CONTENTS

+ News

– Winter Semester 2012/13: Course information online

– Guest Professor: Espen Moe

– New material flow datasets available

– CFA: 2nd Vienna Workshop on Sustainable Development for Doctoral Students

– HumansandNature.org: Successful Economy without Continuous Economic Growth?

– JIE Special Issue: Greening Growing Giants

– New project: Sustainable Farm Systems

+ Events in Vienna

– IFF lecture: Werner Zittel: Peak Oil …

– 50^th ZUG Minisymposium

– IFF lecture: Ingolfur Blühdorn: Post-Democracy …

– IFF lecture: Erik Swyngedouw : Anthropocenic Promises …

– Marina Fischer-Kowalski: It’s the Ecology, Stupid!

– WWWforEurope lecture series

– Growth in Transition

+ Public Outreach (German only)

+ Staff news and guests

+ New publications

 

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+ NEWS:

 

– Winter Semester 2012/13: Course information online
Detailed information can be found on our website: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/socec/downloads/KoVo-Web-WS12.pdf For further information please contact: mirjam [dot] weber [at] aau [dot] at

 

– Guest Professor: Espen Moe
Espen Moe, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral fellow at NTNU Social Research in Trondheim, Norway, and has a Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at UCLA. He is the author of “Governance, Growth and Global Leadership” (Ashgate, 2007). He has also worked for two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Industrial Ecology Programme at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and one year at Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences Fellow at Kwansei Gakuin University in Kobe-Sanda. His work has mainly focused on major processes of structural economic transformation and on the political economy enabling or hindering such processes, drawing on international political economy, economic history, energy policy, environmental policy and international relations. He publishes regularly, of late both in “Energy” and in “Energy Policy”, and is currently actively involved in three book projects on energy, one manuscript on the political economy of energy transitions since the Industrial Revolution, one on the political economy of renewable energy, and one as editor on a project on renewable energy and energy security in Japan, China and Northern Europe.
For more information: https://campus.aau.at/studien/lvkarte.jsp?sprache_nr=35&rlvkey=75631

 

– New material flow datasets available:
Please visit the data download area of the webpage of the Institute of Social Ecology to get access to data on long term trends of material and energy use in selected countries and regions. New additions are MEFA data for Japan (1878-2005), the USA (1870-2005), India (1961-2008), the City of Vienna (1800-2009). Also an updated version of the global time series (1900-2009) is now available.
For more information: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/socec/inhalt/1088.htm

 

– Call for Abstracts: 2nd Vienna Workshop on Sustainable Development for Doctoral Students
The 2nd VWSD will be hosted by the Doctoral School of the Institute of Social Ecology (SEC) in Vienna on the 15th and 16th of November 2012, advancing the discourse and further increasing the academic networking among young researchers. The workshop will be organised around individual short presentations, followed by joint discussion rounds. The target audience is doctoral students as well as young academics and researchers at the early stages of their career, who are affiliated to a Vienna-based University or research institute and work on any issue related to sustainable development. Due to the interdepartmental nature of the Alpen-Adria University, researchers in Klagenfurt and Graz are also encouraged to apply and get advantage of this unique opportunity for scientific exchange.
For more information: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/socec/eng/downloads/VWSD-2_Call-EXT_1.pdf

 

– Center for Humans and Nature: successful economy without continuous economic growth?
The Center for Humans and Nature opened a discussion on the big question: How can we create a successful economy without continuous economic growth? Marina Fischer-Kowalski started her text with: When you pump a lot of energy into a system, it is going to accelerate. This not only holds true for physical systems, it also holds true for social systems. If a substantial part of this energy is withdrawn (as may be expected to happen in the next decades), the system will slow down. For many, this will be a great relief. But the system may also freeze to a very unpleasant state. HumansandNature.org is a new website that invites interaction on issues like socioecological transition and degrowth.
Read more at: http://www.humansandnature.org/questions-pages-7.php

