Search

Es casi imposible estar en desacuerdo con una propuesta de ralentizar las cosas para minimizar el daño al planeta. Sin embargo, la pregunta es dónde. El manifiesto propuesto en The Case for Degrowth reconoce el desafío de pedir a distintas poblaciones que reduzcan su crecimiento económico y bienestar. Sugieren alianzas, haciéndose eco de los comunes, y destacan antiguas tradiciones culturales que han imaginado otros mundos. En contraste, la discusión ofrecida por Deepak Lamba-Nieves, mediante el caso de Puerto Rico y su subyugación colonial compartida o equivalente a muchos otros lugares, en especial en el sur global, nos pide reflexionar sobre de quién podemos esperar o pedir decrecimiento.

It is almost impossible to disagree with a proposal seeking to slow things down to minimize harm to the planet. However, the question is where. The manifesto in The Case for Degrowth acknowledges the challenge of asking distinct populations to lower their economic growth and well-being. They suggest alliances, echoing the commons, and highlight ancient cultural traditions that have envisioned other worlds. In contrast, the discussion offered by Deepak Lamba-Nieves through the case of Puerto Rico and its colonial subjugation - shared or equivalent to many in the Global South and elsewhere - asks us to reflect upon who is demanding or expecting us to degrowth.

Abstract Harmful environmental consequences of growth have been rigorously documented and widely publicized throughout the past half-century. Yet, the quantity of matter and energy used by human economies continues to increase by the minute, while governments and businesses continue to promise and to prioritize further economic growth. Such a paradox raises questions about how we humans change course. This introduction to a Special Section offers a new theoretical approach to change, together with glimpses of adaptations underway around the world. It directs attention away from individual decision-making and toward systems of culture and power through which socialized humans and socioecological worlds are (re)produced, sustained and adapted. Potential for transformative change is found in habitual practices through which skills, perspectives, denials and desires are viscerally embodied, and in cultural systems (economic, religious, gender and other) that govern those practices and make them meaningful. Case studies reviewed illuminate diverse communities acting to maintain old and to forge new moral and material worlds that prioritize wellbeing, equity and sustainability rather than expansion. This article endeavors to galvanize change by conceptualizing degrowth, by decolonizing worldviews of expansionist myths and values, and by encouraging connections between science and activism, north and south. Key words: degrowth, transition, climate change, socioecological systems

Residents in rural Yucatan, Mexico, have experienced dramatic employment changes from one generation to the next: most older men are farmers, while young men work in manufacturing and services. Young women engage informal employment much more than their mothers. We examine several factors originating outside the territory,including international markets and Mexican public policies, to see how they interact with social, political and cultural processes within the territory in the development of these occupational transformations. Attention to the role gender plays in external factors as well as in territorial processes drives our analysis of a key territorial process: the implementation of national legislation for sustainable rural development.