TRANSITIONS TO A POSTCARBON SOCIETY
IRS Sustainability Studies

CETCOPRA
Le Cetcopra (Centre d'Etudes des Techniques, des Connaissances et des Pratiques) est une équipe interdisciplinaire, qui se consacre à l'étude socio-anthropologique et philosophique des techniques présentes ou émergentes. Créé en 1989 par Alain Gras, qui l'a dirigé jusqu'en 2010, ce centre de recherche a construit son identité autour d'une interrogation sur la norme, et d'une critique portant sur le temps linéaire du progrès technique.
http://www.univ-paris1.fr/centres-de-recherche/cetcopra

POST CARBON INSTITUTE
Founded in 2003, Post Carbon Institute promotes the transition to a more resilient, equitable, and sustainable world. It provides individuals, communities, businesses, and governments with the resources needed to understand and respond to the interrelated economic, energy, environmental, and equity crises that define the 21st century. It envisions a world of resilient communities and re-localized economies that thrive within ecological bounds.
http://www.postcarbon.org

AUSTERITY FUTURES?
Austerity Futures? Imagining and Materialising the Future in an 'Age of Austerity' is a two year programme of events that examines whether the current 'age of austerity' in the UK, Europe and some other parts of the developed Western world, changes the ways in which the future is imagined, planned for, worked towards and brought into being.
http://www.austerityfutures.org.uk

MOUVEMENT QUÉBÉCOIS POUR UNE DÉCROISSANCE CONVIVIALE
Dès 2006, cette organisation a deux objectifs principaux: provoquer dans la population du Québec la prise de conscience de l'impossibilité de poursuivre la croissance économique; et travailler à la mise en place d'une société équitable, autonome, solidaire et frugale. Pour donner vie à ces objectifs, le MQDC organise différentes d'activités. Actuellement, l'outil d'information privilégié est le journal du mouvement qui parait chaque trimestre : l'Objecteur de Croissance. Pour alimenter la réflexion autours des idées de la décroissance, un groupe de recherche étudie cette question et réfléchit à la mise en place d'un nouveau type de société.
http://www.decroissance.qc.ca

INSTITUT D'ÉTUDES ÉCONOMIQUES ET SOCIALES POUR LA DÉCROISSANCE SOUTENABLE
L'Institut d'Études Économiques et Sociales pour la Décroissance Soutenable a la vocation de créer un centre d'études, de ressources et de diffusion de toutes informations et publications dans le domaine de la décroissance économique, théorique et appliquée, dans le but de promouvoir des politiques publiques soutenables dans les pays dépassant leurs prélèvements écologiques.
http://www.decroissance.org

www.dieoff.org
In the 1930s, the net energy fraction for new production was about 100:1. By the 1970s, that fraction slipped to about 25:1. The present net energy fraction has declined to about 20:1. The laws of thermodynamics tell us, that no matter what is done, this fraction -and global net energy fraction- will fall until a new Dark Age is upon us(...) One can increase net energy only by taking it from another. Ultimately, violence must emerge as our final strategy to maintain living standards - because it's genetic.
http://www.dieoff.com/dieoffindex.html

PROSPEROUS WAY DOWN
In 1981, H.T. Odum and H. Elliott taught a systems philosophy course together at the University of Florida. The introduction to the syllabus asked the following: "Is there an energy crisis? Is there a permanent shortage of raw materials? In this interdisciplinary course we will try to explain why we believe energy and raw materials will in the future always be in short supply. By developing a holistic or systems perspective on the earth and its resources we will try to bring out the reasons for these limitations... We believe that we must rethink most if not all of our ethical, political, and economic ideals as they relate to population growth, aid to needy nations, inflation, agricultural techniques, and family and sexual norms. What are possible alternative technologies, and social and political structures?". The springboard for this site is A Prosperous Way Down, drafted in the mid 1980s by Howard T. and Elisabeth C. Odum, and published in 2001.
https://prosperouswaydown.com

ERI ESTUDIS DE SOSTENIBILITAT
Estructura de Recerca Interdisciplinar Estudis de Sostenibilitat: Economia, Medi Ambient, Educació i Societat. Centro de investigación de la Universitat de València en el que se desarrolla el programa de estudio de las transiciones a sociedades post-carbono. Otras actividades se centran en la educación ambiental, la participación social en problemas ecológicos, la documentación sobre el medio ambiente, la difusión, la enseñanza de postgrado, etc.
http://www.uv.es/erisost