 

– JIE Special Issue: Greening Growing Giants
Industrial Ecology reaching out beyond the core industrial countries: A special issue on Greening Growing Giants (eds. S.Hashimoto, M.Fischer-Kowalski, S. Suh und X.Bai) searches for another more sustainable development pathway for countries that now contain the majority of the world population, and will soon dominate the world economy.
For more information: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jiec.2012.16.issue-4/issuetoc

 

– New project: Sustainable Farm Systems
How did farmers maintain soil fertility as they cultivated the same land over decades and centuries? How did they transfer energy and nutrients across the landscape to fertilize crops? How did farmers structure landscapes (field, pasture, woodland) to sustain communities, ensure long-term productivity, and produce profits? The way Western agriculture faced these challenges changed considerably over three centuries. In the transition from traditional to industrial agriculture, production and profits expanded but ecosystem functions degraded, threatening long-term sustainability. Guidance about options for sustainable agriculture resides in the rich historical record of rural communities on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. The move from traditional to industrial agriculture in the 19th and 20th centuries was a major transformation. Researchers will investigate the drivers of that transition, explore why it began at different times in different places, and consider why the manufacturing sector industrialized decades earlier than the agricultural sector.  The project Sustainable farm systems: long term socio-ecological metabolism in western agriculture integrates scholars from across a broad range of disciplines from Canada, the USA, Cuba, Colombia, Spain and Austria. It draws upon multiple case studies of historical farm communities in Europe, North America and Latin America will create a common database of agricultural systems over the past 300 years. The research program employs “socio-ecological metabolism” methods, an approach that views farms as ecosystems and measures flows of energy and soil nutrients through the landscape.  This project’s overarching goal is to understand the biophysical choices and trade-offs available to farmers and the options that are possible for long-term sustainability. The project is funded by the Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Councils (SSHRC Partnership Grant). It started with a kick off workshop in June in Colombia and runs for a period of five years. The Austrian subproject is coordinated by Fridolin Krausmann and involves Verena Winiwarter, Simone Gingrich and Michael Neundlinger.
Contact: fridolin [dot] krausmann [at] aau [dot] at
For more information: http://www.usask.ca/research/news/read.php?id=1075&newsid=1

 

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+ EVENTS:

 

– IFF Lecture: Werner Zittel (in German)
Werner Zittel, Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik Germany, will give a talk on “Peak oil as herald of further resource scarcities– What does this paradigm shift mean?”
IFF Vienna, Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070 Vienna, Tuesday, 30. October 2012, 18:00
Details: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/iff/downloads/iff-lectures-Zittel-20121030.pdf

 

– 50. ZUG Minisymposium: Environmental History of the Danube 1500-1890 (in German)
The Center for Environmental History celebrates its 50th Minisymposium, where national and international guests present their research, and invites to a small reception. Environmental History of the Danube 1500-1890. With Gertrud Haidvogl, Severin Hohensinner, Martin Schmid, Christoph Sonnlechner and Verena Winiwarter.
IFF Vienna, Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070 Vienna, Thursday, 8. November 2012, 18:00
Details: http://www.iff.ac.at/umweltgeschichte/

 

– IFF lecture: Ingolfur Blühdorn (in German)
Ingolfur Blühdorn, University of Bath, UK will give a talk on “POST-DEMOCRACY, POST-POLITICS, AND ECO-DICTATORSHIP: Some clarifications on controversial concepts”.
Abstract: What exactly is post-democracy? The discussion of this widely-used concept has in recent years started to develop into a debate on post-politics more broadly. It refers to the widely perceived tendency of an increasing exclusion of crucial societal matters from the sphere of political negotiation and decision and their subjection to a mode of administrative agency that does not allow for political alternatives. With a view to the politics of climate change and the environment, this could be perceived as leading directly into a technocratic-authoritarian eco-dictatorship. The lecture deals critically with the popular notions of post-democracy and post-politics. It analyses current changes in democratic values and opens an unexpected perspective on mobilisations against eco-dictatorial tendencies.
IFF Vienna, Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070 Vienna, 15. November 2012, 18.00
Details: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/iff/downloads/iff-lectures-Bluehdorn-20121115.pdf

