The efficient and effective monitoring of individuals and populations is critically dependent on correct species identification. While this point may seem obvious, identifying the majority of the more than 100 natural enemies involved in the spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana -SBW) food web remains a non-trivial endeavor. Insect parasitoids play a major role in the processes governing the population dynamics of SBW throughout eastern North America. However, these species are at the leading edge of the taxonomic impediment and integrating standardized identification capacity into existing field programs would provide clear benefits. We asked to what extent DNA barcoding the SBW food web would alter our understanding of the diversity and connectence of the food web and the frequency of generalists vs. specialists in different forest habitats. We DNA barcoded over 10% of the insects collected from the SBW food web in three New Brunswick forest plots from 1983 to 1993. For 30% of these specimens, we amplified at least one additional nuclear region. When the nodes of the food web were estimated based on barcode divergences (using molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTU) or phylogenetic diversity (PD) -the food web became much more diverse and connectence was reduced. We tested one measure of food web structure (the ''bird feeder effect'') and found no difference compared to the morphologically based predictions. Many, but not all, of the presumably polyphagous parasitoids now appear to be morphologically-cryptic hostspecialists. To our knowledge, this project is the first to barcode a food web in which interactions have already been welldocumented and described in space, time and abundance. It is poised to be a system in which field-based methods permit the identification capacity required by forestry scientists. Food web barcoding provided an effective tool for the accurate identification of all species involved in the cascading effects of future budworm outbreaks. Integrating standardized barcodes within food webs may ultimately change the face of community ecology. This will be most poignantly felt in food webs that have not yet been quantified. Here, more accurate and precise connections will be within the grasp of any researcher for the first time.

Buy it for 8 euro here (discout code FAL20): https://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509535620

Covid-19 has lain bare the fragility of existing economic systems. Any decline in market activity threatens systemic collapse. But it doesn’t have to be this way. To be more resilient to future crises –pandemic, climatic, financial, or political – we need to build systems capable of scaling back production in ways that do not cause loss of livelihood or life. We need to make the case for degrowth.

Degrowth is not simply a contraction of the economy, it is living meaningfully, enjoying simple pleasures, working less, and sharing and relating more with others and working less, in more equal societies. Its goal is to purposefully slow things down in order to minimize harm to humans and earth systems. The world will change after the virus, and there will be struggles over which paths to take. But the time is ripe for us to refocus on what really matters: not GDP, but the health and wellbeing of our people and our planet. In a word, degrowth.

You can buy it here for 8 euros, with the discount code: FAL20

Find here a short article about the book by the authors in Open Democracy: “The case for degrowth in a time of pandemic” https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/case-degrowth-time-pandemic/

We hope you like it. In case, please help us out with dissemination! 🙂

Best,

the authors (Giorgos, Susan, Giacomo and Federico)

Giorgos Kallis is ICREA Professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Susan Paulson is Professor at the Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida.
Giacomo D’Alisa is a FCT post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra.
Federico Demaria is Serra Hunter lecturer in ecological economics and political ecology, University of Barcelona.


REVIEWS:
“COVID-19 is the symptom; the profit-driven destruction of natural and social habitants is the disease. There’s only one cure consistent with global social justice.  Read this eloquent and urgent book and find out what it is.”
Mike Davis, University of California and author of Ecology of Fear and Planet of Slums 

“This is a major contribution to the current debate on growth and degrowth. The authors lay bare the innards of each and show us the importance of degrowth. Wellbeing, equity, and sustainability are key vectors organizing this text. These should be understood in the fullness of their capacities to move us out of our current modernity –a decaying order that is today still dominant. But history has shown us across the centuries that no system of power can last for ever, and nor will our current system. Indeed, it is busy destroying itself.”
Saskia Sassen, Columbia University and author of Expulsions

“Degrowth is one of the most important ideas of the 21st century. Here it is in compact form. Clear, timely, urgent. Don’t miss this book.”
Jason Hickel, London School of Economics and author of The Divide and Less is More

