Accelerate the transition? Here and now !

June 29, 2015

Citizen actions, Article, Democracy, Sustainable development, Ecology, Economy, Social issues, Civil society

The transition is here and now! Here is one of the messages carried by the second Interdisciplinary Sustainable Development Congress (CIDD), which was held at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) from May 20 to 22, 2015 ^[1]See the website www.congrestransitiondurable.org. There are numerous ways to no longer endure the crisis but rather seek, individually and collectively, to overcome it and are a source of inspiration... to develop other ideas!

Citizen actions or political action? While we often see this question of ecological transition as a more or less distant and difficult to achieve objective, Rob Hopkins urges us to view it instead as a stimulating process in which we can participate every day in our cities and communities. This transition, rest assured, can be inspiring, fun, positive and nourish our daily lives. To be convinced of this, you only need to see the thousands of initiatives that are flourishing in the four corners of the globe! Their local roots and the enthusiasm of their initiators are often two of their common points. It is indeed impressive to note the extent to which a growing number of citizens want to change their environment themselves, without waiting for “top-down” solutions (coming from the top, from the political sphere). As Olivier de Schutter recalled during the Congress, social innovations most often start from the desire of people to escape dependence on dominant circuits and to regain power over certain areas of their lives, whether it be food, energy, currency, rental or purchase of goods or others. Yes but… Naomi Klein asserted with force and simplicity in her latest book This changes everything (2014) that, in the face of climate change “There are no non-radical solutions left”. To engage in this fight, more and more people are insisting on the fact that the role of citizens is ultimately limited and their action insufficient. A real change in the economic paradigm is essential and for this, only political action can have sufficient weight to initiate a shift quickly. Adapting your individual behavior (like using an electric car for example) is one thing, fighting for policies that give everyone better options (quality public transport) is another. However, we remain convinced of the importance of citizen action (individual or collective). This creates a real movement ready to support political action, and prepares our societies to welcome this new paradigm which, as it gradually emerges, does not fail to disrupt our habits and behaviors. Transdisciplinarity As two years ago, during the first edition, the wish of the organizers of this Congress was to stimulate interdisciplinary research around the theme of transition but also to create bridges between academics and the rest of society. Why ? This transdisciplinarity between the scientific world and organized civil society, public administrations, unions, political leaders and other actors is essential to grasp the different aspects of the transition in their complexity, their interdependence and their anchoring in the reality on the ground. The dialogue between the scientist and the field actor is essential because it allows them to redefine their roles in a perspective of complementarity in order to generate “(real) change and (better) science” . The researcher is no longer there to “explain” to those in the field and the latter can rely on academic research to take a step back and consider certain issues from another angle. It is through the creation of such spaces for exchange and dialogue that the importance of using head, hands and heart at the same time appears. But if the idea of transdisciplinarity is attractive, putting it into practice is far from simple. Combining potentially very divergent interests, expectations, reasoning and modes of action is a challenge faced by all projects wishing to bring together different actors on an equal footing. During the Congress, however, the experiment was tried and proved fascinating! Non-academic actors were invited to comment on scientific articles; an association specializing in transition initiatives (Transition Network) used participatory methodologies to bring about meetings between professionals from different backgrounds; academics presented their projects carried out jointly with actors from organized civil society: so many initiatives giving rise to ideas for collaboration, desires to talk to each other, opportunities to compare different experiences. Social innovations At the heart of this completely original conference format, conducive to creativity and encounters, multiple concrete and innovative social innovations were presented. There is nothing like project examples to understand how, where and with whom to act, and to develop your own ideas. It is important to increase our resilience capacity to face the shocks that will undoubtedly shake us in the coming decades. The diversity of possible solutions is certainly one of the essential elements in this regard. To reassure those who do not feel like the combined soul of an explorer of unknown