 

– IFF lecture: Erik Swyngedouw
Erik Swyngedouw, University of Manchester, UK will give a talk on “ANTHROPOCENIC PROMISES: The End of Nature, Climate Change and the Process of Post-Politicization”

Abstract: In the paper, I explore the paradoxical situation whereby the environment is politically mobilized, yet this political concern with the environment, as presently articulated, is argued to suspend the proper political dimension. I shall explore how the elevation of the environment to a public concern is both a marker of and constituent force in the production of de-politicization. The paper has four parts. In the first part, I problematise the question of Nature and the environment. I argue that there is no such thing as a singular Nature around which an environmental or climate policy and future can be constructed and performed. Rather, there are a multitude of natures and a multitude of existing, possible or practical socio-natural relations – and proper politicization of the environment needs to endorse this heterogeneity fully. In a second part, the emblematic case of climate change policy will be presented as cause célèbre of de-politicization. I argue how climate matters were brought into the domain of politics, but articulated around a particular imag(in)ing of what a ‘good’ climate or a ‘good’ environment is, while the political was systematically evacuated from the terrain of the – now Anthropocenic — environment. The third part will relate this argument to the views of political theorists who have proposed that the political constitution of contemporary western democracies is increasingly marked by the consolidation of post-political and post-democratic arrangements. In the fourth section, I discuss the climate change consensus in light of the post-political thesis. I shall conclude that the matter of the environment in general, and climate change in particular, needs to be displaced onto the terrain of the properly political.
IFF Vienna, Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070 Vienna, 28. November 2012, 18.00
Details: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/iff/downloads/iff-lectures-Swyngedouw-20121128.pdf

 

– Marina Fischer-Kowalski: It’s the Ecology, Stupid! (in German)
Marina Fischer-Kowalski will give a lecture with the title „It’s the Ecology, Stupid! Warum die Ökonomie die Ökologie nicht überlisten kann und jede Hoffnung auf weiteres materielles Wachstum unserer Industriegesellschaft direkt in die Sackgasse führt.“ at the Symposium from Grüne Wirtschaft: „Weltwirtschaft XXL, Wie lange wachsen wir noch? Über das Ende des Wirtschaftswachstums und den schwierigen Weg zurück…“
Friday, 23 .November 2012, 10.30 –17.30 Uhr, Palais Eschenbach, Vienna
Details: http://www.gruenewirtschaft.at

 

– WWWforEurope lecture series
The lecture series will cover the main project topics as well as cross-cutting issues, for example gender equity, distributional aspects, education, green innovation and EU governance. We plan to invite interested researchers and the general public who seek to learn about recent developments in areas key for a socio-ecological transition, to this lecture series. The first lecture „Welfare Beyond GDP: Some Insights from Feminist Economics“ will be held by Julie A. Nelson, Professor of Economics, at the University of Massachusetts Boston/USA and internationally well-known expert on feminist and ecological economics on Monday, 8th of October at WIFO.
For more information: http://www.foreurope.eu/

 

– Growth in Transition
From 8 to 10 October 2012, the 2nd international conference „Growth in transition“ took place in Vienna, Austria. Within the framework of the “Growth in Transition” Conference committed people from political, administrative, scientific, economic, civil and other backgrounds discussed the key issues of the future and jointly work on solutions. Marina Fischer-Kowalski spoke at the opening session about the question „Where are we? The Paradigm of Growth put to test“.
For more information: http://www.growthintransition.eu/

 

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+ Public Outreach / Media resonance (German only)

 

