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Earth in our hands ENVS 1000. ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS. The Myth of Perfect Understanding. Or how to read a text Deductive and inductive reasoning Skepticism – not taking something as “given” – independence of mind –. QUESTION the authority of the Writer Lecturer Media. WHAT IS AN ISSUE?.
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Earth in our handsENVS 1000 ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS
The Myth of Perfect Understanding Or how to read a text Deductive and inductive reasoning Skepticism – not taking something as “given” – independence of mind –
QUESTION the authority of the Writer Lecturer Media
WHAT IS AN ISSUE? The way in which the world is imagined determines at any particular moment what men will do.” Walter Lippman, Public Opinion 1921
Ecological Economics • What is ECONOMICS? • What is ECOLOGY? • ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS: environment within economics • ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS: economics within environment
KEYWORDS Development Economy Ecology Environment
Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society by Raymond Williams (Oxford Univ. Press)
THE POLITICS OF MONEY by Hazel Henderson The word is out that economics, never a science, has always been politics in disguise. I have explored how the economics profession grew to dominate public policy and trump so many other academic disciplines and values in our daily lives. Economics and economists view reality through the lens of money. Everything has its price, they believe, from rain forests to human labor to the air we breathe. Economic textbooks, Gross National Product (GNP) and the statistics on employment, productivity, investment, and globalization – all follow the money. Happily, all this focus on money is leading to the widespread awareness of ways money is designed, created and manipulated. This politics of money is at last unraveling centuries of mystification. http://www.hazelhenderson.com/editorials/politics_of_money.html
Economics as Religionby Robert H. Nelson To the extent that any system of economic ideas offers an alternative vision of the “ultimate values,” or “ultimate reality,” that actually shapes the workings of history, economics is offering yet another grand prophesy in the biblical tradition.
Another basic role of economists is to serve as the priesthood of a modern secular religion of economic progress that serves many of the same functions in contemporary society as earlier Christian and other religions did in their time. Robert H. Nelson, Economics as Religion
Power of words From Intro p.774: “Even today, cultural critics such as David Korten urge that human economies should “mimic the behaviour of healthy living organismsand ecosystems.” “Conventional market economists generally view the environment…” “…the revocation of market subsidies that distort true costs…”
Ecological economics Oikos – household Logos – discourse, systematic study Nomia – management Nomos - law
Some Assumptions • Assume time is constant; economic system is static with no change over time • The invisible hand: Markets left to themselves teeter between supply and demand and will always balance out to an equilibrium point. • Leave the market alone and everyone’s welfare will eventually be maximized. • Assume each individual is driven only by self-interest. • Assume that there is full employment.
More Assumptions • Assume that individual satisfaction is measurable. • Assume perfect circulation of goods and service from firms to households and back again. • Assume there is only one commodity. • Assume there is only one individual (multiple by X to describe society) • Assume that future markets exist for all goods and services produced now.
A diverse economy: rethinking economy and economic representation J.K.Gibson-Graham The economic iceberg (drawing by Ken Byrne)
World Water Forum Is Water a Human Right or a Human Need? http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/23/water_rights_activists_blast_istanbul_world
THE ASSIGNMENTrevisited ESSAY Or Art Project http://www.web.ca/~story/ENVS1000/