Cross-pollinating movements: Introducing Degrowthers to the “Riot”

(One of my recent Facebook posts aimed at cross-pollinating movements; feel free to use this and adapt as you need.)

“What Is the Riot for Austerity?”

The Riot for Austerity is a grassroots group of people who aim to reduce their lifestyle footprint by 90% of the USA average resident’s.

The term “Riot for Austerity” was inspired by George Monbiot’s book HEAT.  Monbiot points out in his book that no one ever riots for austerity. But that radical reduction is exactly what we need. (Monbiot’s recommendations are focused on the government policy level of things. The grassroots Riot movement arose from some everyday people’s desire to translate this onto a personal level.) 

The Riot for Austerity grassroots movement started I believe around 2007. It was started by two women in the sustainability blogosphere. One is Sharon Astyk, author of numerous excellent books on sustainable living & community. The other is Miranda Pollock, and I don’t know anything about her other than that she is a Mom (as is Sharon).

The Riot for Austerity guidelines call for us in the rich industrialized nations to decrease our consumption by 90% of the average USA resident’s level. (By the way, the Riot movement is also known as the 90% Reduction Challenge.)

Consumption is categorized into seven basic areas: gasoline/transportation, water, electricity, home heating/cooking fuel, amount of household trash generated, amount $ of consumer products purchased, and food footprint.

I didn’t know the word “Degrowth” back when I first started following the Riot, but it turns out the Riot rules are a pretty handy metric for a degrowth-compatible lifestyle.

Here are screenshots of the “Riot Rules” file from the Riot for Austerity group. If I find a way to copy-paste the text I will do so here also.

(I am also tagging the group so people will know where it is on Facebook.)