“Occupying” Our Social Imagination: The Necessity of Utopian Discourses in an Anti-Utopian Age

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 152-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graeme Webb
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political System ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Social Imagination ◽  
Social Imaginaries ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Willful Blindness ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Mainstream Society ◽  
Occupy Movements

AbstractWe are in the depths of multiple catastrophes that Western society is seemingly unwilling and unable to address: growing inequalities between the rich and the poor, a willful blindness to climate change, and a political system mired in uncompromising and ever increasing extremism. However, there are no reality transcending dialogues, no new social imaginaries to drive change—our own dystopic reality has no utopian response. The greatest importance that the Occupy movements may play in spurring social change and revolution is their success at bringing radical discourses into mainstream society. Occupy not only occupied fixed public locations, but also occupied our social imagination.

Are There Limits to Limits?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Dobson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Global South ◽  
Peak Oil ◽  
Limits To Growth ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Ecological Problems ◽  
The Rich

The idea that there might be “limits to growth” is a key and contested feature of environmental politics. This chapter outlines the limits to growth thesis, describes and assesses critical reactions to it, and comments upon its relevance today. It argues that, after an initial highpoint in the early 1970s, the thesis declined in importance during the 1980s and 1990s under criticism from “ecological modernizers” and from environmental justice advocates in the global South who saw it as way of diverting blame for ecological problems from the rich and powerful to the poor and dispossessed. “Peak oil” and climate change have, though, given renewed impetus to the idea, and this has given rise to new discourses and practices around “sustainable prosperity” and “degrowth.”

scholarly journals Climate Change and Economic Development: A Pragmatic Approach (Invited Lecture)

2007 ◽  
Vol 46 (4I) ◽  
pp. 337-350
Author(s):  
John Gowdy ◽  
Aneel Salman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Development Economics ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Theoretical System ◽  
The Rich

Two major problems promise to dominate economic and social policy during the twentyfirst century. These are global climate change and the growing gap between the rich and the poor. Economists are facing these issues at a time when many of the standard tools of economic analysis—for example, competitive general equilibrium and the theoretical system that supports it—have fallen into disfavour in analysing global issues involving uncertainty and irreversibility. This is both a challenge and an opportunity for development economics. This paper first examines economic models of human development and climate change, drawing, where possible, on the situation in Pakistan. We then outline an approach to coping with climate change based on new perspectives in behavioural and development economics, and on the likely consequences of global warming for Pakistan. We focus on adaptation to climate change rather than on mitigation strategies.

scholarly journals The international political economy of nature and society: from climate emergency to climate justice in our common home

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 172
Author(s):  
Rey Ty
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Reasonable Doubt ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Security Models ◽  
The Rich ◽  
People First

Longitudinal scientific evidence proves beyond any reasonable doubt that the problem of climate change is reaching a point of no return, upon which Earthly and human survival depends. The major contributors of climate change include industry, transportation, agriculture, and consumers, over which corporate globalization controls, which consume fossil fuels, such as oil, coal, and gas that produce greenhouse gases. Climate change impacts access to clean water, human health, forests, coastal areas, biodiversity, and agriculture. Our tasks ahead include: 1) exposing and opposing flawed economic, political, social, cultural, and security models that destroy nature, cause mal-development, and widening the gap between the rich and the poor and 2) proposing new cooperative models that put sustainability and equality—nature and people—first, especially the poor and the oppressed, before profits.

Editor's Note

2004 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. i-iii
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Ethnic Origin ◽  
Fair Use ◽  
Good Education ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich

In this election year, 2004, people are grappling with the various forces that make up these United States. What forces encourage inclusion and which exclusion? Who is to be included and who excluded? Is this to be a country with wide discrepancies between the rich and the poor? Is this to be a country where public education is poorly funded and a good education depends upon private resources? Are we going to forget that discrimination on the basis of gender, race, ethnic origin, and economic status still exists and needs to be perpetually, vigilantly addressed? There is a deep division in the country over the proper and fair use of our resources that constitutes concern in all our citizens

Imereti Region's Natural - Recreational and Historical - Cultural Potential as Tourism Development Factor in Georgia

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Mikautadze Rusudan
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Location ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Western Society ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Development Factor ◽  
Fast Pace ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Tourism Potential ◽  
Work Done

Imereti – is one of the smallest region on the Black Sea coast in Georgia. The geographical location, historical-cultural and natural monuments, the rich Imeretian hospitality traditions are a good prerequisite for the development of recreation and tourism. Imereti region is a growing tourist segment. For more than 900 historical and more than 350 natural monuments continuously presents the rich history of the country from the primitive societies until nowadays. Myths and legends related to Imereti ( Colchis kingdom, myth about Amirani (Prometheus), Golden Fleece, King Aetees and Medea and etc.) are well-known for the Western society. The work done for the popularization of these tourist products has greatly contributed to the growth of both organized and unorganized tourism. (80,000 men in 2007, in 2017 - more than 450,000). Today, tourism in Georgia is developing at a fast pace. Natural and historic monuments are the "Golden Keys" of the tourism potential of the region. We believe that tourism is a stimulus for the development of the local economy, and it should facilitate for staying of youth in the small towns by creating different jobs in order not to leave their country and therefore alienate from their national identities and culture.Key words: natural monuments; historical-cultural heritage; national identity; recreational resources.

A Final Muse

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wendell Moller
Keyword(s):  
Human Beings ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich

Why are kings without pity for their subjects? Because they count on never being common human beings. Why are the rich so hard toward the poor? It is because they have no fear of being poor. . . .—Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Émile; or, On Education1In Shakespeare’s ...

“One law for the rich and one law for the poor.”

1890 ◽  
Vol s7-IX (224) ◽  
pp. 288-288
Author(s):  
H. Fishwick
Keyword(s):  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich

THE FINANCIAL RETURN OF CEREAL FARMING FOR SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA

2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
LALISA ALEMAYEHU DUGUMA ◽  
IKA DARNHOFER ◽  
HERBERT HAGER
Keyword(s):  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Labour Productivity ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Financial Return ◽  
Net Return ◽  
Net Returns ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Central Highlands ◽  
The Rich

SUMMARYA study was conducted in Suba area, central highlands of Ethiopia, to assess the net return, land and labour productivity, and the return to scale of cereal farming practice. Seventy-five farmers belonging to three local wealth classes (poor, medium and rich) were randomly selected and interviewed about inputs and outputs related to cereal farming for the production year 2007/2008. Farm soil properties were investigated to check the variability in soil quality among the wealth classes. Benefit:cost ratio (BCR), net returns and annual profit were used to indicate the worthiness of the cereal farming activity. The return to scale was estimated by using the Cobb–Douglas production function. The results show that cereal farming is a rewarding practice, with the rich households gaining more profit than the poor. Farm size was the most important variable that affects the net return. There is an increasing return to scale. However, it is unlikely that farmers will have more land than they own at present because of the land shortage problem in the country caused by the increasing human population. Thus, attention should be given to minimizing the costs of production through proper regulation of domestic fertilizer costs and increasing labour productivity especially for the poor and medium households. The use of manure and compost as an additional fertilizer should also be promoted.

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