– Das System sperrt sich selbst ein
Jorgen Randers, Mitautor des berühmt gewordenen Nachhaltigkeitsberichts „Die Grenzen des Wachstums“, tingelt derzeit durch den deutschsprachigen Raum. Im Gepäck hat er sein neues Mammutwerk „2052 – Eine globale Prognose für die nächsten 40 Jahre“. Wie wird’s uns in Zukunft gehen? Das Interview wurde geführt von Michael Neundlinger, der aktuell am Institut für Soziale Ökologie die Nachhaltigkeit österreichischer Landwirtschaft untersucht.
For more information: http://www.biorama.at/jorgen-randers-2052/ (german only)

 

– Stadt am Fluss: Häfen als sozio-naturale Schauplätze
Martin Schmid vom Institut für Soziale Ökologie sprach in den Ö1-„Dimensionen“ um Thema „Stadt am Fluss: Häfen als sozio-naturale Schauplätze“. Die Sendung berichtet von der Tagung „Orte der Stadt im Wandel vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart“ von 19. bis 21. September 2012 in Innsbruck, organisiert vom Österreichischen Arbeitskreis für Stadtgeschichtsforschung.
For more information: http://oe1.orf.at/programm/313912 (german only)

 

– Studier‘ was G’scheits
Studien, die nicht nur für die persönliche, sondern auch die gesellschaftliche Zukunft gewinnbringend sind, werden immer gefragter. Das Angebot ist vielseitig, für die Studenten aber auch verwirrend. Friedrich Faulhammer, Generalsekretär des Bundesministeriums für Wissenschaft und Forschung (BMWF) empfiehlt im Gespräch mit BIORAMA über nachhaltige Studien in Österreich das Lehrangebot des Instituts für Soziale Ökologie.
For more information: http://www.biorama.at/nachhaltige-studien/ (german only)

 

– Global Energy Assessment: Energiewende zahlt sich aus
Unser Planet steht vor großen Herausforderungen: 1,4 Milliarden Menschen leben noch ohne Versorgung mit elektrischer Energie, 3 Milliarden ohne moderne Kochmöglichkeiten. Für sie muss ein Zugang zu sauberer, nachhaltiger Energie geschaffen werden, ansonsten drohen ein Anstieg der Umweltbelastungen und eine weitere Beschleunigung des Klimawandels. Das Global Energy Assessment (GEA) der IIASA zeigt 41 Wege auf, wie ein Umstieg auf nachhaltige Energiequellen gelingen kann. ForscherInnen des Instituts für Soziale Ökologie haben an mehreren Teilen des Berichtes mitgearbeitet. Sie haben unter anderem neue Ergebnisse zum Zusammenhang von Ernährungssicherheit und Bioenergie beigetragen.
For more information: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/main/inhalt/uninews_41711.htm (german only)

 

– Erst 4 von 90 Umweltzielen umgesetzt. Materialverbrauch und Landnutzung steigen weiter.
In zahlreichen internationalen Konferenzen haben sich die politischen Kräfte in den letzten Jahren auf die 90 wichtigsten Umweltziele geeinigt. Die ambitionierten Ziele können aber nur erreicht werden, wenn verstärkte Maßnahmen gesetzt werden. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt der aktuelle Bericht des „United Environment Programme (UNEP)“. Forschungsergebnisse zur globalen Ressourcennutzung vom Institut für Soziale Ökologie sind wichtiger Teil des UNEP Berichtes.
For more information: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/main/inhalt/uninews_41704.htm (german only)

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+ Staff News and Guests

 

Marina Fischer-Kowalski was awarded honorary citizenship by the commune of the Greek island Samothraki for her sustained efforts to transform the island into a Man-and-Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO standards. The preparatory scientific work was supported by the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

 

TERI – The Energy and Resources Institute, India, under the leadership of Dr.R.K.Pachauri  – established an annual Georgescu-Roegen award and invited Marina Fischer-Kowalski to become part of the jury.
See www.teriin.org

 

Simone Gingrich, Senior researcher, is back from her maternity leave since October 1st.