horizons and an entrepreneur, let us remember that a social innovation is not necessarily an idea starting from scratch. It is most often a reappropriation of something already existing, a way of breaking with the dominant model by providing a different orientation. Thus, concerning food for example, it will be urban vegetable gardens or short circuits of the GASAP type "purchasing groups in solidarity with peasant agriculture" aimed at limiting intermediaries and recreating contact between producers and consumers . The development of complementary currencies (let us cite Local Exchange Services – SEL) is another example of social innovation which is based on what already exists (exchanges of goods or services) to integrate it into a new model. “Car sharing” systems, the movement of “transition cities” with variable geometry, “transition cities” repair cafe », the Food-land belt projects emerging in various regions are all inspiring examples. These social innovations clearly respond to the challenges of sustainable development and its three pillars. Let us highlight a few arguments, among others… They allow, at the environmental level, a certain reduction in the ecological footprint and an interesting sharing of knowledge to face ecological challenges. They then offer, on an economic level, part of the response to the problems created by inequalities and make it possible to establish new negotiating power in relation to the major distribution circuits. As for the social level, innovations also carry meaning because we see that they can play an important role in strengthening social integration. In the midst of a crisis, what role for politics? We insisted, following Naomi Klein, on the fact that strong choices on the part of political decision-makers (“from above”) are essential to accelerate the transition. If we consider the question from the angle of social innovations, public authorities indeed have an important supporting role to play. Financial support first, but also regarding the link to maintain and nurture with the initiative leaders. These make it possible to highlight new possible solutions (because they exist, even if at a very local level). It is also through constant dialogue that the obstacles encountered by everyone can be better understood and addressed. Additional idea of support having been presented during the Congress: that of a “civic leave” which, similar in its operation to parental leave, would allow citizens to embark on civic actions of various types, including for example social innovations. It could be argued that in times of crisis, now is not the time to plan new spending, especially not of this type. However, it is precisely in times of crisis that it would be interesting to push innovation, creativity and connecting stakeholders. Rather than telling ourselves that we have to wait for the end of the economic crisis to embark on projects linked to sustainable development, let's throw ourselves into it now and make the crisis our driving force to make things happen. Coming back to Hopkins, let’s experience the transition here and now… In conclusion, towards a poeticization of reality Why talk about all this? Because there is an urgency to react but also because, Edgar Morin would tell us, we must move in the direction of a reconnection with beauty and poetry... In our world where the prosaic and the rational most often guide choices and life, let's emphasize the importance of "poetizing reality", of rediscovering the pleasure of connection, of making things ourselves, or even simply of personalizing the objects around us. It is not a question of developing an ethereal vision of reality but, on the contrary, of restoring its meaning and beauty. Building bridges between distinct professional worlds, creating or participating in social and citizen initiatives, encouraging our political representatives to hear the voices of those who have proposals to make, all of this goes in the direction of empowering people and, in short, a poeticization of reality... As invites us to do Edgar Morin, cherchons à « habiter poétiquement la terre ». Cette « habitation » revêt un aspect social et politique car « nous sommes victimes d’une invasion de prose : tout devient quantifié, chiffré et la politique s’est dissoute dans l’économie. On oublie les humains. La résistance de la poésie est inséparable de la résistance de l’amour, qui est la plus forte de notre vie. » Laure Malchair Project Manager at Justice and Peace

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Accelerate the transition? Here and now !

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Notes
↑1	See the website www.congrestransitiondurable.org
↑2	Rob Hopkins is a geographer and initiator of the transition cities movement. He spoke during the opening evening of the CIDD, May 20, 2015.
↑3	Olivier de Schutter est professeur de droit international à l’UCL et a été rapporteur spécial pour le droit à l’alimentation du Conseil des droits de l’homme des Nations-Unies.
↑4	Marcq, P., et alii, The Liège food-land belt faces the challenges of its theoretical, political and institutional positioning, article presented during the 2^e Interdisciplinary Sustainable Development Congress, May 21-22, 2015.