Realist utopias? Green alternatives to capitalism
While environmental economists have argued that environmental problems can be measured and added to production costs to neatly ‘internalise’ otherwise hidden externalities, green economists are sceptical. Even Jonathon Porritt (2005) in a recent book which seems superficially to defend capitalism notes that our existing economic system is unsustainable and we need a rather different form of capitalism. Markets seem to have a built-in growth imperative; while markets evolve and the system becomes more ornate with finance capital including shares and hedge funds, a basic principle remains. In a market, access to goods and service is via money. To get money one has to sell a commodity; for most of us this is our labour. There is a tendency to monetise ever more areas of life: a rainforest can be sold to farmers to grow soya or made to make money through various forms of intensive cultivation. The principle of producing and consuming more and more for ever and ever seems economically vital yet ecologically suspect. One approach to dealing with this dilemma has been to invoke natural capitalism, looking at ways of producing more while using fewer resources. This approach may be aided by an economy which trades increasingly in knowledge. However the principle of an economy that can only survive with constant accumulation tends to build in an anti-ecological trend. If we can cut down a forest, sell the timber and then use the land cleared as a parking lot, this creates economic growth; if we leave it to the birds this does not facilitate accumulation. The growth imperative of capitalism has led to the search for alternative forms of economic regulation. Anti-capitalism from Marx and before has a lengthy history. To some state intervention seems a way of achieving an alternative economic system. I was intrigued to read in Andrew Simm’s interesting Ecological Debt (2005) book that while capitalism was unsustainable and needed to be transcended, the fact that the UK economy Environmental Politics, Vol. 16, No. 3, 518 – 522, June 2007
Aquaponics for the Anthropocene: Towards a ‘Sustainability First’ Agenda
‘The Anthropocene’ has emerged as a unique moment in earth history where humanity recognises its devastating capacity to destabilise the planetary processes upon which it depends. Modern agriculture plays a central role in this problematic. Food production innovations are needed that exceed traditional paradigms of the Green Revolution whilst at the same time are able to acknowledge the complexity arising from the sustainability and food security issues that mark our times. Aquaponics is one technological innovation that promises to contribute much towards these imperatives. But this emergent field is in an early stage that is characterised by limited resources, market uncertainty, institutional resistance and high risks of failure—a developmental environment where hype prevails over demonstrated outcomes. Given this situation, the aquaponics research community potentially holds an important place in the development path of this technology. But the field needs to craft a coherent and viable vision for this technology that can move beyond misplaced techno-optimist accounts. Turning to sustainability science and STS research, we discuss the urgent need to develop what we call a ‘critical sustainability knowledge’ for aquaponics, giving pointers for possible ways forward, which include (1) expanding aquaponic research into an interdisciplinary research domain, (2) opening research up to participatory approaches in real-world contexts and (3) pursuing a solution-oriented approach for sustainability and food security outcomes.
Agriculture and Intellectual Property Rights: Economic, Institutional and Implementation Issues in Biotechnology
1: Introduction, V Santaniello et al. 2: Patent and Other Private Legal Rights for Biotechnology Inventions (Intellectual Property Rights - IPR), D D Evenson, P.L.L.C., Washington, USA 3: Intellectual Property Rights of Plant Varieties and of Biotechnology in the European Union, V Santaniello 4: Intellectual Property Rights under the Convention on Biological Diversity, W Lesser, Cornell University, USA 5: An Economic Approach to Identifying An `Effective Sui Generis System' for Plant Variety Protection Under TRIPS, W Lesser 6: Recent Intellectual Property Rights Controversies and Issues at the CGIAR, S H Bragdon, IPGRI, Rome, Italy 7: Economics of Intellectual Property Rights for Agricultural Technology, R E Evenson 8: The Market Value of Farmers' Rights, R Mendelsohn, Yale University, USA 9: International Crop Breeding in a World of Proprietary Technology, B D Wright, University of California, USA 10: Knowledge Management and the Economics of Agricultural Biotechnology, D Zilberman and C Yarkin, University of California, USA and A Heiman, Hebrew University, Israel 11: Comparing Allocation of Resources in Public and Private Research, S Lemarie, Universite Pierre-Mendes, Grenoble, France 12: Biotechnology Inventions: What Can We Learn From Patents?, D K N Johnson, Wellesley College, Massachusetts, USA and V Santaniello 13: Biotechnology Inventions: Patent Data Evidence, A Zohrabyan, Yale University, USA and R E Evenson 14: Property Rights and Regulations for Transgenic Crops in North America, G Carlson and M Marra, North Carolina State University, USA 15: Intellectual Property Rights, Canola and Public Research in Canada, P W B Phillips, University of Saskatchewan, Canada