Degrowth vs Capitalism (Speech) Part II What is degrowth? A political, economic and social movement based on economic equality, environmental protection and human well-being. The main principles of degrowth are: Sustainability: working towards minimizing the exploitation of natural resources and using local ones, using transport systems environmentally friendly and reaching a steady-state economy that operates within Earth’s biophysical limits. Conviviality: trying to recover our social life, which we lost with technology and competitiveness. In order to find new forms of free time far from paid leisure time activities. Change of mentality: realizing that owning less means having more (especially more freedom) in favour of overcome consumerism and remembering that every time you spend your money you are creating the kind of world you want. Cooperation: by reusing empty houses and co-housing while creating self-sufficient communities as opposed to globalization and replacing the competitive and individualistic values with collectivism and generosity. Degrowth must be always a gradual, responsible, rational, ecological and social movement. And know, please; rethink if you would be happier in a society like this. Thank you.

Degrowth vs Capitalism (Speech) Ladies and gentlemen we are here today to understand and redirect the future of humanity. First of all I want you to rethink one question now, and again, at the end of this speech. Are you happy? According to the latest WIN/Gallup survey, Latin American countries are among the happiest countries worldwide while North America is one of the unhappiest regions in the world. Why? We all have heard that money doesn’t mean happiness, right? But let’s clarify this: At the beginning of a development, to have financial resources will obviously be satisfactory and a cause of welfare. However, when development reaches its peak, overconsumption and irresponsible exploitation start. And this is not progress anymore, but a cause of unhappiness. Our consumer culture doesn’t help. We have a routine in which sometimes life seems to have no meaning, that’s why people do get depressed and are consequently unhappy, despite having so many physical comforts. We are taught to think that we would be happier when we work more hours, we have more money and we own more things. We are taught to have more and more without an end, like an addiction. And we are taught by the whole system to be competitive and to consume as much as we can and that’s exactly what we do. Because we are bombarded with commercial messages every day that remind us to keep consuming things that we really don’t need. Moreover the planned obsolescence occasionally will give us the need to purchase new products in order to replace the old ones. I’m going to illustrate you with some facts of the world we live nowadays in: people are starving while tons of food are wasted. Some multinational companies are more powerful than many countries. The number of homeless people increases as well as the number of empty houses does. And a forest can be devastated in few hours but it needs decades or even centuries to regenerate. We live in a capitalist system based on economic growth and productivity increase which are causes of job destruction, increasing inequalities and environmental problems that most of the times are signs of unsustainability, such as global warming, greenhouse gas emissions, loss of biodiversity or land and water degradation But if we live in a planet with limited resources, there is no point in trying to keep growing without limits. The economy can’t grow forever so we have to re-orient it. As an alternative, degrowth movement present us. What is degrowth?

Eine kleine Beschreibung Das Bild zeigt eine glückliche Familie. Die jungen Mädchen ist klein, sie hat lange Haare und sie trägt einen Zopf. Sie trägt einen Jacke und einen rosen Rock mit grüne Schuhe auch. Der Vater ist groß und schlank, seine Gesicht ist rundlich. Er trägt, ein weißes Hemd mit einem dunkelblauen Krawatte und eine blaue Jeans. Die Mutter, die umfasst ihr Sohn, hatte lange haare und trägt ein gelbes Kleid. Der junge Sohn trägt einen grüne T-Shirt und eine braune Hose.

Was haben Sie gestern online gemacht? Ich habe einen Laptop. Der ist sehr wichtig für mich, weil Ich ihn für arbeiten brauche. Gestern Morgen, habe ich die Zeitung gelesen. In der Universität ich habe Informationen recherchiert über die Wirtschaftskrise für eine Übung. Später habe ich meine E-mails gecheckt. Gestern Abend habe ich ein Film gesehen, weil Im Fernsehen gibt es keine gute Filme. Ich habe mit meinen Enkeln gechatten. Die sehe ich nicht so oft, die leben in Barcelona. In der nacht habe ich Deutsch gelernt und ich habe Die Seite von Die Deutsche Welle besucht. Ich mag gern im Internet Deutsch studieren, weil das geht einfach nach zusätzlichen Materialien, Übungen und Tipps, das finde ich sehr dienlich um meine Deutschkenntnisse zu verbessern.