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can we be sustainable without being utopian?
Tom SchrandPhiladelphia University
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sustainabilitythinking
utopian thinking
sustainabilitythinking
utopian thinking
Do we have to create a utopia to achieve sustainability?
If so, is sustainability possible?
or
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“social dreaming”
“the desire for a better way of living”
Lyman Tower Sargent
Ruth Levitas
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Vital,Useful
Folly,Dangerous
“…practical reforms depend on utopian dreaming.”
-Russell Jacoby
A “plan … whereby harmony, justice and plenty are attained by human engineering is an invitation to despotism.”
-Leszek Kolakowski
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Economy
Equity
Environment
plenty
harmony
justice
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Economy
Equity
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Economy
Equity
Environment
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Equity in Ecotopia
• Women lead the political system• All businesses are worker-owned• No support for consumerism or
conspicuous consumption• Public transit for all• Communal living arrangements• Universal reduction of working
hours
Ecotopia = socialism + sustainability
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Charles FourierPhalanx communes of 1620 people
Saint-SimonTechnocratic socialism
Robert OwenPaternalistic industrial socialism
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“Utopian socialism”
“scientific socialism”
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MensheviksLet historical processes unfold naturally
vs.
BolsheviksTransition to socialism can be accelerated
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• Can we identify a historical dynamic leading to sustainability?
• Who are the historical agents who can or do drive this dynamic?
“…ever since the abandonment of the assumption that the proletariat would be the agents of revolution, the problem of agency has been acute.”
-Ruth Levitas
Who is the green proletariat?
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Utopia of abundance (McDonough and Braungart option)
Utopia of sufficiency (Ecotopia option)
Utopia of austerity (contemporary Cuba option)
2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 20350
100000
200000
95th percentile20th percentile
2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 20350
50000100000150000200000250000
95th percentile20th percentile
2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 20350
100000
200000
95th percentile20th percentile
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equity = redistribution of wealth?
• When does it start? (inter-generational vs. intra-generational)
• Is it socialist?• Can it be non-utopian?• Can it be non-violent?
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“The idea is that every human is entitled to emit the same amount of CO2. This of course translates into every being on earth using the same amount of energy—and, by inference, having the same income. In other words, C & C is basically a policy for a giant global income redistribution.”
S. Fred Singer (2011) on convergence and contraction (C & C):
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Utopian sustainability?
Sustainability “seems to be based on optimism that it is possible to predict or direct the future and that it will be possible to persuade people to act not just rationally, but with altruism towards future generations.”
Simon DresnerThe Principles of Sustainability
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?
• As sustainability advocates, are we utopian or scientific?• Are we Mensheviks or Bolsheviks?• What is the “historical-materialist” pathway?
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Marius de Geus, Ecological Utopias:
Utopian thinking should be viewed as a “navigational compass” rather than a “floor plan model”
Also required:• A map• A means of transportation from point A to
point B
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Your thoughts?
What is the role of equity in your thinking about sustainability?
Is it important for sustainability thinking to be non-utopian?
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Population growth stabilization
GOAL = zero population growth
INDIRECT PATH =• Lower infant mortality• Better maternal health• Educational and
economic opportunities for women
Sustainability
GOAL = human societies in balance with the environment
INDIRECT PATH = equity?• Higher standards of
living• Reduced poverty• Increased economic
equity• Reduced corporate
power