Les transitions écologiques à Cerisy

Abstract

This paper proposes to review the debates which took place at the conference on "Ecological transitions" held at the Cerisy-la-Salle International Center from 6/30 to 7/10 2015. The common belief was that no exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world, so that we need to envision a no growth society, especially when drastic reductions in carbon emissions are required. The discussion revolved around how to understand the ongoing process and the relevance of the category of catastrophe for such an understanding. Are we speaking about an inescapable catastrophe or do we refer to catastrophe in order to avoid it? What are the connections between crisis, catastrophe and transition? In order to assess the ways in which economic, technological, social and demographic dynamics threaten our ability to inhabit the Earth, do we need a new great narrative, a catastrophical one? Or can we go on thinking that we still have the choice between a plurality of lives? Hence the discussion was not only about ecological threats but also about what is socially and politically at stake, i.e. justice, equality, democracy.