Reflections on Degrowth Institute DeSchool 2025

I was thrilled to learn that my long-time colleague John Mulrow returned to Chicago. I regard him as one of the crew - one the folks making rounds through the Chicago sustainability scene in the 2010s. This was the era of circular economy talks, happy hours and green drinks, micro-pitch platforms, galas, celebrations and outings hosted by, in and for community-based organizations. This is a beautiful history that John, myself and many others across the city share. 

John went to Georgia Tech for a post-doctoral fellowship, and after a while he came back to Chicago as the founder of the Degrowth Institute (DGI). He invited me to his office to learn more, which led to a series of conversations over the next few months about degrowth and its ties other large social movements, past and present. As this went on, I kept coming back to one question: If the goal of degrowth is the intentional downsizing of global economy, who’s supposed to do it? Who is this for? How do we talk about who’s involved and how they are involved? 

John invited me to host a workshop at the inaugural Degrowth Institute DeSchool to explore that question. I proposed a workshop using a systems-thinking approach to address the structural, attitudinal and transactional aspects of how attendees are thinking about degrowth and what that could mean for dialogue and collaboration. After a great co-design meeting with John at a coffee shop in Bronzeville, I titled the workshop “Perspectives on Degrowth Across Causes, Cultures, and Constructs.”

The DeSchool convening was held July 26th to 29th in Chicago, at the DGI offices and the South Shore Cultural Center. My workshop was scheduled for the 28th, so I observed on one of the preceding days. I anticipated a predominantly academic and/or technical discourse on the social, political, economic, and environmental consequences of global-scale degrowth. While that was present, it was not dominant.

The focus was mostly on exploring ways of living out values and principles, with degrowth as rally point. Conversations about reckoning with the detrimental consequences of white supremacy, racialized capitalism, destabilizing political forces and individualism emerged; and as if it were call and response, other conversations emphasized self-reflection, community building, mutual aid and the required decolonizing and divesting from current systems of oppression. Honestly, I haven’t been in many spaces where these conversations were happening with a predominantly white / white-adjacent audience. It was incredible to witness.

Taking in this information, asked myself what was at the heart of the matter for attendees. What need or desire could my workshop be responsive to? In the day between observation and my scheduled workshop, I refined the delivery and prompts a bit more. 

In its final structure, “Perspectives on Degrowth Across Causes, Cultures, and Constructs” was designed as an invitation to workshop participants to envision and discuss degrowth futures in the context of their personal and communal experiences. The primary objective was to foster a sense of connection and facilitate meaningful conversations among attendees on their own terms.

We began with a five-minute writing exercise, followed by small group discussions and large group share-outs. Upon returning to the large group, attendees shared captivating insights. One group delved into the concept of an intergenerational approach to degrowth, exploring the potential burdens and benefits of dialogue and collaboration in this context. Another group focused on the challenges and opportunities for communities to comprehend the implications of degrowth at the household level, indicating that the average household (USA) may not fully understand of how the current economic system is not working in their favor. 

One participant posed a challenging question about the rapid growth of industry and its impact on communities facing environmental injustice. They asked, if not in those communities, where else would these developments exist? Another participant graciously shared a personal story about the mounds of waste they encountered along a Colombian shore and how the local community was affected by the “invisible” waste from other countries. We concluded the discussion with another participant expressing a desire for clarity, which could help degrowthers understand if they’re moving in a similar and aligned direction, while living in different contexts. 

By the end of the workshop, we created an artifact: a record of the similarities and differences in various degrowth futures as relayed by participants. I hope the DGI team can utilize this resource to foster ongoing discussions on complex degrowth concepts across diverse experiences and cultures. 

On a personal note, I enjoyed the opportunity to make a bit of new history with John. While time and distance often wear on relationships, we were able to reconnect and re-introduce ourselves to one another. I met him as the founder of a burgeoning institution leading critical thought on degrowth in Chicago; and he met me as the founder and principal of my strategic design practice Colere. Cheers to us! 

Thank you John, Jason, Anna and all DeSchool attendees. Your work is provocative, timely and impactful! 

[original written and published on November 2, 2025]