Hi Ben and Joe I appreciate your exchange and here's my two cents. Though I'm nervous about exhauting others on this list, I decided to risk it rather than reply off-list.
There's no single causal starting point of change in a living system like, for example, the Earth, yet I hear you, Ben, that since economics obviously drives so much, maybe it's the *key *causal point. But it's also true that some of the *key* causal points of economic systems are the cultural assumptions, social norms and groups' relationship to nature and place that underlie the working principles of the economic systems, which is an important part of what the literature being referred to is talking about. So I see economics, culture, and relationship to nature and place as a process of mutual causality. And real changework (and change study) therefore has to be many-layered and multi-vocal, speaking not just to the science and economics of the matter but to the assumptions and experiences of the many constituencies and cultures Elan On Thu, Dec 7, 2017 at 9:23 PM, Ben Haller <bhal...@mac.com> wrote: > That’s a neat question. Nowadays there are some schools offering > degrees in sustainability studies; I’m not sure what that actually > constitutes, in terms of what you do academically. In any case, back when > I was 18 that didn’t exist. :-> Back then – maybe economics? That’s what > it all really comes down to, in my opinion. Economics encompasses all > sorts of questions about what humans prefer and value, where those > preferences come from and what influences them, how those preferences > interact with politics, and how it ends up structuring society. And that’s > where the solutions likely reside, too, in my opinion, because in the end > most people respond to incentives. If the economic structure of society > rewards them for selfishness, pollution, etc., then that is what most > people will end up doing. If it rewards them for sharing, recycling, etc., > then that is what most people will end up doing. So the things that I > think are likely to provide real solutions will come from economics – > things like a carbon tax, things that manipulate the incentives to which > people respond. But I agree that it would really have to end up being > multi-discliplinary; maybe economics with minors in ecology, sociology, and > political theory? :-> > > Cheers, > -B. > > > On Dec 8, 2017, at 10:51 AM, Joe Nolan <jcn_ith...@twc.com> wrote: > > > Interesting. Speaks to a question I've long pondered, which is, if I could > go back to being 18 and wanted to study the overall human-planet > relationship and how to improve it, what academic field would I enter? It > seems the academic factions have been calcified for so long that there's > really nobody studying this most-important-of-all phenomena. A few isolated > philosophy or anthropology classes maybe? I suppose ecological economics, > as far as that goes - but as far as I'm aware it doesn't address the > cultural issues that Joe Brewer is talking about. > > > > > On 12/6/2017 7:25 PM, Gay Nicholson wrote: > > >I'd like to recommend an article on cultural evolution by Joe Brewer > <https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/the-complexity-of-cultural-evolution-63e28e117f6b> > . > > > > > -- Elan Shapiro Building Bridges Coalition Frog's Way B&B www.frogsway-bnb.com 607-592-8402 elanshapiro...@gmail.com 211 Rachel Carson Way Ithaca, NY 14850 Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest and the playtime. W.E.B. Du Bois For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ If you have questions about this list please contact the list manager, Tom Shelley, at t...@cornell.edu.
