I heard that a former student from the University of Melbourne’s Master of Environment (the program I used to direct) had offered some land on a family farm for an experiment in low impact living, in about 2014. I just came across a video of the experiment, featuring a few familiar faces. Nick Lampel was an excellent student on our Masters. Ted Trainer, one of the originators of these ideas long before ‘degrowth’ became popular in Europe, is someone I took time to visit on my first trip to Australia in 1995, and I wrote about his ideas (with very little impact, it must be said). Sam Alexander at Melbourne has taken up the cause of simplicity and degrowth in Australia, and writes widely as well as making this film and supporting the Gippsland project.
2015 was an odd year for me – very unhappy in my job at the University of Melbourne, I headed out, and worked in Brussels on community bike workshops, and took some long-overdue leave, among other things. I missed all these goings-on in the bush. I don’t know what happened to the residents after 2016.
Plenty to laugh at, but also to enjoy.
It’s time I found out more about degrowth! Looks like this video might be a good place to start.