CiteULike: heraclitus's ecology

The Wealth of Nature: How Mainstream Economics Has Failed the Environment

RL Nadeau — 2008-06-01T15:04:30-00:00

(11 July 2003)

"The connections he makes between economies and the natural sciences are as fascintating as they are inspired. His ideas are unique, packed with substance, and bundled together with persuasive arguments." -- Todd Wellnitz, _Ecology_

Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update

Donella Meadows — 2005-09-22T17:28:32-00:00

(28 June 2004)

Written in refreshingly accessible prose, Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update is a long anticipated revival of some of the original voices in the growing chorus of sustainability. Limits to Growth: The 30 Year Update is a work of stunning intelligence that will expose for humanity the hazy but critical line between human growth and human development.

Marx's Ecology: Materialism and Nature

John Foster — 2008-05-10T20:44:00-00:00

(01 March 2000)

Progress requires the conquest of nature. Or does it? This startling new account overturns conventional interpretations of Marx and in the process outlines a more rational approach to the current environmental crisis. Marx, it is often assumed, cared only about industrial growth and the development of economic forces. John Bellamy Foster examines Marx's neglected writings on capitalist agriculture and soil ecology, philosophical naturalism, and evolutionary theory. He shows that Marx, known as a powerful critic of capitalist society, was also deeply concerned with the changing human relationship to nature. Marx's Ecology covers many other thinkers, including Epicurus, Charles Darwin, Thomas Malthus, Ludwig Feuerbach, P. J. Proudhon, and William Paley. By reconstructing a materialist conception of nature and society, Marx's Ecology challenges the spiritualism prevalent in the modern Green movement, pointing toward a method that offers more lasting and sustainable solutions to the ecological crisis.

Ecology Against Capitalism

John Foster — 2008-05-10T20:42:49-00:00

(01 February 2002)

In recent years John Bellamy Foster has emerged as a leading theorist of the Marxist perspective on ecology. His seminal book Marx's Ecology (Monthly Review Press, 2000) discusses the place of ecological issues within the intellectual history of Marxism and on the philosophical foundations of a Marxist ecology, and has become a major point of reference in ecological debates. This historical and philosophical focus is now supplemented by more directly political engagement in his new book, <ti1>Ecology against Capitalism</ti1>. In a broad-ranging treatment of contemporary ecological politics, Foster deals with such issues as pollution, sustainable development, technological responses to environmental crisis, population growth, soil fertility, the preservation of ancient forests, and the "new economy" of the Internet age. Foster's introduction sets out the unifying themes of these essays enabling the reader to draw from them a consolidated approach to a rapidly-expanding field of debate which is of critical importance in our times. Within these debates on the politics of ecology, Foster's work develops an important and distinctive perspective. Where many of these debates assume a basic divergence of "red" and "green" issues, and are concerned with the exact terms of a trade-off between them, Foster argues that Marxism<mdash>properly understood<mdash>already provides the framework within which ecological questions are best approached. This perspective is advanced here in accessible and concrete form, taking account of the major positions in contemporary ecological debate.

Natural Causes: Essays in Ecological Marxism

James O'Connor — 2008-05-10T20:42:15-00:00

(19 December 1997)

<div>Economic growth since the Industrial Revolution has been achieved at great cost both to the natural environment and to the autonomy of communities. What can a Marxist perspective contribute to understanding this disturbing legacy, and mitigating its impact on future generations? Renowned social theorist James O'Connor shows how the policies and imperatives of business and government influence--and are influenced by--environmental and social change. Probing the relationship between economy, nature, and society, O'Connor argues that environmental and social crises pose a growing threat to capitalism itself. These illuminating essays and case studies demonstrate the power of ecological Marxist analysis for understanding our diverse environmental and social history, for grounding economic behavior in the real world, and for formulating and evaluating new political strategies. </div>

Marxism and Ecological Economics: Toward a Red and Green Political Economy (Historical Materialism Book) (Historical Materialism Book)

Paul Burkett — 2008-05-10T20:41:03-00:00

(15 March 2006)

This book undertakes the first general assessment of ecological economics from a Marxist point of view, and shows how Marxist political economy can make a substantial contribution to ecological economics. The analysis is developed in terms of four basic issues: (1) nature and economic value; (2) the treatment of nature as capital; (3) the significance of the entropy law for economic systems; (4) the concept of sustainable development. In each case, it is shown that Marxism can help ecological economics fulfill its commitments to multi-disciplinarity, methodological pluralism, and historical openness. In this way, a foundation is constructed for a substantive dialogue between Marxists and ecological economists.

Economic Growth, Human Welfare and Environmental Sustainability

Paul Elkins — 2008-05-03T15:06:37-00:00

(29 December 1999)

Paul Ekins breaks new ground in defining the conditions of compatibility between economic growth and environmental sustainability, an provides measures and criteria by which the environmental sustainability of economic growth, as it occurs in the real world, may be judged. It is argued that "green growth" is not only theoretically possible but economically achievable and the author shows what environmental and economic policies are required to achieve this.

The Environmental Consequences of Growth: Steady-State Economics as an Alternative to Ecological Decline (New Directions in Social Economics)

Douglas Booth — 2008-05-03T15:05:32-00:00

(27 January 1998)

This book presents a new perspective on the link between economic growth and environmental change. All the key issues in environmental economics are covered, including: industry, creation and environmental change; air, water and toxic pollution; economic growth and the limits of environmental regulation; and the ethics and the limits of environmental economics. The central thesis is that while new industries are necessary for economic growth, their development creates new environmental problems which become difficult to reverse. An alternative approach, "steady-state economics", based on the concept of ethical commitment, is put forward as a possible alternative to a high-growth, environmentally destructive economy. Providing a welcome alternative to conventional, neoclassical microeconomic thought on environmental issues, this will be vital reading for students of environmental economics and related subjects.