“Is there life after economic growth? Kallis and his co-authors have taken up the baton from the early proponents of degrowth and created a vibrant, accessible discourse for the 21st Century. The Case for Degrowth provides the why, the where and the how of a better economy and a richer society. Its vision is needed now more than ever.”
Tim Jackson, Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity and author of Prosperity without Growth

“The COVID pandemic is laying bare dysfunctions of the growth model and the urgency of a pathway to sanity, climate protection, and security for all. This wonderful and accessible introduction by leading degrowth scholars is a vital resource for anyone interested in viable alternatives, rooted in cooperative economic relations and respect for planetary limits.”
Juliet Schor, author of After the Gig: how the sharing economy got hijacked and how to win it back

“A superb account of why capitalist economies fail life on Earth, even as peoples initiatives in community sharing already revive joy and hope for our futures. This small book teaches economics like no other. It will reply to your doubts about change. It should be on every public library shelf and every syllabus; give copies to your friends.”
Ariel Salleh, activist and editor of Eco-Sufficiency and Global Justice: Women write Political Ecology

“The case for degrowth as argued in this book is so well rounded and compelling that it is difficult to imagine how progressive politicians could avoid integrating the many policies advocated here into their party manifestos . . . unless of course they cannot escape the growth mentality that has suffocated progressive policies for decades. But even in this case, the book offers ways of changing that mentality through commoning and collective action.”
Massimo De Angelis, University of East London, editor of The Commoner, and author of Omnia Sunt Communia

“The degrowth movement now has its Manifesto. A rigorous, practical analysis that will guide grassroots and institutional politics so they can realize a transformation akin to degrowth and turn the current global crisis into a new opportunity and pathway towards more sustainable and carrying societies.”
Isabelle Anguelovski, Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability (BCNUEJ) and author of Neighborhood as Refuge

“By this book, degrowth finally becomes adult. No longer a simple game of hide-and-seek with the growth regime. No longer a vague illusion postponed until the advent of a catastrophe that never comes. No longer a generous experimentation among circles of virtuosos nor an extreme form of resilience by the excluded from the banquet of the consumer society, but a mature and innovative political project, facing the hegemony challenge in the open field of the social arena. The authors are the best fruits of the degrowth movement: activists at the forefront and at the same time leading scholars.”
Onofrio Romano, University of Bari and author of Towards a society of degrowth

“Decrecer es la consigna. Más y más crecimiento económico en un mundo finito es una locura. Más todavía si éste ahonda las diferencias sociales, las frustraciones y la infelicidad. No podemos mantener ese ritmo despiadado de acumulación del que afloran múltiples pandemias, como la del coronavirus. No hay duda, requerimos una desaceleración programada de la actividad económica para reencontrarnos armónicamente con los ritmos de la Madre Tierra, así como para construir otras sociedades basadas en la diversidad, la sostenibilidad, la pluralidad y la reciprocidad; bases fundamentales del Pluriverso: un mundo donde quepan todos los mundos posibles que aseguren una vida digna a humanos y no humanos.”
Alberto Acosta, former president of the Constituent Assembly of Ecuador and author of Buen Vivir



The Case for Degrowth

Giorgos Kallis, Susan Paulson, Giacomo D’Alisa, Federico Demaria
The relentless pursuit of economic growth is the defining characteristic of contemporary societies. Yet it benefits few and demands monstrous social and ecological sacrifice. Is there a viable alternative? How can we halt the endless quest to grow global production and consumption and instead secure socio-ecological conditions that support lives worth living for all?

In this compelling book, leading experts Giorgos Kallis, Susan Paulson, Giacomo D’Alisa and Federico Demaria make the case for degrowth – living well with less, by living differently, prioritizing wellbeing, equity and sustainability.  Drawing on emerging initiatives and enduring traditions around the world, they advance a radical degrowth vision and outline policies to shape work and care, income and investment that avoid exploitative and unsustainable practices. Degrowth, they argue, can be achieved through transformative strategies that allow societies to slow down by design, not disaster.

Essential reading for all concerned citizens, policy-makers, and students, this book will be an important contribution to one of the thorniest and most pressing debates of our era.

