Doomer Optimism: International Small Farm Agroecology w/ Vandana Shiva
Combined July & August SCORAI Newsletter
Valerie Brachya
Greetings SCORAI members!
Thank you to everyone who shared news and updates for this newsletter. Editing the SCORAI newsletter has been a wonderful opportunity for me to connect with people working around the world on a wide range of sustainable consumption-related issues and activism and I have really enjoyed filling this role for the past two years. We’ve combined the July and August newsletters this summer, and when we return in September we’ll introduce SCORAI’s new lead newsletter editor.
It’s a summer of transitions for many of us– Manisha Anatharaman and Daniel Fischer are bringing their terms of service on the SCORAI Executive Board to a conclusion, but will remain engaged as members of the SCORAI Advisory Board. On behalf of our full network, thank you to Daniel and Manisha for your leadership as sustainable consumption scholars and educators, and we’re looking forward to continuing to work closely with both of you!
We are also thrilled to welcome Valerie Brachya as a new member of the SCORAI Executive Board. An urban planner by education, Valerie Brachya is a former Deputy Director General at the Ministry of Environmental Protection in Israel, and one of its intellectual founders. She has represented Israel on sustainability matters for decades, and spearheaded environmental planning in Israel. Ms. Brachya is also a former Director of the Center for Environmental Policy at the Jerusalem Institute for Policy and Research, and a founder of SCORAI Israel. This spring, Valerie co-authored, with Fabian Echegaray, Philip Vergragt and Lei Zhang, a book “Sustainable Lifestyles after Covid-19” in the SCORAI series Studies in Sustainable Consumption. She lectures on Sustainability Policy at Tel Aviv University.
New SCORAI book available
This book takes an in-depth look at Covid-19-generated societal trends and develops scenarios for possible future directions of urban lifestyles.
Drawing on examples from Brazil, China, and Israel, and with a particular focus on cities, this book explores the short and long-term changes in individual consumers and citizen behavior as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. On the basis of extensive market and opinion research data, aggregate data, observational evidence, and news reports, the authors provide a detailed account of the transformations that have occurred as a result of a triple shock of public health emergency, economic shutdown, and social isolation. They also examine which of these behavioral changes are likely to become permanent and consider whether this may ultimately promote or restrain sustainable lifestyle choices.
Innovative and timely, this book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and professionals researching and working in the areas of sustainable consumption, urban and land use planning, and public health.
Get the book
Presenting the book to the current Deputy Director General for Policy and Planning in the Israeli Ministry for Environmental Protection, Ms Galit Cohen.