Sustainable Futures—An Agenda for Action

IF 7.2 1区 经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS
C. Schulz
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

At first glance—and despite the uncontested reputation of its author—the title of this book sounded overambitious if not presumptuous to me. At second glance, which is after a careful and fascinating read of the book, it sounds more ambivalent though. The title is simultaneously understated and overstated. It is understated, since the book provides far more than an agenda for action because only the three last out of nine chapters deal with aims and actions. It builds on a very substantial historic and cross-sectoral analysis of political–economic trajectories that led to the current cumulation of crises. At the same time, it might be perceived as overstated, because the subtitle may raise expectations going beyond what the author suggests in terms of concrete actions and strategies (see further below). The first six chapters not only provide a thoroughly substantiated basis for the author’s argument toward paradigmatic change, this section is also an unedited and compelling synthesis, bringing together interdisciplinary scientific views on nature, societies, and the prevalent economic system. Targeting a wider audience, the author succeeds in combining a readable language with a dense and differentiated account. These introductory chapters present an intriguing and sharp analysis of the driving forces of the mass production system, resulting in rapidly growing inequalities, a ruling plutocracy of powerful corporate actors and lobby groups, and an acceleration of resource depletion, biodiversity loss, climate change, and other negative environmental impacts. Amongst others, he reveals the consequences of planned obsolescence of consumer goods, and challenges the dematerialization hypothesis that he deconstructs as—at best—a mere relative decoupling of resource use and economic growth. Considering mass production as a phasing out paradigm according to Freeman and Perez’s Techno-Economic Paradigm (TEC) nomenclature, he identifies information and communication technologies (ICT) as the prevalent agent of economic change. Only its transformative potential for a more sustainable transition seems undervalued. Whether one adheres or not to the concept of TEC and the idea of an ICT paradigm succeeding industrial mass production, it comes most timely to critically discuss a possible reconciliation of electronic technologies and sustainability imperatives. Undoubtedly, ICT bear a high potential of facilitating more resource efficient ways of production and consumption. However, and although the author repeatedly declines the notion of sole technological fix–oriented approaches, his understanding of ICT reads overly optimistic at times or tends to be superficial at least. This is the case, for example, when praising Uber and similar services as sustainable sharing solutions or when emphasizing robot-based precision farming as the most promising way to make agriculture more environmentally friendly (i.e., through a more efficient use of fertilizers and pesticides). Admittedly, the transformative practices chosen to illustrate chapter 7 BO O K R EV EW
可持续的未来——行动纲领
乍一看,尽管作者的声誉毋庸置疑,但这本书的标题对我来说,如果不是冒昧的话,听起来过于雄心勃勃。然而,在仔细而迷人地阅读了这本书之后,再看一眼,它听起来更矛盾。这个标题同时被低估和夸大了。这是轻描淡写的,因为这本书提供的远不止行动议程,因为九章中只有最后三章涉及目标和行动。它建立在对导致当前危机累积的政治-经济轨迹进行大量历史和跨部门分析的基础上。同时,它可能被认为是夸大其词,因为副标题可能会在具体行动和战略方面超出作者的建议(见下文)。前六章不仅为作者关于范式变革的论点提供了一个充分的证据基础,本节也是一篇未经编辑且引人注目的综合文章,汇集了关于自然、社会和普遍经济体系的跨学科科学观点。针对更广泛的受众,作者成功地将可读的语言与密集而有区别的叙述相结合。这些介绍性章节对大规模生产系统的驱动力进行了有趣而尖锐的分析,这些驱动力导致了快速增长的不平等、强大的企业行为者和游说团体的统治财阀,以及资源枯竭、生物多样性丧失、气候变化和其他负面环境影响的加速。除其他外,他揭示了消费品计划过时的后果,并挑战了非物质化假说,他将其解构为——充其量——资源使用和经济增长的相对脱钩。根据弗里曼和佩雷斯的技术经济范式(TEC)命名法,他认为大规模生产是一种逐步淘汰的范式,他认为信息和通信技术是经济变革的主要推动者。只有其更可持续转型的变革潜力似乎被低估了。无论人们是否坚持TEC的概念和继工业大规模生产之后的ICT范式的想法,批判性地讨论电子技术与可持续性需求之间的可能协调都是最及时的。毫无疑问,信息和通信技术在促进资源效率更高的生产和消费方式方面具有很大潜力。然而,尽管作者一再拒绝以技术修复为导向的唯一方法的概念,但他对信息和通信技术的理解有时过于乐观,或者至少是肤浅的。例如,当称赞优步和类似服务是可持续的共享解决方案时,或者当强调基于机器人的精准农业是使农业更环保的最有前途的方式时(即,通过更有效地使用化肥和农药),情况就是这样。诚然,选择变革实践来说明第7章BO O K R EV EW
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来源期刊
Economic Geography
Economic Geography Multiple-
CiteScore
9.70
自引率
2.90%
发文量
0
期刊介绍: Economic Geography is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing original research that advances the field of economic geography. Their goal is to publish high-quality studies that are both theoretically robust and grounded in empirical evidence, contributing to our understanding of the geographic factors and consequences of economic processes. It welcome submissions on a wide range of topics that provide primary evidence for significant theoretical interventions, offering key insights into important economic, social, development, and environmental issues. To ensure the highest quality publications, all submissions undergo a rigorous peer-review process with at least three external referees and an editor. Economic Geography has been owned by Clark University since 1925 and plays a central role in supporting the global activities of the field, providing publications and other forms of scholarly support. The journal is published five times a year in January, March, June, August, and November.
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