No subject

Sun Nov 8 20:45:29 CET 2015

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[Moderator's Note: Thanks again for all of the thought-provoking comments
so far. Just a reminder that the open discussion will close at the end of
Monday (11/30), after which Norgaard will have the opportunity to respond.
-- Jonathan]

Dear colleagues,

I am a recent member of this forum, and, so far, I have been just lurking,
but I have been following the discussion. Now, I thought I might intervene
with a comment, directed in particular to the concept of "econocene."

First of all, we are all familiar with the concept of Anthropocene, an idea
that has been incredibly successful in the recent debate. As Randy Hayes
points out in a previous message, the idea of Anthropocene has led to a
branching of different concepts, with some people seeing it as proof of how
dangerous we are as human beings, while others take it as meaning "Look how
great we are: man wins, nature loses."

Among other things, the Anthropocene has generated a specific version of
the concept of "decoupling" that assumes that humans do not really need
nature in order to survive - they can build up their own artificial life
support system. It is the attitude, among others, of the
"ecomodernists," www.ecomodernism.org/.

The idea of humans "decoupling from nature" arises strong feelings of
horror in many, but, the way it is proposed, it may be seen as a genuine
attempt to preserve nature from the human assault that has generated the
disasters of the Anthropocene. If Man does not need Nature, then Man can
leave Nature in peace (and Nature can leave Man in peace).

This would be, in my opinion, the embodiment of the concept of "econocene."
While economics as a science is often accused of not including Nature in
its models, this is the true revenge of the
economists; who can then respond, "but who needs Nature?"

In a sense, all this has a certain veneer of elegance; the problem is that
elegant theories have a way of getting mauled when clashing against a
reality that may not be elegant at all - rather, ugly and clumsy =E2=80=93 =
but that
appears to be made of somewhat harder materials than the stuff dreams are
made of.

So, can human beings really decouple from nature and peacefully abandon the
destructive Anthropocene to enter the peaceful Econocene? That would be
truly the triumph of the church of economics. On the other hand, we might
as well see the revenge of the Anthropocene and the dismissal of economics
as a heretical subset of biology (that might well entail also the dismissal
of humans as a species).

On this point, I can suggest to you my paper (presently being submitted to
a scientific journal): "What future for the Anthropocene" -
arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1510/1510.02040.pdf, where I argue that the time
subdivision called Anthropocene in its strong dependence of fossil fuels
will be short lived because of depletion and destined to transform itself
into something very different that I called the "stereocene" (the age of
solid state devices).

Ugo Bardi
University of Florence, Italy
ugo.bardi at unifi.it

>
> ***********************************************
>
> Friday, October 30, 2015
>
> > From Paul Raskin
>
>
-----
> GTN Friends:
>
> I write to launch our NOVEMBER DISCUSSION, which will consider Richard
Norgaard=E2=80=99s new GTI essay, =E2=80=9CThe Church of Economism and Its =
Discontents.=E2=80=9D
Please read it at
www.greattransition.org/publication/the-church-of-economism-and-its-discont=
ents,
and consider commenting.
>
> Is orthodox economics akin to a secular religion? Are we living in the
=E2=80=9CEconocene=E2=80=9D? Is there a way out? Norgaard, a founder of eco=
logical
economics, argues yes, yes, and maybe. In so doing, he guides us further
into the terrain of alternative economics we=E2=80=99ve explored recently i=
n our
discussions of GTI pieces by Herman Daly, Giorgos Kallis, Peter Barnes, and
John Bellamy Foster.
>
> I wonder, though:
> * Is economism still a monolithic ideology? Or are critical currents
within the economics mainstream increasingly questioning its reductionist
framework and false predictions?
> * As a framing for our contemporary condition, is =E2=80=9Cthe Econocene=
=E2=80=9D a
useful corrective to the geologic emphasis of =E2=80=9Cthe Anthropocene=E2=
=80=9D? How do
these compare to GTI=E2=80=99s term, =E2=80=9CThe Planetary Phase of Civili=
zation,=E2=80=9D which
aims to convey the multi-dimensionality of the globalizing
social-ecological system?
>
> I=E2=80=99d appreciate hearing your thoughts on these and other issues ra=
ised by
Norgaard=E2=80=99s stimulating essay.
>
> Comments are welcome through NOVEMBER 30.
>
> Looking forward,
>
> Paul Raskin
> GTI Director
>
> NOTE ON GTI=E2=80=99S PUBLICATION CYCLE:
> GTN discussions occur in ODD-NUMBERED months, and GTI publishes in
EVEN-NUMBERED months. Each discussion takes up a new essay or viewpoint
prior to its publication. After the discussion closes, GTI publishes the
piece, edited comments from the discussion, and a response from the author
(along with other new articles). You can review all GTN discussions at
www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-forum.
>
>
>
>
>
-----
> Hit reply to post a message
> Or see thread and reply online at
>
www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-discussions/171-the-church-of-economism-a=
nd-its-discontents/1406
>
> Need help? Email jcohn at tellus.org
>
>
>

--

Keep Calm
and
Use Renewable Energy

********************************
Prof Ugo Bardi
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universit=C3=A0 di Firenze
c/o Dipartimento di Chimica, Polo Scientifico di Sesto Fiorentino
Via della Lastruccia 3 - 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (Firenze) - Italy
tel +39 055 457 3118
www.cassandralegacy.blogspot.com
****************************************

---
Questa e-mail =C3=A8 stata controllata per individuare virus con Avast anti=
virus.
www.avast.com/antivirus

-------------------------------------------------------
Hit reply to post a message
Or see thread and reply online at
http://www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-discussions/171-the-church-of-econ=
omism-and-its-discontents/1425

Need help? Email jcohn at tellus.org

--=20
Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org

P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net

<http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Update=
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#82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded messag=
e ----------<br>From: <b class=3D"gmail_sendername">Great Transition Networ=
k</b> <span dir=3D"ltr">&lt;<a href=3D"mailto:gtnetwork at greattransition.org=
">gtnetwork at greattransition.org</a>&gt;</span><br>Date: Sun, Nov 29, 2015 a=
t 8:48 AM<br>Subject: The Church of Economism and Its Discontents (GTN Disc=
ussion)<br>To: <a href=3D"mailto:michelsub2004 at gmail.com">michelsub2004 at gma=
il.com</a><br><br><br><br>