MISSION

In response to the global environmental crisis, economic injustice, and unsustainable mainstream policies and lifestyles, the SUCH research network contributes to sustainable change with both research-based activities and academic activism.

The network is transdisciplinary; it aims to challenge—as well as to propose alternatives to—today’s unsustainable societies. We call for sustainable change at all levels, from the individual to the national and global levels, and in all sectors, from the private to public and third sectors. We particularly call for change in the most affluent countries and corporations, which have the largest share in ecological overshoot.

Our mission is to encourage and promote the attainment of a sustainable global society, one in which both humans and the rest of nature can thrive and flourish indefinitely.

VALUES

SUCH is centered on the notion of strong sustainability, which we define as comprising two core values: (a) eco-centrism (which puts concerns about life, nature, and biodiversity foremost, unlike conventional anthropocentrism), and (b) sufficiency (a social vision in which humans have sufficient resources to lead fulfilling and healthy lives without inflicting long-term damage on the global environment).

Under a guiding vision of strong sustainability, humans cannot ‘substitute’ or replace nature. This means that humans must operate within planetary boundaries, which take top priority.

Our values of eco-centrism and sufficiency apply to all levels of social organization: global, international, nation-state, region, and local. They signify that the limits of their respective biocapacities must be respected, as must the corresponding rights of non-humans.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

1. Humans must respect and value other forms of life, via an eco-centric perspective, and we must aim at peaceful coexistence in the various regions we share across the planet.

2. Humanity as a whole, and particularly the wealthy industrial nations, must respect, and live within, global planetary boundaries as identified by state-of-the-art sustainability science.

3. Wealthy nations must adopt a condition of economic degrowth—of reduced economic throughput—in order to transition to a strongly sustainable society. Once attained, they must strive for steady-state (zero growth) economic systems. Put otherwise, they must aim at maximum wellbeing with minimum throughput.

4. High, and still-growing, human population is incompatible with sustainable change. The global ecosystem cannot sustain 8 or 10 billion people at anything like current levels of affluence. Pragmatic considerations would suggest implementing tactics for long-term reduction in global populations, long-term reductions in affluence for the wealthy, or (preferably) both.

5. Advanced and resource-intensive technology is not a long-term solution to our problems, which are largely cultural and moral. We hereby reject the conventional techno-optimist stance, and opt instead for low-tech, indigenous, and traditional solutions to the problem of unsustainability. Industrial technology is more likely to move humanity away from, rather than toward, strongly sustainable societies.

Thus, SUCH members critically examine societal structures, institutions, and the role of technology; we also challenge the global growth of the economy and population. Importantly, alongside seeking for solutions and tools, SUCH promotes open and ongoing discussion of its mission, values, and guiding principles.

We nourish an ecologically-realistic and an ethically-inclusive understanding of:

(a) How to adapt to major challenges;

(b) How to challenge and resist unsustainable structures, processes, and lifestyles; and

(c) How to communicate ways of adaptation and resistance to enable sustainable change.

Activities of the network will be based on collegial dialogue and a variety of initiatives, which include organizing the biennial Peaceful Coexistence Colloquium (PCC), seminars, workshops, and related events, publishing books and articles, and communicating to all relevant actors in the public, private, and third sectors.

Network members conduct research-based activities with mixed methods without limiting actions to scholarly work. SUCH promotes experimentation with novel forms of communication, supports artistic expression, examines alternative, non-materialistic stories of the world, and encourages participation in public debate. We interact with diverse stakeholders and are academically activist.

(May 12, 2024)

Read more about how SUCH is organised here.