 

Thomas Kastner gained a Phd and was awarded the Degree of Doctor by the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the University of Groningen, Netherlands for his thesis on “Changes in Human Food and Wood Consumption and their Impacts of Global Land Demand”

 

Martin Schmid was invited to be on the program committee for the International Water History Association’s 2013 conference in Montpellier, France, to be held June 24-29. The general conference website can be found at www.citg.tudelft.nl/waterhistory2013.

 

Simron Jit Singh, senior researcher at SEC, has been invited to University of Waterloo, Canada as Assistant Professor, from July 2012 to March 2013.

 

Mirjam Weber, Master in Human and Social Ecology, forms part of the administrative team since 1st of September. She is in charge of teaching agendas and student support at SEC.

 

– Guest Student Outgoing:

Sylvia Gierlinger will spend three month as a guest student at the Géographie-Cité Laboratory at the University Paris, Pantheon-Sorbonne working on her PhD thesis on “The urban metabolism of Vienna during the industrial transformation.”

 

– Guest Students Incoming:

Christelle Beyers, PhD Student, Sustainability Institute (University of Stellenbosch) and part time consultant in sustainability, development and planning fields has the research topic: „A study of material flow analysis to develop and empirical foundation and learning base to transition to a green economy.“

Contact: christellebeyers [at] telkomsa [dot] net

 

Antonio Cid Escudero, PhD Student, Agro-ecosystems History Laboratory, University Pablo de Olavide (Seville, Spain) has the research topic: „Water Metabolism in the Spanish Agricultural History from 1900 to 2010“

Contact: ajcid [at] upo [dot] es

 

Mariko Frame, PhD Student, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, has the research topic: “Ecological imperialism and ecologically unequal exchange with regards to the current influx of foreign investment in African primary sectors, with Tanzania as particular case study.”

Contact: mframe [at] du [dot] edu

 

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+ New Publications

 

Dullinger, S., Willner, W., Plutzar, C., Englisch, T., Schratt-Ehrendorfer, L., Moser, D., Ertl, S., Essl, F., Niklfeld, H., 2012. Postglacial migration lag restricts range filling of plants in the European Alps. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 21 (8), pp. 829-840.

 

Dullinger, S., Gattringer, A., Thuiller, W., Moser, D., Zimmermann, N.E., Guisan, A., Willner, W., Plutzar, C., Leitner, M., Mang, T., Caccianiga, M., Dirnböck, T., Ertl, S., Fischer, A., Lenoir, J., Svenning, J.C., Psomas, A., Schmatz, D.R., Silc, U., Vittoz, P., Hülber, K., 2012. Extinction debt of high-mountain plants under twenty-first-century climate change. Nature Climate Change, 2, pp. 619-622.

 

Exner, A. and Lauk, C. (2012): Social Innovations for Economic Degrowth. Solutions 3(4), pp. 45-49.

 

Groß, R., 2011. Das „schneereichste Dorf der Welt“ im Spannungsfeld „gigantischer Landschaftszerstörungen“ und „reiner Natur“. Eine Damülser Dorfgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Montfort. Zeitschrift für Geschichte Vorarlbergs, 63 (1), pp. 23-48.

 

Groß, R., 2012. Die Modernisierung der Vorarlberger Alpen durch mechanische Aufstiegshilfen. Montfort. Zeitschrift für Geschichte Vorarlbergs, 64 (2), pp. 13-25.

 

Groß, R., 2012. Als die Gäste ins Haus fielen. Eine Umweltgeschichte der 1950er Jahre in Damüls. Bregenzerwald Heft, 32, pp. 6-21.

