Years active 1975 - present Education PhD Alma mater University of Sydney | Website thesimplerway.info Thesis year 1975 | |
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Thesis title A study of orientations to social rules: with special reference to autonomy and some educational implications Institutions University of New South Wales Institution University of New South Wales Books Renewable Energy Cannot S, Transition to a Sustaina, The Conserver Society, Towards a Sustainable Economy, Abandon affluence! | ||
Ted trainer interview on the simpler way
Ted (F.E.) Trainer (born 1941) is an Australian academic, and an advocate of economic de-growth, simple living, and 'conserver' lifestyles.
Contents
Ted trainer
Background
Trainer grew up in Sydney, Australia. He has a PhD from the University of Sydney ("A study of orientations to social rules: with special reference to autonomy and some educational implications", 1975) and lectured in education at the University of New South Wales from the 1970s. In the 1980s he shifted gears to join the growing environmental and limits to growth movement in Australia, and became a frequent speaker and activist, largely in New South Wales. He has remained teaching at UNSW for several decades, working part-time and usually delivering an undergraduate course on global problems. He is currently Honorary Adjunct Associate Professor in Social Work at UNSW, and also a member of the Melbourne-based Simplicity Institute.
His practical energy has been thrown into Pigface Point, an alternative lifestyle educational site on a swampy meander of the St.George's River 20 km from Sydney, near East Hills/Voyager Point. Trainer lives there with his family, practising voluntary simplicity and the art of re-use. He lives partially in a barter and subsistence economy, and built a house and the grounds from recycled materials and manual labour. His household uses 2% of average Australian electricity consumption and he rarely travels Photos show the extent of the property, which was originally purchased by his father in 1940.
Contributions
A prolific author, Trainer has published widely on global problems, sustainability issues, radical critiques of the economy, alternative social forms, and the transition to them. He has written numerous books and articles on these topics, listed blow.
His theory of social change is called "The Simpler Way". He argues " A sustainable world order is not possible unless we move to much less production and consumption, and much less affluent lifestyles within a steady-state economic system." In The Conserver Society he outlines what such a world would look like, based around intelligent and networked eco-villages providing healthy lifestyles, work and education with much-lowered net consumption.
His calculations of global energy demand, given in Trainer 2007, suggest any shift to renewable energy will have to be accompanied by a radical decrease in global demand, since renewables could not cope with expanding demand.
He maintains a large website of materials for critical global educators. His ideas, pursued in conferences and academic publications, on less resource use and lowered population have distanced him from some idealistic environmentalists, Marxist thinkers wanting to continue industrialism, as well as from pro-growth supporters of individualistic free markets and economic growth.