ASPO
ASPO (Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas) is a network of scientists, affiliated with institutions and universities, having an interest in determining the date and impact of the peak and decline of the world's production of oil and gas, due to resource constraints. ASPO's mission is to: (1) define and evaluate the world's endowment of oil and gas; (2) model depletion, taking due account of demand, economics, technology and politics; (3) raise awareness of the serious consequences for Mankind.
http://www.peakoil.net

IPCC
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international scientific body for the assessment of climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts. It reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change.
http://www.ipcc.ch

POST CARBON PATHWAYS
This website aims to strengthen understanding of the actions needed to create rapid, large-scale transitions to a just and sustainable post carbon future. The site has been created to share information and analysis from the Post Carbon Pathways research program housed at the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute at the University of Melbourne. Its presentation states: "The conceptual framework and language of post carbon pathways and post carbon economy and society transition strategies is being used in an increasingly broad range of settings to emphasise the importance of systemic transformations leading to a world in which we are no longer dependent on hydrocarbon fuels, and no longer emitting climate-changing levels of carbon into the atmosphere."
http://www.postcarbonpathways.net.au

NEW ECONOMICS FOUNDATION
New Economics Foundation (NEF) was created in 1986, after two international conferences known as TOES (The Other Economic Summit). It promotes ideas like green taxes, alternative economic indicators, ethical investment, social auditing, time banks, social return on investment, community development finance institutions and local money, being involved in applying these ideas as levers in local economies and neighbourhoods.
http://www.neweconomics.org

LCS-RNet
The International Research Network for Low Carbon Societies (LCS-RNet) is a platform of researchers and research organisations that are making close contributions to individual countries' low-carbon policy-making processes. Its basic nature is a platform to support and encourage information sharing and voluntary cooperation among research institutions, specifically in the field of LCS research. It also facilitates interactions between researchers and various stakeholders and delivers its findings to policy-makers to assist in science-based policy making during transitions to low-carbon societies.
http://lcs-rnet.org

LOW CARBON SOCIETIES NETWORK
This network is part of the ENCI-LowCarb EU FP7 Project, with the aim of facilitating information flows between European civil society organizations and research institutes working on low carbon energy scenarios and technologies. The project develops low carbon scenarios for France and Germany, built around assumptions on fossil fuels prices evolution, technological choices and the mechanisms of energy demand and supply, among others.
http://www.lowcarbon-societies.eu

POSTWACHSTUMSGESELLSCHAFT
Der Blog Postwachstum wird seit 2010 vom Institut für Oekologische Wirtschaftsforschung (I-W) gemeinsam mit der Vereinigung für �kologische Wirtschaftsforschung (V-W) und dem Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt und Energie getragen. Er geht zurück auf die Initiative der Ehrenvorsitzenden des Bundes für Umwelt und Naturschutz (BUND), Angelika Zahrnt sowie Irmi Seidl die Autorinnen des Buchs �Postwachstumsgesellschaft � Konzepte für die Zukunft'. Der Blog Postwachstum ist mit über 100 Autor/innen aus Wissenschaft und Praxis das wichtigste wachstumskritische Online-Medium im deutschsprachigen Raum. Die Redaktion des Blogs liegt beim I-W.
http://blog.postwachstum.de

INSTITUT MOMENTUM
Fondé en mars 2011, l'Institut Momentum est un laboratoire d'idées sur les issues de la société industrielle et les transitions nécessaires pour amortir le choc social de la fin du pétrole. L'Institut Momentum, qui réunit des chercheurs, des journalistes, des ingénieurs et des acteurs associatifs, se consacre à répondre au défi de notre époque: comment organiser la transition vers un monde postcroissant, postfossile et modifié par le climat ? Comment penser et agir les issues de l'Anthropocène? Son point de départ se fonde sur une prise de conscience: nous vivons aujourd'hui la fin de la période de la plus grande abondance matérielle jamais connue au cours de l'histoire humaine, une abondance fondée sur des sources temporaires d'énergie concentrée et à bon marché qui a rendu possible tout le reste.
http://www.institutmomentum.org/language/fr

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