Results of the plenary discussion in Leipzig

How can practical skills help to foster a degrowth society?

• it can foster autonomy and local production

• improves resilience

• subsistence helps with reducing paid working hours

• it is a form of doing (other than “just talking”) that can be more effective, or at least feel more effective

• helps to overcome feeling of alienation

• Can mobilize people, by the better appreciation of different kinds of knowledge

• it helps building communities in the neighborhood and thus provides the possibility to include children and old people...

• more understanding of nature, materials and other people

• chance of more holistic learning

What are the limits/dangers of a strong orientation towards subsistence and self-providing?

• We can't produce everything in small scales

• maybe we don't have to do it either, or it doesn't make sense. efficiency has good sides!!

• do we really question the system of taxes and societal solidarity? can strong orientation towards individual self-providing lead to a crash instead of degrowth as a designed process?

• let's avoid segregation into good/bad: useful skills can be various, e.g. also theoretical reflection was important for the impulse to “relearn”

• problematic tendencies with money-making through DIY, sharing in order to consume more etc.

• can autarchy also lead to closure?