2. Looming Tragedy: Limits, Boundaries, Survival

Author(s):  
John S. Dryzek

This chapter focuses on the environmental discourse of limits and survival and how it set the apocalyptic horizon of environmentalism. Population biologists and ecologists use the concept of ‘carrying capacity’ — the maximum population of a species that an ecosystem can support in perpetuity. When the population of a species grows to the point where carrying capacity is exceeded, the ecosystem is degraded and the population crashes, recovering only if and when natural processes restore the ecosystem to its previous capacity. One complicating factor when it comes to applying population biology to human societies is the possibility of economic growth. The chapter first considers the origins of survivalism before discussing the political philosophy of survival, discourse analysis of limits and survival, and limits and survival in practice. It also examines the challenges confronting the limits discourse, including the lack of international action on climate change.

Author(s):  
Thomas Anderl

The broader public demand reproducibility of scientific results particularly related to hot societal topics. The present work applies the 80:20-rule to climate change, concentrating on the essentials from the readily observable and identifying the inherent relationships in their potential simplicity. Observations on 400 Mio. years of paleoclimate are found to well constrain the compound universal climate role of CO 2. Combined with observations on the industrial-era atmospheric CO 2 and ocean heat evolvement, climate risk assessment and projections on the economic boundaries are performed. Independently in conjunction with energy budget studies, simple models are presented for the fundamental natural processes related to: (i) water vapor and CO 2 effect on temperature; (ii) transient and equilibrium climate; (iii) heating from the V/R-T (vibrational/rotational to translational) energy transfer; (iv) Earth emissivity changing with surface temperature; (v) water vapor for Earths energy balance maintenance; (vi) rainfall pattern altering with temperature; (vii) natures reaction on the anthropogenic energy consumption. In conclusion, realistic estimates point at precluding positive economic growth for the foreseeable future if temperatures are to be given a reasonable chance to become sustainably contained within sensible limits.


2021 ◽  
pp. 27-52
Author(s):  
John S. Dryzek

Ecologists have applied the concept of “carrying capacity”, the population of a species that an ecosystem can support, to human populations. Ecological limits to growth in population and the economy dominated environmental concern in the 1970s and beyond. More recently they have been supplanted by the idea of planetary boundaries, based on the stresses that the earth system is capable of absorbing, several of which (including biosphere integrity and climate change) have already been transgressed, suggesting the system is in grave peril. This chapter also considers the points of critics of the idea that there can be limits, then analyzes the political implications of limits and boundaries, from the authoritarianism associated with some 1970s thinkers to the need for cooperative global action to the more democratic possibilities that could be associated with degrowth and planetary boundaries.


Author(s):  
Megan Blomfield

This chapter introduces climate change as a problem of natural resource justice by outlining some real-world examples of resource conflicts that are being generated, or exacerbated, by climate change. It then provides some necessary background for the discussion to follow. The science and predicted impacts of climate change are explained, along with the options for responding to this problem, such as mitigation and adaptation. The chapter then briefly introduces the debate about global justice and climate change, as it has appeared in the political philosophy literature, looking at the human rights approach, the distributive justice approach, and the key methodological distinctions between integrationism and isolationism and ideal versus nonideal theory. After providing further characterization of, and motivation for, the natural resources approach to climate justice that is taken in the work, it concludes with an outline of the chapters to follow.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Yeabsley ◽  
Chris Nixon

A hundred days out from the election a number of issues are buzzing: housing, immigration, water, climate change, electricity bills, and the perennials, economic growth, incomes and taxes and law and order. Based on previous contests, some of these will become the raw material of the political debates while others will fade to the background.


PMLA ◽  
1962 ◽  
Vol 77 (5) ◽  
pp. 645-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Wasson

Herbert read's prose fantasy, The Green Child, is one of those strange works defiant of classification. Though judged favorably by the few critics and scholars who give it serious study, it is so vaguely and variously interpreted that it would seem to lack both the form and the content which justify such praise. The problem of interpretation and analysis is complicated by the structure of the work. Its division into three arbitrarily related sections allows critics to pick their favorite section, claim for it central importance and base their analyses on that part. An understanding and appreciation of the work is further complicated because Read has been for thirty-five years a leading spokesman for romanticism, anarchism, and humanism—doctrines which seem to counter those expressed in The Green Child. The style of the book, for example, is commonly regarded as classical. The political philosophy reflects a conservative anti-utopian attitude, and humanist ideals are set aside by natural processes ultimately destructive of man's conscious efforts. An understanding of Read's philosophy in the historical situation in which it arose, a knowledge of his theory of fantasy, comprehension of his irony, and an awareness of the structure of the work help to explain the curious nature of The Green Child.


