Ecology and the Politics of Scarcity
* Book: Ecology and the politics of scarcity. William Ophuls.
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Description
From the Wikipedia:
"In the preface of his 1977 book Ecology and the Politics of Scarcity, Ophuls declared the intention of his work:
- This work is designed to show that American political values and institutions are grossly maladapted to the era of ecological scarcity that has already begun. It is thus almost entirely a critique. Of course, certain general political principles that will probably have to form the basis of our community life in this new era appear to emerge naturally from the critique, and the concluding chapter discusses these. Nevertheless, I make no systematic effort too provide institutional answers or to deal with the problem of implementing a radically different set of political values.[14]: xi
Furthermore Ophuls argued, that
... virtually all the philosophies, values, and institutions typical of modern society are the luxuriant fruit of an era of apparently endless abundance. The return of scarcity in any guise therefore represents a serious challenge to the modern way of life. [14]: 9
Ophuls is skeptical about the ability to anticipate a sustainable society, or steady state society.
He claimed:
- Our ability to achieve the requisite level of effectiveness in planning is especially doubtful. Already the complex systems that sustain industrial civilization are seen by some as perpetually hovering on the brink of breakdown; the computer and other panaceas for coping with complexity appear to have been vastly oversold; and current management styles - linear, hierarchical, economic - appear to be grossly ill adapted to the nature of the problem.... there are no technical solutions to the dilemmas of environmental management, and policy decisions about environmental problems must be made politically by prudent men, not by scientific administrators. This being the case, technology assessment, the remedy proposed for the general political problem of technological side effects, can never be the purely technical exercise many of its proponents seem to envision; instead, the planning process will come to resemble a power struggle between partisans of differing economic, social, and political values. [14]: 120
Ophuls concludes that premature specificity of the steady-state society and its required institutions can be counterproductive:
... In short, excessive or premature specificity about the institutions of the steady-state society is either not very useful or a positive hindrance; again, metanoia is the key, for it will almost automatically engender concrete, practical arrangements that are congruent with it. Nevertheless, a general outline of a solution to the problems of ecological scarcity is implicit in the concept of the steady state. Let us therefore review the essential characteristics of a steady-state society."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ophuls)
More information
* Book: Plato's Revenge: Politics in the Age of Ecology, 2011
"In his 2011 book Plato's Revenge: Politics in the Age of Ecology, Ophuls starts with the premise that "sustainability is impossible". He argues that "we are on an industrial Titanic, fueled by rapidly depleting stocks of fossil hydrocarbons.... we are headed for a postindustrial future that, however technologically sophisticated, will resemble the pre-industrial past in many important respects."
In the end, the work is a plea for "an essentially Platonic politics of consciousness dedicated to inner cultivation rather than outward expansion and the pursuit of perpetual growth. We would then achieve a way of life that is materially and institutionally simple but culturally and spiritually rich, one in which humanity flourishes in harmony with nature."