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8 Living in Abundance: Tool Libraries for Convivial Degrowth

  • Sabrina Chakori und Shane Hopkinson
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De Gruyter Handbook of Degrowth
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch De Gruyter Handbook of Degrowth

Abstract

Degrowth implies a planned contraction of energy and resource demands as a path towards social justice and ecological sustainability. There is a growing literature on the theoretical aspects of degrowth, however, this chapter uses the rise of tool libraries as part of the degrowth movement to shed light on pathways challenging the alienated and fetishised social relations that lie at the heart of the social and ecological degradation of the Capitalocene. The insights learnt from founding and managing the Brisbane Tool Library (Australia) are presented from an academic and activist perspective. Based on principles and practices of resource use reduction, sharing, conviviality and solidarity, the Brisbane Tool Library can be considered a small-scale laboratory for a reorientation of society towards degrowth. Since 2017, the Brisbane Tool Library, a not-for-profit horizontally managed organisation, has been stimulating sharing and reuse of thousands of items, reducing resource consumption and waste. By prioritising access over private ownership, tool libraries point at ways to live in abundance without the need to own everything. Tool libraries represent a form of commoning, commons understood not as the resource pool (the tools in this case) but as the networks of human relationships whose agreed rules enable the common use of resources. Degrowth challenges the idea that a ‘good life’ needs to be based on endless growth and mass consumption, a reduction in the quantity of things does not have to mean a reduction in the quality of life. Finally, barriers and opportunities in fostering the tool libraries movement and similar sharing hubs will be identified.

Abstract

Degrowth implies a planned contraction of energy and resource demands as a path towards social justice and ecological sustainability. There is a growing literature on the theoretical aspects of degrowth, however, this chapter uses the rise of tool libraries as part of the degrowth movement to shed light on pathways challenging the alienated and fetishised social relations that lie at the heart of the social and ecological degradation of the Capitalocene. The insights learnt from founding and managing the Brisbane Tool Library (Australia) are presented from an academic and activist perspective. Based on principles and practices of resource use reduction, sharing, conviviality and solidarity, the Brisbane Tool Library can be considered a small-scale laboratory for a reorientation of society towards degrowth. Since 2017, the Brisbane Tool Library, a not-for-profit horizontally managed organisation, has been stimulating sharing and reuse of thousands of items, reducing resource consumption and waste. By prioritising access over private ownership, tool libraries point at ways to live in abundance without the need to own everything. Tool libraries represent a form of commoning, commons understood not as the resource pool (the tools in this case) but as the networks of human relationships whose agreed rules enable the common use of resources. Degrowth challenges the idea that a ‘good life’ needs to be based on endless growth and mass consumption, a reduction in the quantity of things does not have to mean a reduction in the quality of life. Finally, barriers and opportunities in fostering the tool libraries movement and similar sharing hubs will be identified.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgements VII
  3. Contents IX
  4. List of Contributors XIII
  5. Foreword 1
  6. Introduction – Degrowth: Swimming Against the Ideological Tide 7
  7. Part I: Degrowth Agendas
  8. Introduction 23
  9. 1 ‘Without Growth, Everything is Nothing’: On the Origins of Growthism 25
  10. 2 Degrowth: Monetary and Nonmonetary Economies 41
  11. 3 Critiques of Work: The Radical Roots of Degrowth 55
  12. 4 Cultural Political Economy and Degrowth Politics 75
  13. 5 Sustainable Welfare: Decoupling Welfare from Growth and Prioritising Needs Satisfaction for All 89
  14. Part II: Degrowth in Practice
  15. Introduction 107
  16. 6 How and Who? The Debate About a Strategy for Degrowth 109
  17. 7 Translating Degrowth: From Policy Proposals to Praxis 129
  18. 8 Living in Abundance: Tool Libraries for Convivial Degrowth 149
  19. 9 Materialising Degrowth Agrifood Architecture with Earth 167
  20. 10 They Want Us to Live in Caves: Degrowth and the Housing Question 191
  21. Part III: The Urban and the Rural
  22. Introduction 211
  23. 11 The Case for Solidary Degrowth Spaces. Five Propositions on the Challenging Project of Spatialising Degrowth 213
  24. 12 Urban Degrowth 233
  25. 13 Land Commodification: A Structural Barrier to Degrowth Transition 251
  26. 14 Agroecology as Degrowth in Practice: Resistance Rooted in Human- Nature Relationality 273
  27. 15 Organising Nature Through Urban Gardening 291
  28. Part IV: Critical Connections
  29. Introduction 309
  30. 16 Interlocking Crises, Intersectional Visions: Ecofeminist Political Economy in Conversation with Degrowth 311
  31. 17 Dependency, Delinking and Degrowth in a New Developmental Era: Debates from Argentina 327
  32. 18 Degrowth and Psychoanalysis: From Transition to Transformation 339
  33. 19 Degrowth Disagreements with Marxism: Critical Perspectives on the Fetishisation of Value and Productivity 361
  34. 20 Not Just Newer, but Fewer: A Bridge Between Ecomodernism and Degrowth? 377
  35. Part V: Degrowth and the Global South
  36. Introduction 395
  37. 21 From Marxist Development Theories to Their Translation in the Degrowth Discourse: Transforming Unequal International Structures for Environmental Sustainability 397
  38. 22 Radical Ecological Democracy: Reflections from the South on Degrowth 417
  39. 23 Degrowth Beyond the Metropole: Theory and Praxis for a Revolutionary Degrowth 427
  40. 24 Growing Degrowth: Alliances with Environmental Movements in the Global South 447
  41. 25 ‘For the Greater Good’– Green Sacrifice Zones and Subaltern Resistance: The Politics and Potential of Degrowth and Post-Extractivist Futures 461
  42. List of Figures 479
  43. About the Editors 481
  44. Index 483
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110778359-012

