Into the Open: The FES Discussion Forum

The FES Discussion Forum serves as a platform for transparent debate and contestation around the idea of Sustainability.

Implementing the idea of sustainability requires us to profoundly re-organize our living together. For this transformation to be sustainable also in a democratic-participative sense, it cannot just be prescribed, but needs to evolve actively. For that it takes creativity, courage and the willingness to act, as well as the ability to communicate, to debate, to accept disagreement – and reach compromises.

The FES Discussion Forum serves as a platform for international young professionals to carry out publicly the difficult but necessary process of contestation which underpins and continually promotes the transformation towards a more sustainable way of living. Based on individual input papers, the discussants engage in debates on issues central to the concept of Sustainability. At the end of each discussion, the participants will present a Joint Position Paper which summarizes crucial aspects of the debate, carving out both commonalities and central conflict lines and diagnosing urgent areas of action in order to formulate appropriate policy recommendations.

By bringing into the open not only arguments, but also the process of contestation and debate itself, we aim to spur lively debates which are carried on and multiplied in a wider public, thus bringing into effect the idea of Sustainability.

Between Choice and Structure: Sustainable Consumption and Responsibility

Phase 2: Joint Discussion Paper
Erik Assadourian
Jô Portilho
Julia Backhaus
Lewis Akenji

Debates on sustainable consumption continue to focus on “greener” ways of consuming. While consumers’ decisions do matter, focusing on the consumer bears the risk of individualizing responsibility in a way that allows distracting from the common political responsibility to overcome the societal unease with the idea of change having to go way beyond aesthetic corrections.

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Green Economy - A Sustainable Concept?

Phase 3: Documentation
Stella Paul
Marioliva González
Hariyadi
Ravi Kant Tripathi
Rwatirinda Mahembe
Catarina Faria Alves Silveira

While the emergence of worldwide markets of green technology and products are seen by some as an opportunity, others fear that the Green New Deal will cement the North-South dependency given highly different economic performance and innovation.
Against this backdrop, six international young professionals explore the chances and limitations of the concept of Green Economy.

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