 

Groß, R. (2012): Wie das 1950er Syndrom in die Täler kam. Umwelthistorische Überlegungen zur Konstruktion von Wintersportlandschaften am Beispiel Damüls in Vorarlberg. Institut für sozialwissenschaftliche Regionalforschung, Veröffentlichungen 10. Regensburg, Roderer Verlag, pp. 1-192.

 

Haberl, H., Erb, K.-H., Lauk, C., Plutzar, C., 2012. Menschliche Aneignung von Nettoprimärproduktion in Europa: Schlussfolgerungen für Bioenergiepotentiale. In: Leopoldina (Eds.), Bioenergy – Chances and Limits. Leopoldina – nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften, Halle, pp. 102-118.

 

Haberl, H., Körner, C., Lauk, C., Schmid-Staiger, U., Smetacek, V., Schulze, E.-D., Thauer, R.K., Weiland, P., Wilson, K., 2012. The availability and sustainability of biomass as an energy source. In: Leopoldina (Eds.), Bioenergy – Chances and Limits. Leopoldina – nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften, Halle, pp. 9-42.

 

Haberl, H., 2012. Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP). In: Fogel, D., Fredericks, S., Harrington, L. and Spellerberg, I. (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Sustainability, Vol.: 6. Measurements, Indicators, and Research Methods for Sustainability. Berkshire Publishing, Great Barrington, MA, pp. 186-189.

 

Hashimoto, S., Fischer-Kowalski, M., Suh, S., Bai, X. (eds.), 2012. Greening Growing Giants. A Major Challenge of Our Planet. Special Issue of the Journal of Industrial Ecology 16(4).

 

Hashimoto, S., Fischer-Kowalski, M., Suh, S., Bai, X., 2012. Editorial: Greening Growing Giants. A Major Challenge of Our Planet. Journal of Industrial Ecology 16(4), 459-466.

 

Krausmann, F., 2012. Global Material Flows. In: Ginley, D. and Gahen, D. (Eds.), Fundamentals of Materials for Energy and Environmental Sustainability. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, 81-89.

Lauk, C., Haberl, H., Erb, K.-H., Gingrich, S., Krausmann, F., 2012. Global socioeconomic carbon stocks and carbon sequestration in long-lived products 1900-2008. Environmental Research Letters, 7 (034023)

 

Ramanujam, V.R., Singh, S.J., Vatn, A., 2012. From the Ashes into the Fire? Institutional Change in the Post-Tsunami Nicobar Islands, India. Society & Natural Resources, 25 (11), pp. 1152-1166.

 

Seitzinger, S.P., Svedin, U., Crumley, C.L., Steffen, W., Abdullah, S.A., Alfsen, C., Broadgate, W.J., Biermann, F.H.B., Bondre, N.R., Dearing, J.A., Deutsch, L., Dhakal, S., Elmqvist, T., Farahbakhshazad, N., Gaffney, O., Haberl, H., Lavorel, S., Mbow, C., McMichael, A.J., deMorais, J.M.F., Olsson, P., Pinho, P.F., Seto, K.C., Sinclair, P., Stafford-Smith, M., Sugar, L., 2012. Planetary stewardship in an urbanising world: beyond city limits. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, [online first: 10.1007/s13280-012-0353-7].

 

Schulze, E.-D., Körner, C., Law, B.E., Haberl, H., Luyssaert, S., 2012. Large-scale bioenergy from additional harvest of forest biomass is neither sustainable nor greenhouse gas neutral. Global Change Biology – Bioenergy, 4 (6), pp. 611-616.

 

Winiwarter, V., 2012. Die Donau als Kriegsschauplatz in der englischen Presse des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts. In: Metzler, G. and Wildt, M. (Eds.), Berichtsband des 48. Deutschen Historikertag in Berlin 2010. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, pp. 88-89.

 

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Mag. Gabriela Miechtner
Institute of Social Ecology Vienna (SEC)
Alpen-Adria Universitaet
Schottenfeldgasse 29
1070 Vienna, Austria
www.aau.at/sec