Is Less More? Focus on Sustainability

The first evening of this year's Sustainability Talks on 29 April is dedicated to the topic ‘Less is more - but what can we do without?’ and addresses one of the most fundamental questions of the sustainability debate: How much consumption is necessary, and what could less perhaps even give us back? Borrowing, swapping, buying second-hand, repairing - there are many alternatives to buying new, but they remain niches. Why is that the case? What individual, social, and economic hurdles stand in the way - and how can we overcome them?

Julia Blasch, Professor of Environmental and Sustainability Economics at THI, will open the discussion. She will be joined in the discussion by Laura Beyeler, research assistant and doctoral student at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg in the research project ‘Moderate Economy’, Birgit Bayer-Kroneisl, Head of the Environment and Agenda 21 Department of the City of Neuburg, Stefanie Martin, Head of the Neuburg City Library, and Vivienne Kleinschmidt, THI student and member of the student association Our Future e. V. Together, they will look at the topic from different perspectives. V. Together, they will shed light from different perspectives on the role that individual decisions and structural conditions play in a more sustainable lifestyle, and what opportunities can be found in conscious reduction.

On the following Tuesdays, the series will focus on other aspects of sustainability. On 6 May, the focus will be on the tension between artificial intelligence and environmental protection, with THI professors Florian Richter and Alexander Baur, as well as Nico Spreng from the start-up ecoview. On 13 May, the question will be how sustainability can be lived professionally. Discussions will be held with THI Professor Holger Hoppe and experts from business and research, among others. On 27 May, young people will have their say: school pupils from Neuburg will talk to scientists about their understanding of sustainability. The final event on 3 June will focus on flood protection - between personal responsibility, politics, and ecological planning.

All events start at 6.30 pm and will be hosted by Bernhard Mahler. The THI cordially invites you to join in the thinking and discussion at the Sustainability Campus Neuburg (Room CN004). Admission is free. Information on the dates of the series at www.thi.de/NNG