Marie-Laure Lambert

Research Project

Stories for a More Sustainable Future – Lessons from Marseille

Project Abstract

The consumption of natural resources and the emission of various pollutants from human activities have brought us to a point where we are now reaching or surpassing certain limits that our planetary ecosystem cannot or will not be able to sustain in the medium and long term.
To preserve the fragile ecological balances of our environment and to try to slow down climate change, the massive erosion of wild biodiversity, and the impending shortages (of water, metals, etc.), industrial societies must evolve and accept certain forms of deceleration in their consumption/predation.

The Essential Objective of Sobriety

Whether this deceleration is referred to as sobriety, frugality, or degrowth, the general goal is to reconsider our overconsumption practices, at least in the wealthiest countries and among the most affluent segments of the population.
Public actions, and even the law, are starting to cautiously integrate these new paradigms. For example, energy sobriety is now recognized as a key objective in transition goals (Article L100-2 of the Energy Code). Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, national, local, and corporate sobriety plans have also proliferated. Finally, the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME) sparked an interesting controversy by launching a “non-advertising” campaign on the theme of “de-consumers.”

The Co-Benefits of Sobriety or Degrowth

The current thinking on degrowth or post-growth defines this concept today as the “reduction of production and consumption to lighten the ecological footprint, planned democratically, with a spirit of social justice and concern for well-being” (T. Parrique). This involves concrete and collective work, engaging the entire population while distinguishing the different ecological footprints of individuals and social classes. This is the associated goal of social justice.
It is also about describing and sharing the co-benefits of this deceleration, in terms of reducing work burdens, slowing down constrained rhythms, and gaining quality of life, even leading to a more peaceful relationship with others.

The Project of Stories for a More Sustainable Future

The project “Stories for a More Sustainable Future – Lessons from Marseille” aims to narrate scenarios of sobriety that can inspire public policies for ecological transition. It will be partly based on the scientific results of an ANR research program and a Horizon Europe program, led by the City of Marseille, focusing on the goal of “Carbon-Neutral Marseille by 2030.”
Beyond the legal pathways developed within these two programs, the project will involve developing a more personal narrative, a “storytelling” of research results and legal proposals for sobriety. Policies to combat climate change face many psychological and societal resistances, which could be alleviated by proposing new ways of imagining a less alarming future. While new forms of imagination are often found in science fiction works, it might be interesting to attempt an exercise in “legal fiction” to make the proposals developed in ongoing research more vivid and tangible, using a more literary and less academic language.

The project is based on the intuition that most citizens, even in our wealthy country, are willing to modify their consumption but will only do so if rules ensure that the collective effort is fair and shared according to each person’s means. It is therefore essential to imagine ways to rid our society of growing inequalities, the short-sightedness of decision-makers, and the power of lobbies.

This exercise, in a literary or fictionalized form, will aim to propose “necessary utopias” around a society that is potentially less predatory and more sustainable (in energy, resources, and even work time), allowing everyone to envision and perhaps identify with certain characters. The scenario would propose, if not an entire world, then at least a territory that has implemented, with a sense of responsibility and a certain pride (we are Marseillais!), more sustainable practices, lifestyles, and fairer public policies to show a way to fight, particularly against climate change and the inequalities it exacerbates.

Biography

Marie-Laure Lambert is a public law professor specializing in environmental law at Aix-Marseille University. She co-directs the master’s program in “Urban Planning Law and Environmental Law (DUDE)” and the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Environment and Urbanism (LIEU). After focusing on pollution and industrial risk law, she has specialized in climate law research (laws and public policies on climate change adaptation and mitigation) and was elected co-chair of the Southern France Climate Experts Group (GREC Sud).

Her research, often multidisciplinary, focuses on energy sobriety and slowing down the economy, aiming for an energy and social transition that now seems indispensable but remains a blind spot in legal research and public policy measures.