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgements VII
  3. Contents IX
  4. List of Contributors XIII
  5. Foreword 1
  6. Introduction – Degrowth: Swimming Against the Ideological Tide 7
  7. Part I: Degrowth Agendas
  8. Introduction 23
  9. 1 ‘Without Growth, Everything is Nothing’: On the Origins of Growthism 25
  10. 2 Degrowth: Monetary and Nonmonetary Economies 41
  11. 3 Critiques of Work: The Radical Roots of Degrowth 55
  12. 4 Cultural Political Economy and Degrowth Politics 75
  13. 5 Sustainable Welfare: Decoupling Welfare from Growth and Prioritising Needs Satisfaction for All 89
  14. Part II: Degrowth in Practice
  15. Introduction 107
  16. 6 How and Who? The Debate About a Strategy for Degrowth 109
  17. 7 Translating Degrowth: From Policy Proposals to Praxis 129
  18. 8 Living in Abundance: Tool Libraries for Convivial Degrowth 149
  19. 9 Materialising Degrowth Agrifood Architecture with Earth 167
  20. 10 They Want Us to Live in Caves: Degrowth and the Housing Question 191
  21. Part III: The Urban and the Rural
  22. Introduction 211
  23. 11 The Case for Solidary Degrowth Spaces. Five Propositions on the Challenging Project of Spatialising Degrowth 213
  24. 12 Urban Degrowth 233
  25. 13 Land Commodification: A Structural Barrier to Degrowth Transition 251
  26. 14 Agroecology as Degrowth in Practice: Resistance Rooted in Human- Nature Relationality 273
  27. 15 Organising Nature Through Urban Gardening 291
  28. Part IV: Critical Connections
  29. Introduction 309
  30. 16 Interlocking Crises, Intersectional Visions: Ecofeminist Political Economy in Conversation with Degrowth 311
  31. 17 Dependency, Delinking and Degrowth in a New Developmental Era: Debates from Argentina 327
  32. 18 Degrowth and Psychoanalysis: From Transition to Transformation 339
  33. 19 Degrowth Disagreements with Marxism: Critical Perspectives on the Fetishisation of Value and Productivity 361
  34. 20 Not Just Newer, but Fewer: A Bridge Between Ecomodernism and Degrowth? 377
  35. Part V: Degrowth and the Global South
  36. Introduction 395
  37. 21 From Marxist Development Theories to Their Translation in the Degrowth Discourse: Transforming Unequal International Structures for Environmental Sustainability 397
  38. 22 Radical Ecological Democracy: Reflections from the South on Degrowth 417
  39. 23 Degrowth Beyond the Metropole: Theory and Praxis for a Revolutionary Degrowth 427
  40. 24 Growing Degrowth: Alliances with Environmental Movements in the Global South 447
  41. 25 ‘For the Greater Good’– Green Sacrifice Zones and Subaltern Resistance: The Politics and Potential of Degrowth and Post-Extractivist Futures 461
  42. List of Figures 479
  43. About the Editors 481
  44. Index 483
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Heruntergeladen am 22.9.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110778359-012/html
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