Barry Commoner was probably much in tune with this argument --- He identified capitalism as the cause of scarcity and he very publicly broke with Paul Ehrlich who wrote THE POPULATION BOMB and argued that nothing short of zero population growth would save the planet --- Commoner argued that in fact even WITH zero population growth, capitalism would keep exploiting nature's resources ---
His solution was (in MAKING PEACE WITH THE PLANET) what he called the "Solar Transition" =--- he argued that because for the next million years or so, the sun will send us a tremendous amount of energy that can be captured to use AND REUSE the physical resources of the earth --- (I think originally he was a PLANT ECOLOGIST) --- deriving energy from plant life as well as human and animal waste (SOLAR METHANE) --- I am not sure if he ever confronted head on the issue of DE-GROWTH (it's been a while since I read any of his stuff). I have to say, reading the review did not necessarily convince me that given the finite nature of the earth, human populations and rising standards of living won't come up against LIMITS (a la Meadows, etc.) HOWEVER --- given that long before any physical limits are reached, global warming will definitely lead to massive population declines and production declines --- (killing vast fisheries, making lots of agricultural land impossible to cultivate, etc.) --- I think the argument in this book is probably only theoretical .... RIGHT NOW we've got to fight like Hell to keep fossil fuels in the ground ... On Tue, Mar 30, 2021 at 4:46 PM Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > > https://marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviews/18979_limits-why-malthus-was-wrong-and-why-environmentalists-should-care-by-giorgos-kallis-reviewed-by-burc-kostem/ > > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#7645): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/7645 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/81735164/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
