Angelika Zahrnt’s scientific contributions

... The forward-looking view can be separated into knowledge about the aims, that is, where should the society head to; and transformational knowledge, that is, how can society get there? In sustainability research, the tripartite strategy of efficiency, consistency, and sufficiency (Schneidewind & Zahrnt, 2013), recognizes the overuse of material resources in industrial production and aims to reduce net fossil resource consumption to zero. ...

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Framing social-ecological transformation as a geographical concept

... The same gap characterises academic research, which until recently had been split between inquiries into the social sustainability of workin other words, its individual and social consequences (Eurofound, 2015;Bosch, 2023) and approaches that emphasise its ecological sustainability, that is, its biogeophysical 1 consequences (Hoffmann and Paulsen, 2020;Hoffmann, 2022). Despite growing recognition of the need to bridge these two concerns (Azzellini, 2023;Barth et al., 2016;Schröder and Urban, 2018;Méda, 2018;Bottazzi, 2019;Barca, 2020;Dörre, 2021;Gough, 2022;Seidl and Zahrnt, 2022;Laurent and Pochet, 2015), only a few authors have attempted a comprehensive redefinition of work with regard to its socio-ecological sustainability (Aigner et al., 2016;Jochum et al., 2020;Räthzel, 2021). Along with these authors, we argue that a reconceptualisation of work that questions its boundaries and purposes is needed to bridge the gap between the social and ecological agendas, which currently makes sustainable work an unidentified object. ...

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Transforming work towards social-ecological sustainability A capability perspective

... Diese zentralen Fragen nach einem zukunftsfähigen Wohlfahrtsstaat werden nicht diskutiert -damit wurde eine Chance vertan.Auch wenn die Autoren des IPCC-Berichts immer wieder betonen, dass die Wachstumsraten ein zentraler Parameter aller Szenarien sind (z. B. Ch2: 24), sucht man Angaben über die Wachstumsraten vergeblich im Bericht, den Supplementary Materials und der Szenario Datenbank(Kurz et al. 2019). Was man zumindest in den empfohlenen Quellen (ein Journal Special Issue) klar beschrieben findet (u. ...

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Wissenschaftlicher Beirat des BUND [Spangenberg, Joachim H., Neumann, Werner, Klöser, Heinz, Wittig, Stefan, Uhlenhaut, Tilmann, Mertens, Martha, Günther, Edo, Valentin, Ingo, Große Ophoff, Markus]. 2020. Falsche Hoffnungen, vertane Chancen Wie ökonomische Modelle die Vorschläge des IPCC im Special Report 15 "Global Warming of 1.5 °C" (2018) beeinträchtigen. Berlin, BUND, 32 pp.

... Die Krisen zeigen uns Handlungsbedarf auf; dass positive und nachhaltige Veränderungen auf diesen Impuls folgen, ist aber kein Automatismus, und Innovationstreiber*innen nehmen dabei eine zentrale Rolle ein. Soziale Innovationen können hier einen nachhaltigen, partizipativen und inklusiven Verbesserungsvorschlag liefern, und somit langfristig zur Lösung der durch die Krisen aufgezeigten Probleme beitragen.Im Zeitalter der multiplen Krisen wird uns zunehmend klarer, dass sich ein auf ständigem wirtschaftlichem Wachstum basierendes Modell als nicht haltbar erweisen wird; wir befinden uns in der "Postwachstumsgesellschaft"(Seidl & Zahrnt, 2010). Soziale Innovationen müssen diesen Grenzen des Wachstums Rechnung tragen; sie beschäftigen sich also auch mit einem geringeren und effektiveren Ressourcenverbrauch, mit der Wiederverwendung von Ressourcen und Materialien, einer Rückkehr zu kleineren Maßstaben bei organisatorischen Einheiten, Re-Lokalisierung und der Adaption sozialer und ökologischer Effekte wirtschaftlicher und technologischer Entwicklungen(Elsen, 2014, S. 234). ...

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Die soziale Aufgabe italienischer Genossenschaften im Dienst einer nachhaltigen Stadt-und Regionalentwicklung

... As green consumption and eco-modernism so far have failed to significantly reduce the ecological impact of consumption, new approaches are needed to meet sustainability criteria. Next to technology-focused efficiency (relative reduction of energy and material use) and consistency (cradle-to-cradle design) approaches, sufficiency is a specific kind of behavior-based sustainability strategy that addresses how to make do with less (Reichel, 2013(Reichel, , 2018aRockström et al., 2009;Seidl & Zahrnt, 2013;Spangenberg & Lorek, 2019;Wilts & von Gries, 2015). ...

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The Value of "Enough" – Sufficiency-based Consumer Practices and Value Creation in Business Models

... Wenn die Erwerbsarbeit auf eine 4-Tage-Woche reduziert wird, entsteht Freiraum für sinnstiftendes Tätigsein -bei geringerem Einkommen und geringeren Konsumausgaben. 8 Alles, was Menschen helfen kann, die Komfortzone zu verlassen, das "Weniger" anzunehmen und nachhaltige Lebensstile zu entwickeln, muss gestärkt werden (Suffizienzpolitik, Schneidewind & Zahrnt, 2013). Der Wandel zu Nachhaltigkeit wird nicht allein durch rationale Argumente (Information, Wissen) und ökonomische Anreize vorankommen. ...

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Demokratie ohne Wachstum und Kultur des Wandels

... Although the community shares a fundamental critique of growth, the schools of thought among growth-critical intellectuals are very diverse (e.g. Schmelzer & Passadakis, 2011;Seidl & Zahrnt, 2012;Schmelzer 2015a;Seidl & Zahrnt, 2016, see section 2). Although such discussions are increasing, they are still a niche even in the SD debate and up to now their influence on politics is minor. ...

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Shifting Education Towards Sustainability – How Degrowth Can Transform Education for Sustainable Development

... Of course, a number of functional and strategic factors seem at hand to explain the dogma's persistence. Among the functional elements, the various growth dependencies built into social insurance systems or the dynamics of the health sector, for instance, stand out (Zahrnt & Seidl, 2012). On the strategic side, we might suppose that political actors who are aware of these dependencies will not be inclined to embark on an objectively difficult and politically risky search for alternatives; they also might fear to resuscitate 'distribution conflicts.' ...

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Growth in parliament: Some notes on the persistence of a dogma’

... OECD 2011, UNEP 2011b), others argue that growth-driven capitalist structures in their current form are the root cause of natural resource exploitation and social inequality. Consequently, scholars advocate for a social-ecological transformation that goes beyond incremental changes within the existing growthdriven capitalist structures in many countries (Brand et al., 2020;Feola, 2015;Seidl & Zahrnt, 2015). One example is the de-/post-growth movement, which challenges the predominant growth paradigm by scrutinizing the feasibility of decoupling GDP growth from resource consumption. ...

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Paying Local Communities for Conservation Efforts. Investigating Collective Payments for Ecosystem Services alongside Commodification Processes and Wicked Conservation Conflicts

... Sufficiency is a natural ally and serves as the preferred sustainability strategy of the degrowth paradigm (e.g., Schmelzer and Vetter 2021; Lage 2022). Lots of literature discusses measures implementing sufficiency, including changes initiated by consumers (like reducing air travel; Sandberg 2021), but also options for companies (Schneidewind 2012;Niessen and Bocken 2021) and politics (Schneidewind and Zahrnt 2014;Best et al. 2022). However, empirical research implies limits in the effectiveness of sufficiency measures that must be considered (Sorrell et al. 2020). ...

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Sustainability Strategies: What's in a Name? A Conceptual Restatement of Fundamental Mechanisms Toward Sustainability