The Physics Laws and Unsustainability of Economic Liberalism

1. “Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

2. The Physics laws andthe unsustainability of the economic liberalism Beniamino Ginatempo Dept.  Ing.  Civ.  Edi.  Amb.  Mat.  App., University  of  Messina  (Italy)   e-mail: Beniamino.Ginatempo@unime.it

3. The Physics laws andthe unsustainability of the economic liberalism • Synopsis: • Nature laws and the sustainability • The physical reasons of the economical crisis • The alternative: equity and solidarity

4. Sustainability = coherence with Nature laws On the Earth (and within the Universe) only physical phenomena can occur. They are permitted and ruled by the Physics or Nature laws Physics laws cannot be transgressed, opposite to human or free market laws Therefore mankind should organize itself following development models that take them into account and are not conflicting with them Natural phenomena have a cyclic structure opposite tothe actual economic development model that has a linear structure, and this greatly affect its sustainability Nature laws and sustainability

5. Nothing is created, nothing is destroyed, everything is transformed This holds also for economical activities as production and consumption The relevant physical quantities for this seminar are Mass and Energy Mass conservation principle and 1st principle of Thermodynamics state that when ANY physical phenomena occurs mass and energy might change but their overall conservation is ensured ANY human activity is just a transformation, of mass in other mass (e.g. chemical reactions) and energy in other energy (e.g. from mechanical to electric energy, as in the alternator of bicycle) Mass conservation andThermodynamics principles

6. Exactly because nothing can be created nor destroyed, the efficiency of a transformation non può superare il 100%, but much often is <100% There will be then an unavoidable scrap in any transformation and this is the environment pollution In other words the initial available resources cannot be entirely used and the remnant is made unusable, downgraded or definitively wasted The inevitability of such a scrap is a profound consequence of the Second Principle of Thermodynamics To illustrate this let me use a metaphor: the entropic car park In their cryptic slang the physicists say: the Entropy increases after a transformation (up to a max in an isolated system) The usability of resources andthe Second Principle of Thermodynamics

7. Entropic car park 1 Let us transform a given available area (resource) in a car park IN OUT Unusable resources Efficiency of the transformation = 50%, say Minimum WASTE of RESOURCES

8. Entropic car park 2 IN OUT Unusable resources Wasted resources Efficiency of the trasformation < 50%, say WASTE of RESOURCES because of disorder (Increase of Entropy)

9. Entropic car park 3 IN OUT All the resources wasted Efficiency of trasformation = 0%, say Maximum WASTE of RESOURCES

10. Comments on the entropic car park To depredate common resources leads to a waste of them The initial area, the available resource, cannot be created nor destroyed, but rarelyit can be entirely used The remnant 50% it is not waste, because we could not do better, and it is simply space resource not usable to park Indeed we might have a lot more of room waste: the transformation efficiency is reduced if everybody would park chaotically On the contrary, if the individual behaviours were coordinated, then the common resources will be best used Notice also that the work of drawing the bays helps to bring orderinto the car park and without this work there would be wastes

11. Order, disorder and Work There is no other way to produce wealth and welfare than to transform Mass and Energy through Work and Knowledge Knowledge is essential to do it at the best and to do it minimizing the mass and energy scraps. The accumulation of the made unusable resources causes the physical system internal disorder growth (entropy growth) This downgrade process might continue up to a maximum: the system total decay, the thermal death, unavoidable if the system is isolated To escape this abhorred event, we can only take energy from the system outside and use it to order the inside. This energy transfer is the Work Work is the only tool for human salvation, work is the escape from the disaster, because any left alone system evolves towards the chaos (e.g. Pompei ruins)

12. Life, extinction and environment resources Life is the everyday fight to reduce our own entropy* (at the expenses of environment entropy) Extinctionof living speciesoccurs when they are not able any more to collect energy (and other resources) from the environment** (in order to reduce their own entropy*) It seems a good news: if we had an unlimited reservoir of energy and other resources we might keep ordered for ever, working a lot, all physical systems (including ourselves) It is bad news: such a reservoir does not exist, on the contrary Earth resources are narrow (for 7 billions people) * ** see for example Erwin Schrödinger, What is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell, Cambridge University Press (1944) Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or… London (1859), John Murray, ISBN 1-4353-9386-4.

13. First general conclusions Humans cannot avoid to pollute • Then it would be wise to pollute • As least as possible • As slowly as possible i.e. minimize scraps and wastes This is the thermodynamics wiseprescription: Let us try to slow down the entropy growth

14. The Physics laws andthe unsustainability of the economic liberalism • Synopsis: • Physics laws and the sustainability • The physical reasons of the economical crisis • The alternative: equity and solidarity

15. The cyclic structure of the natural phenomena The trick that Nature has inventedto respect conservation laws and to allow the life on the Earth is thematerials cycle The overwhelming majority of natural cycles consists in the composition of simple chemical elements (atoms) in organic matter and after in the decomposition of the organic matter in their components Nothing gets lost: everything is reused, and because of the circular structure there is no input nor output Energy exchange composition Organic matter Energy exchange decomposition Nature does not make wastes Simple Elements (Mass) Circular process

16. The Growth and the GDP Its stationary equilibrium is reached through the Growth The all cost growth makes the economic system structure linear The actual economic system is based on Gross Domestic Product (GDP, or PIL) the measure of the total wealth produced yearly by a community GDP is just a sum, it does not accounts for the wealth distribution. In order to avoid social conflicts, some growth crumbs is normally distributed to everybody, and this allows for consumptions increase The GDP growth can be pursued by production, consumptions and services Without growth all the system collapses: social conflicts, worker suicides, debt explosion, no resources to heal pollution, ecc.

