Green chemistry transformation: Resolving apparent incompatibilities in ecohumanism and ecomodernism in an innovation systems dynamics perspective

Abstract

At the beginning of the 21st century a new dedication towards sustainability is obligatory and asks for a fundamental reorganization or complete replacement of established innovation systems. Such a process is steered by technology philosophy. The article explores and resolves the seeming differences between ecohumanism and ecomodernism by applying a dynamic perspective of emerging innovation systems. In the very early phases, where the general dedication, search heuristics and relevant knowledge space is determined, ecohumanism should shape the sustainability dedication by establishing general rules respecting the fundamental importance for subsequent innovation. Ecomodernism then helps in both the following explorative phases to effectively guide progress, as well as in the more and more exploitative phases to efficiently guide progress within these general rules. This dynamic combination of ecohumanistic and ecomodernistic thinking demonstrates how a mandatory sustainability focus can be implemented without falling back to a naive techno-optimistic view. The article highlights the relevance of our approach for green chemistry. The principles of green chemistry provide ecohumanist guideposts for technologies currently in the stage of ecomodernist intensification.