Author(s):  
D. V. Alekseev ◽  
P. S. Kopylova

This research considered the content of the “Political science library” social media community for the 2019 year. Authors identified domination topics at the discourse of a network community, tried to share the most popular posts and books. We classified it using hashtags at social media groups. Authors used the elements of discourse analysis (the methodology for analyzing M. Skriven’s arguments). As a result of the analysis, we found that most of the books related to political history, political philosophy and political regimes and democracy. We can conclude that such content is useful and interesting for people if accounted for the number of community subscribers and a large number of posts with books on the history and philosophy of politics. At the same time, books which related to the most applied fields of political science appeared less often. The study proved that communities such as the “Political science library” are not only agents of political science knowledge, but also contribute to the development of networked communities of researchers and anyone interested in political science.


Author(s):  
Daniel A. Dombrowski

In this work two key theses are defended: political liberalism is a processual (rather than a static) view and process thinkers should be political liberals. Three major figures are considered (Rawls, Whitehead, Hartshorne) in the effort to show the superiority of political liberalism to its illiberal alternatives on the political right and left. Further, a politically liberal stance regarding nonhuman animals and the environment is articulated. It is typical for debates in political philosophy to be adrift regarding the concept of method, but from start to finish this book relies on the processual method of reflective equilibrium or dialectic at its best. This is the first extended effort to argue for both political liberalism as a process-oriented view and process philosophy/theology as a politically liberal view. It is also a timely defense of political liberalism against illiberal tendencies on both the right and the left.


Author(s):  
Nguyen Thi Thuc An ◽  
Dau Kieu Ngoc Anh

The 2018 Nobel Economics Prize was awarded to two American economists - William D. Nordhaus and Paul M. Romer - who designed methods for better assessing environmental issues and technological advances on growth. This year’s Laureates, Nordhaus was the first person to create an intergrated model to assess interactions between society and nature and Romer laid the foundation for what is now called endogenous growth theory. According to the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, these two macroeconomists’ research have helped “significantly broaden the scope of economic analysis by constructing models that explain how the market economy interacts with nature and knowledge” which integrates climate change measures into long-term sustainable economic growth. Keywords Nobel in economics, William D. Nordhaus, Paul M. Romer, climate change, endogenous growth theory, economic growth References [1] Y Vân (2018), “Lý lịch 'khủng' của hai nhà khoa học vừa giành giải Nobel Kinh tế 2018”, Vietnambiz, đăng tải ngày 08/10/2018, https://vietnambiz.vn/ly-lich-khung-cua-hai-nha-khoa-hoc-vua-gianh-giai-nobel-kinh-te-2018-95776.html[2] Jonas O. Bergman, Rich Miller (2018), “Nordhaus, Romer Win Nobel for Thinking on Climate, Innovation”, đăng tải ngày 8/10/2018, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-08/nordhaus-romer-win-2018-nobel-prize-in-economic-sciences [3] Antonin Pottier (2018), “Giải Nobel” William Nordhaus có thật sự nghiêm túc?”, Nguyễn Đôn Phước dịch, đăng tải ngày 11/10/2018, http://www.phantichkinhte123.com/2018/10/giai-nobel-william-nordhaus-co-that-su.html[4] Thăng Điệp (2018), “Giải Nobel kinh tế 2018 về tay hai người Mỹ”, đăng tải ngày 8/10/2018, http://vneconomy.vn/giai-nobel-kinh-te-2018-ve-tay-hai-nguoi-my-20181008185809239.htm[5] Lars P. Syll (2018), “Cuối cùng - Paul Romer cũng có được giải thưởng Nobel”, Huỳnh Thiện Quốc Việt dịch, đăng tải ngày 14/10/2018, http://www.phantichkinhte123.com/2018/10/cuoi-cung-paul-romer-cung-co-uoc-giai.html[6] Phương Võ (2018), “Nobel Kinh tế 2018: Chạm tới bài toán khó của thời đại”, đăng tải ngày 9/10/2018, https://nld.com.vn/thoi-su-quoc-te/nobel-kinh-te-2018-cham-toi-bai-toan-kho-cua-thoi-dai-20181008221734228.htm[7] Đông Phong (2018), “Nobel Kinh tế cho giải pháp phát triển bền vững và phúc lợi người dân”, đăng tải ngày 8/10/2018, https://news.zing.vn/nobel-kinh-te-cho-giai-phap-phat-trien-ben-vung-va-phuc-loi-nguoi-dan-post882860.html[8] Thanh Trúc (2018), “Giải Nobel kinh tế 2018: Thay đổi tư duy về biến đổi khí hậu”, https://tusach.thuvienkhoahoc.com/wiki/Gi%E1%BA%A3i_Nobel_kinh_t%E1%BA%BF_2018:_Thay_%C4%91%E1%BB%95i_t%C6%B0_duy_v%E1%BB%81_bi%E1%BA%BFn_%C4%91%E1%BB%95i_kh%C3%AD_h%E1%BA%ADu[9] Cẩm Anh (2018), “Nobel kinh tế 2018: Lời giải cho tăng trưởng kinh tế bền vững”, đăng tải ngày 11/10/2018, http://enternews.vn/nobel-kinh-te-2018-loi-giai-cho-tang-truong-kinh-te-ben-vung-137600.html.


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