More Info

September 2020
140 pages
Available Formats: Hardback £35.00 €39.60; Paperback £9.99 €11.30;  Open eBook £8.49 €9.99

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
1. A case for degrowth
2. Sacrifices of growth
3. Making changes on the ground
4. Path-breaking reforms
5. Strategies for mobilization
Frequently asked questions
Notes

“Parece darse a entender que la construcción del conocimiento escolar supone siempre la transformación del conocimiento cotidiano en científico. No importa con ello que el hombre de la calle se quede sin teorías implícitas, (…) o que se asuma peligrosamente que el conocimiento escolar es un conocimiento científico sin más”. (Rodrigo, 1994 p.8) Con esta cita de Rodrigo (1994) quiero destacar que una primera noción de transposición didáctica que utilizaré para establecer un puente común con el lector es la que refiere a ella como una “bajada” en la que se “implanta” un conocimiento científico en la escuela. Si bien esta idea peca de errónea, es muy común que pensemos que enseñar implica solamente recortar contenidos producidos en el ámbito científico (e incluso aquellos ya “recortados” y presentes en los distintos materiales curriculares) para presentárselos a los estudiantes a través de alguna actividad o libro de texto. Desde esta postura, transponer consistiría simplemente en poner algo (en este caso, el conocimiento) en un lugar diferente del original, sin que medien adaptaciones, por medio del reemplazo de lo previamente existente. Por ello, Rodrigo (1994) nos alerta que desde la epistemología del conocimiento, esta visión de transposición llevaría a que el hombre de la calle se quede sin teorías implícitas (concepciones alternativas, etc.). A lo largo de este capítulo daremos otros sentidos al proceso de transposición didáctica. El objetivo principal es que el lector (a) comprenda el fenómeno de la transposición didáctica, sus niveles de concreción y alcances educativos, e (b) identifique y analice algunos de los cambios que experimenta un conocimiento biológico particular desde que se produce (en este caso, en la comunidad científica) hasta que llega al aula. La idea fuerza que guía esta presentación es que la transposición didáctica es un fenómeno de adaptación que ocurre cuando un determinado conocimiento (u “objeto de saber”) es seleccionado por un grupo de personas constituyentes de la “noosfera”, para formar parte de los diseños curriculares (“objeto a enseñar”). Luego, el docente transforma este saber en “objeto de enseñanza” en sus planificaciones, el que en la enseñanza e interacción con los alumnos, se transforma finalmente en conocimientos “enseñado” y “aprendido” por los alumnos. En las próximas páginas también estudiaremos de qué forma el proceso de transposición puede avejentar y despersonalizar los saberes. Los apartados de este capítulo se titulan: ¿De qué se trata la transposición? Las características del proceso: una historia de síntesis y recortes Algunos casos de transposiciones avejentadas y despersonalizadas La vigilancia epistemológica y los tipos de transposición didáctica La transposición didáctica y el currículum: una relación intricada La historia se escribe en los libros de texto: la transposición didáctica en sus páginas La transposición didáctica hoy: avances desde la creación de la teoría ¿Qué sucede en Córdoba con la transposición y la Biología?

Benefits and implementation of nature-based solutions in response to societal challenges? Nature-based solutions are solutions to societal challenges based on opportunities created by nature and utilising ecosystem processes. They aim to solve large scale, interconnected problems using ecologically, socially and economically sustainable solutions that complement and offer alternatives to conventional, technical solutions. We review how nature-based solutions have been conceptualised in scientific literature, with a focus on the diverse benefits they produce and the distribution of these benefits. We also discuss measures to promote the implementation of nature-based solutions in Finland on the basis of expert workshop material.

Research 13 (1): 920-925 (2014) DNA barcoding bat biodiversity in Malaysia documented taxa considered candidate species but currently lacking formal taxonomic status. This study confirms the high diversity of bats within Peninsular Malaysia (9 species in 13 samples) and demonstrates how DNA barcoding allows for inventory and documentation of known taxa lacking formal taxonomic status.