to harvesting, cooking, preserving and composting. Yet, in contrast to cooking, cultivating land is often not perceived as ‘classical’ care work. Instead, care is mostly framed as an interhuman activity concerned with human sustenance and reproduction and therefore, associated mostly with household work, raising children and taking care of the elderly (Waerness 1984; Jochimsen 2003). Given that care remains a rather marginalised category, my goal in this chapter is to reinforce and enrich the discourse on care in degrowth scholarship by demonstrating how food self-provisioning (FSP) in both urban and periurban areas is grounded in ideas of care and stewardship, not only as an interhuman act, but also in connection to the soil and surrounding environment. In this sense, caring means ‘reaching out to something other than the self’ (Tronto 1993, 102) implying a deep empathy with other (living) beings, as well as being followed by some form of action.

Drawing on four of Tronto’s (1993) expressions of care, I demonstrate that, despite seeming ‘irrational’ in economic terms, FSP is essentially a very rational act of care based on a deep understanding of interdependence and mutual vulnerability between humans and nonhuman nature (Gottschlich 2012). Care manifests as reciprocal ‘caring about’, ‘care-giving’ and ‘care-receiving’ with the surrounding environment, the gardener’s community and oneself. In this case study, I explore how notions of care are expressed in FSP, and how they can all be recognised as predominant intrinsic motives behind this practice. In contrast, I display how promises and narratives of industrial agriculture fall into Tronto’s fourth category (‘taking care of’) as rather ‘masculine’, ‘public’ and ‘loud’ manifestations of care. Tronto’s (2013) subsequent, fth, dimension of care (‘caring with’) constitutes a less hierarchical relationship as well as a complex interdependence between both counterparts (care-giver and care-receiver) so might provide an additional (potentially more appropriate) framework for analysing care in FSP practice. However, in this chapter the focus lies on the other four dimensions of care for the sake of nuanced analysis of specic aspects and motives of care practice with regard to FSP. 

Der Artikel ist erschienen im Sammelband Nelson, A., Edwards, F. (Hg.), 2021. Food for Degrowth. Perspectives and Practices. Routledge, London & New York.

This collection breaks new ground by investigating applications of degrowth in a range of geographic, practical and theoretical contexts along the food chain. Degrowth challenges growth and advocates for everyday practices that limit socio-metabolic energy and material flows within planetary constraints. As such, the editors intend to map possibilities for food for degrowth to become established as a field of study.

International contributors offer a range of examples and possibilities to develop more sustainable, localised, resilient and healthy food systems using degrowth principles of sufficiency, frugal abundance, security, autonomy and conviviality. Chapters are clustered in parts that critically examine food for degrowth in spheres of the household, collectives, networks, and narratives of broader activism and discourses. Themes include broadening and deepening concepts of care in food provisioning and social contexts; critically applying appropriate technologies; appreciating and integrating indigenous perspectives; challenging notions of ‚waste‘, ‚circular economies‘ and commodification; and addressing the ever-present impacts of market logic framed by growth.

This book will be of greatest interest to students and scholars of critical food studies, sustainability studies, urban political ecology, geography, environmental studies such as environmental sociology, anthropology, ethnography, ecological economics and urban design and planning.

https://www.routledge.com/Food-for-Degrowth-Perspectives-and-Practices/Nelson-Edwards/p/book/9780367436469

Eversberg, Dennis and Jana Holz. 2020. Empty Promises of Growth: The Bioeconomy and Its Multiple Reality Checks

Abstract:

In this paper, we want to make two arguments. Firstly, we observe that the current trend in official policy concepts and strategies of the bioeconomy is toward a moderation of the promises of economic growth that it has been associated with since the beginning of this millennium. We argue that this process of moderation is at least partly due to the effects of a series of ‘reality checks’ that the different existing strands of research on the bioeconomy have (willingly or unwillingly) subjected the promises to, forcing governments to move away from obviously unrealistic visions and adopt more humble ones. We identify four such reality checks, coming from research on (a) bioeconomy discourses and strategies, (b) actors and
interests in the political economy of the bioeconomy, and (c) the economic and biophysical materialities that make up ‘the bioeconomy’. Secondly, we propose that a fourth, sociological reality check is currently being mounted, exposing the social implausibility and democratic illegitimacy of the bioeconomy’s promissory visions. Using survey data from Germany
to develop a provisional analysis of the tensions and conflicts within the population that disagreements about the bioeconomy are embedded in, we suggest putting the bioeconomy in its proper political place as part of the larger societal challenge, rather than promise, of achieving a post-fossil transformation of modern societies.

Unsere Working Paper

Einladung zum Kolloquium der Nachwuchsgruppe „Mentalitäten im Fluss. Vorstellungswelten in modernen bio-kreislaufbasierten Gesellschaften (flumen)“ am Donnerstag, den 10.12.2020 (10:15-11:45 Uhr) (über zoom).

Unsere Kollegin Melissa Büttner wird ihre Masterarbeit vorstellen:

Vorstellungswelten von Mobilität und Nachhaltigkeit als Wegweiser für eine sozial-ökologische Transformation. Eine Analyse aktueller Mobilitätsmentalitäten.  Mobilität scheint auch im frühen 21. Jahrhundert noch immer ein Sinnbild für die Abhängigkeit der Gesellschaft von fossilen Energieträgern und ihr Hadern auf dem Weg in eine post-fossile Zukunft zu sein. Verschiedene Ansätze einer Mobilitätswende sind zwar aktuell in aller Munde, doch in der Praxis dominiert eindeutig der fossil betriebene Automobilismus. In diesem Vortrag soll analysiert werden, welche Haltungen und Vorstellungswelten, also Mentalitäten, aktuell in der deutschen Bevölkerung existieren und inwiefern darin Konturen einer Transformation, bzw. die Beharrungskraft des Automobilismus deutlich werden. 

Zoom-Meetingdaten: 

Zoom-Meeting beitreten
https://uni-jena-de.zoom.us/j/91697836460

Meeting-ID: 916 9783 6460
Kenncode: 780554

Zum Nachlesen und Anschauen: der Bericht, Präsentationen und Videobeiträge aus dem Workshop „It’s the (bio)economy, stupid! Die Zukunft des Wachstums und das Versprechen der Bioökonomie“ sind hier aufrufbar