17. The linear structure of the economic system Companies in order to produce a) need raw materials and energy, make wastes and run into debt Consumers in order to consume b) need energy, make wastes and run into debt States in order to support production and consumptions c) need energy, make wastes and run into debt Raw Materials (Mass) Wastes Linear process Finance Energy Debt INPUT OUTPUT Economic system Economic system

18. Some instabilities of the economic system This system works because the resources (energy and mass) input but has to face the wastes and debt problems In agreement with thermodynamics the wastes must grow at least as GDP W/cap=+18.1% GDP/cap=+14.6% M. Pagani “I rifiuti fanno da traino al PIL?”,(2007)

19. Environmental instability of the economic system To deal with wastes and debt resources and GDP go down: the crisis Wastes Wastes Raw Materials (Mass) Wastes Raw Materials (Mass) Raw Materials (Mass) Economic system Wastes Raw Materials (Mass) Economic system Economic system Economic system Debt Energy Debt Energy Energy Energy Debt Debt GDP Growth OUTPUT OUTPUT INPUT INPUT INPUT INPUT INPUT OUTPUT OUTPUT OUTPUT

20. Input instability of the economic system Resources fluxes slow down or their costs increase = - production, + prices up, - consumptions or + debt, + public debt = the crisis Raw Materials (Mass) Wastes Raw Materials (Mass) Economic system Wastes Economic system Energy Debt Energy Debt Wastes Raw Materials (Mass) INPUT OUTPUT INPUT OUTPUT Economic system Debt Energy INPUT OUTPUT

21. Administration instability of the economic system Tax evasion, corruption, waste of tax payers money, etc. = + public debt, - services, - production, -consumptions: the crisis Wastes Raw Materials (Mass) Wastes Raw Materials (Mass) Wastes Raw Materials (Mass) Economic system Economic system Economic system Debt Energy Debt Energy Debt Energy INPUT INPUT OUTPUT OUTPUT INPUT OUTPUT

22. High formation and research role Less research and formation = - production, + wastes, + debt: the crisis Wastes Raw Materials (Mass) Raw Materials (Mass) Raw Materials (Mass) Raw Materials (Mass) Wastes Wastes Wastes Economic system Economic system Economic system Economic system Energy Energy Energy Energy Debt Debt Debt Debt INPUT INPUT INPUT INPUT OUTPUT OUTPUT OUTPUT OUTPUT

23. The physical reasons of the crisis The linear structure of the economic system is not compatible with thermodynamics principles and natural phenomena The unlimited growth is forbidden by the Nature laws, because the natural resources are limited Scientific progress can mitigate then delay the disaster but not escape it (sustainable development) One has to conclude that the physical reasons of the crisis are related to the Earth entropy growth, caused by the resources scrap. (it would be interesting a compared study of poverty and pollution indicators)

24. The Physics laws andthe unsustainability of the economic liberalism • Synopsis: • Physics laws and the sustainability • The physical reasons of the economical crisis • The alternative: equity and solidarity

25. Consumistic vs. sober society It seems that we have to change from linear to cyclic the economic system Cfr. Vandana Shiva’s Subsistence and Nature Economies or Latin America Buen Vivir • We should • limit the attack to planet resources • recover most materials after consumption • change our lifestyle This economic system is based on the wild consumption of the unnecessary

26. The Zero Waste Strategy Paul Connett says that Zero Waste Strategy is the springboard to sustainability • ZW strategy is based mainly on two strongholds: • Maximum recover of mass • Responsibility and solidarity (with future Earth inhabitants) It is not enough Recycle as secondary raw materials Economic system Raw Materials (Mass) Wastes

27. Responsibility We waste a lot of stuff there is no reason to waste (Reuse and Recover) We are the throwaway society • If a product after its use is bound to go into a landfill or to be burned then • It should not be produced (responsible industrial design) • It should not be bought (responsible consumption) • Its use must by discouraged by taxes (responsible government) It is not enough Pollution (output) Reduction of planet resources (input)

28. Equity against wastes The economic system input and output are controlled by oligarchies, e.g. mine and oil companies, finance providers (and waste companies) This is a source of enormous power (Can we have democracy without an equitable access to natural resources or Common Assets?) Analogously to the entropic car park metaphor: the resources waste may be minimized by a coordinated many users behaviour, i.e. sober, equal and liable access to common resources

29. Recipes against crisis • Thermodynamics (not ideology) recipe against the crisis: • Circular structure of the economy • Sober, equal and liable access to common assets (Mass and Energy) • Free market recipe against the crisis: the Growth • Increase productivity; • Increase consumptions; • Cut public spending and reduce taxes • However • because of the linear structure of the economic system • because of the narrowness of the natural resources • The pollution and the attack to planet resources make this recipe unsustainable • (The growth is the disease, then it can hardly be the therapy)

30. Conclusions Earth cannot be governed by the economy It would be nice if politics and governors recovered the authority to decide what should grow and what should decrease (irrespective to GDP and in conflict of economic potentates, if necessary) It would not be that bad if the governors and citizens should know a little more Thermodynamics

31. “Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”