Slowsumption is a sustainability project created as a part of the course "Sustainable Development: Project management and communication" at the The Centre for Environment and Development Studies (CEMUS) at Uppsala University. Our team consists of six students from diverse geographical, cultural and academic backgrounds. Together we cover disciplines from corporate economics, biology and international relations to visual arts and linguistics. Our shared interest for sustainability in social, political, ecological and economic contexts has brought us together and inspired us to create this project.
We wanted to adress the issue of overconsumption rooted in the structures of our economic and cultural systems and offer something concrete to people who want to take action towards a more sustainable future. Therefore, we decided to launch a website and a crowdfunding platform where people can educate themselves and invest in projects that emphasize values of personal sufficiency, social exchange and well-being of human and nature. The projects we support are part of the same course as us and arrange activities such as clothes-swapping, easy-skills workshops, education on water quality and podcast-episodes investigating greenwashing among companies. You can read more about each project here. By combining the critical perspectives on consumerism offered on our digital platforms with the other projects' practical activities we hope to provide people with a fuller understanding of current destructive systems in society and consider alternative, more sustainable futures. Of course we are aware of the scope of our project and it's limited capacity to trigger actual structural change. However we believe that all sorts of structural change starts small until enough people pick up the ideas and make it grow. Therefore, we need your help to sow seeds by learning, questioning, sharing and participating in activities that promote values that benefit life, human and nature rather than the material prosperity of few.
