Ecomodernism

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Greenhouse, Beeston, Leeds: a building professed by its developers to be 'eco-modernist'[1][2][3]
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Ecomodernism is an

wellbeing through eco-economic decoupling, i.e., by separating economic growth from environmental impacts
.

Description

Ecomodernism embraces substituting natural

ecological services with energy, technology, and synthetic solutions[4] as long as they help reduce impact on environment
.

Among other things, ecomodernists embrace agricultural intensification (

clean energy transition i.e. replacing low power-density energy sources (e.g. firewood in low-income countries, which leads to deforestation) with high power-density sources as long as their net impact on environment is lower (nuclear power plants, and advanced renewables), 3D printing, digitalization, miniaturization, servitization of products and dematerialization. Key among the goals of an ecomodern environmental ethic is the use of technology to intensify human activity and make more room for wild nature.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

Debates that form the foundation of ecomodernism were born from disappointment in traditional organizations who denied energy sources such as nuclear power, thus leading to an increase of reliance of fossil gas and increase of emissions instead of reduction (e.g.

decarbonization to mitigate climate change, and how to accelerate the economic and social development of the world's poor. In these debates, ecomodernism distinguishes itself from other schools of thought, including ecological economics, degrowth, population reduction, laissez-faire economics, the "soft energy" path, and central planning. Ecomodernism draws on American pragmatism, political ecology, evolutionary economics, and modernism. Diversity of ideas and dissent are claimed values in order to avoid the intolerance born of extremism and dogmatism.[13]

Ecomodernist organisations have been established in many countries, including Germany,

ecological collapse."[21][13]

An Ecomodernist Manifesto

In April 2015, a group of 18 self-described ecomodernists collectively published An Ecomodernist Manifesto.[22][23][24]

Reception and criticism

Some environmental journalists have praised An Ecomodernist Manifesto. At The New York Times, Eduardo Porter wrote approvingly of ecomodernism's alternative approach to sustainable development.[25] In an article titled "Manifesto Calls for an End to 'People Are Bad' Environmentalism", Slate's Eric Holthaus wrote "It's inclusive, it's exciting, and it gives environmentalists something to fight for for a change."[26] The science journal Nature editorialized the manifesto.[27]

Ecomodernism has been criticized for inadequately recognizing what Holly Jean Buck, Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability, says is the

exploitative, violent and unequal dimensions of technological modernisation.[28] Sociologist Eileen Crist, Associate Professor Emerita, observed that ecomodernism is founded on a western philosophy of humanism with no regard to "nonhuman freedoms". Of the Manifesto Crist says

the mass extinction of life forms that the human enterprise has set into motion receives no mention in the Manifesto. (And extinction of species is mentioned once.) This is a startling omission for an eco manifesto: mass extinctions are geologically rare and catastrophic events; following such past cataclysms, it took millions of years for biological diversity to rebound—a timescale irrelevant for all future human generations. And yet the omission of mass extinction makes sense from the Manifesto's point of view.[29]

Human Geographer Rosemary-Claire Collard and co-authors assert that ecomodernism is incompatible with neoliberal capitalism, despite the philosophy's claims to the contrary.[30] By contrast, in his book "Ecomodernism: Technology, Politics and the Climate Crisis" Jonathan Symons argues that ecomodernism belongs in the social democratic tradition, promoting a third way between laissez-faire and anti-capitalism, and calling for transformative state investments in technological transformation and human development.[17] Likewise, in "A sympathetic diagnosis of the Ecomodernist Manifesto", Paul Robbins and Sarah A. Moore describe the similarities and points of departure between ecomodernism and political ecology.[31]

Another major strand of criticism towards ecomodernism comes from proponents of degrowth or the steady-state economy. Eighteen ecological economists published a long rejoinder titled "A Degrowth Response to an Ecomodernist Manifesto", writing "the ecomodernists provide neither a very inspiring blueprint for future development strategies nor much in the way of solutions to our environmental and energy woes."[32]

At the Breakthrough Institute's annual Dialogue in June 2015, several environmental scholars offered a critique of ecomodernism. Bruno Latour argued that the modernity celebrated in An Ecomodernist Manifesto is a myth. Jenny Price argued that the manifesto offered a simplistic view of "humanity" and "nature", which she said are "made invisible" by talking about them in such broad terms.[33]

See also

References

  1. ^ 'Developer homes in on eco-scheme', The Express (28 September 2007), 72.
  2. ^ 'Housing plan's Greenhouse effect', Yorkshire Post (27 December 2007).
  3. ^ 'Leeds 'unique' green flats', Yorkshire Evening Post (23 September 2010).
  4. ^ "The Breakthrough Institute". thebreakthrough.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-21. Retrieved 2019-09-08.
  5. ISBN 978-1426208911
    .
  6. doi:10.56661/041dba86
    .
  7. doi:10.2458/v26i1.23238
    .
  8. ISBN 978-0143118282
    .
  9. doi:10.1177/20530196231221495
    .
  10. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-809665-9.10302-7
    .
  11. doi:10.1080/14781158.2018.1428946
    .
  12. ^ Brand, Stewart (2010). Whole Earth Discipline.
  13. ^ a b Nisbet, Matthew (2018). "The Ecomodernists: A New Way of Thinking about Climate Change and Human Progress". Skeptical Inquirer. 42 (6): 20–24.
  14. ^ "Ecomodernist energy transition 4.0 – Investments in a modern future".
  15. ^ "In English – SUOMEN EKOMODERNISTIT" (in Finnish). Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  16. ^ "Svenska Ekomodernisterna". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  17. ^
    OCLC 1061731179.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  18. ^ "Sustainable design education rethought: The case for Eco-Modernism". 2010.
  19. OCLC 25552831
    .
  20. OCLC 639161286
    .
  21. ^ John Asafu-Adjaye et al (April 2015). "An Ecomodernist Manifesto."
  22. ^ Nijhuis, Michelle (2 June 2015). "Is the "Ecomodernist Manifesto" the Future of Environmentalism?". The New Yorker. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  23. ^ Monbiot, George (24 September 2015). "Meet the ecomodernists: ignorant of history and paradoxically old-fashioned". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  24. ^ "An Ecomodernist Manifesto". ecomodernism.org. Retrieved April 17, 2015. A good Anthropocene demands that humans use their growing social, economic, and technological powers to make life better for people, stabilize the climate, and protect the natural world.
  25. ^ Eduardo Porter, The New York Times, April 14, 2015. / 'A Call to Look Past Sustainable Development."
  26. ^ EHolthaus, Eric (2015-04-20). "Manifesto Calls for an End to "People Are Bad" Environmentalism". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
  27. ^ "Decoupled ideals: 'Ecomodernist Manifesto' reframes sustainable development, but the goal remains the same." (21 April 2015). Nature.
  28. OCLC 1121092956.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  29. ISSN 2201-1919
    .
  30. S2CID 144993321
    .
  31. ^ Paul Robbins and Sarah A. Moore (19 June 2015). "Love your symptoms: A sympathetic diagnosis of the Ecomodernist Manifesto." entitleblog.org.
  32. ^ Orphan, Kenn (2015-05-06). "A Degrowth Response to an Ecomodernist Manifesto". resilience. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
  33. ^ "What is Modern in Ecomodernism?". The Breakthrough Institute. Retrieved 2022-08-02.

External links

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