Industrialize sustainably - References and quotes Philosophy 2021 REFERENCES AND QUOTES ENERGY AND ECONOMIC MYTHS Biological carrying capacity. Two evolutionary factors influenced farming technology: 1. Continuous pressure of population. Efficiency, increasing yield per land and clearing land eased tension. 2. Low entropy from mineral sources substituted. Tractors replaced humans and animals and chemical fertilizers replaced manure and fallowing. 372 The mechanization of agriculture and increased use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to force of undernutrition. “However, contrary to the generally and indiscriminately shared notion, this modem agricultural technique is in the longrun a move against the most elementary bioeconomic interest of the human species. First, the replacement of the water buffalo by the tractor, of fodder by motor fuels, of manure and fallowing by chemical fertilizers substitutes scarcer elements for the most abundant one-solar radiation. Secondly, this substitution also represents a squandering of terrestrialow entropy because of its strongly decreasing returns.” Note 59 on increase in us of tractors, fertilizer s and pesticides but less increase in yield in agriculture. Substituting solar for terrestrial would be a good deal. “A highly mechanized and heavily fertilized cultivation does allow a very large population, Pi, to survive, but the price is an increase of the per capita depletion of terrestrial resourcesSi, which ceteris paribus means a proportionally greater reduction of the future amount of life (Section VIII).” Agro-industrial complexes makes biodiversity disappear, an ecological cul-de-sac. How big populations and for how long? 373 “Third, mankind should gradually lower its population to a level that could be adequately fed only by organic agriculture. Naturally, the nations now experiencing a very high demographic growth will have to strive hard for the most rapid possible results in that direction” 378 I EN VÄRLD UTAN BRÖD – OM FRAMTIDENS LIVSMEDELSFÖRSÖRJNING Higher prices of resources means higher food prices 19 Diminishing returns in agriculture 29 Climate change affects food security 31 Only 11 % of the land of earth can be cultivated 59 Soil is on average 150 mm. Restoring of 1 mm soil takes 100 years. 60 Problem of erosion 61 Limits to access of water, aggravated by climate change 89 I MYTEN OM MASKINEN: ESSÄER OM MAKT; MODERNITET OCH MILJÖ Sustainable farming cannot be dependent on fossil fuel. 115 I THE CIRCULAR BIOECONOMY AND DECOUPLING: IMPLICATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH Empty to full world. “Biophysical analyses of the metabolic pattern of contemporary social-ecological systems show that inside the technosphere both the densities and paces of flows per unit of societal funds (flow/fund ratios) are much larger than those of the natural flows per unit of ecological funds (flow/fund ratios) in the biosphere (Giampietro et al., 2012). Human society (in the technosphere) gathers and concentrates material and energy forms required for its maintenance and reproduction from the context, and to achieve this result it heavily relies on non-renewable energy sources (linearization of flows) (Giampietro et al., 2012). The current level of productivity of production factors (labor, capital, land) is obtained by altering the pace and density of the flows naturally occurring in the biosphere in managed ecosystems (human land-uses). In doing so, society can express structures and functions (associated with a given rate of positive entropy generation) that would otherwise not be possible (if relying on the negative flux generated by natural processes) (Smil, 2015).” Boosted agriculture through fossil fuel. “For example, the yield of grain per hectare from a crop field is at least an order of magnitude larger than the available quantity of biomass from unmanaged land. The pace and density of the natural deposition of nitrogen in soil (the fund-flow supply given by nature) does not permit yields of 7–10 t/ha of grain typical of modern agriculture. Maintaining such yields require heavy doses of artificial fertilizer. In the same way, irrigation in agriculture boosts the supply of water (blue water) whenever the natural availability of water in the soil (green water) would limit yields. Rather than relying on ecological processes of natural pest control, modern agriculture uses pesticides. Indeed, with the event of the industrial revolution the agricultural sector moved from low external input to high external input agriculture (Giampietro, 1997; Arizpe et al., 2011). While the former relied on nutrient recycling through a complex network of interactions among ecological fund elements (thus guaranteeing soil health, biodiversity, healthy aquifers, etc.), the latter is based on linearization of flows through the use of fossil energy (stressing ecological fund elements). This continuous human struggle to boost the pace and density of natural flows has resulted in a tremendous increase in agricultural productivity inside the technosphere: from less than 1 t/ha of grain in pre-industrial agriculture to more than 10 t/ha in industrial agriculture. An even more impressive improvement has been achieved in labor productivity—from about 1 kg of grain per hour of labor in pre-industrial agriculture to around 1000 kg/h in industrial agriculture. The price to pay for this increased agricultural productivity has been a progressive liquidation of ecological funds (which would slow down productivity because of their low flow/fund ratio).” The price of linearization is the liquidation of ecological funds. Linearization of energy. 149 Figure 6 and Figure 7 shows going from circular ecological fund-flow to linear nonrenewable stock-flow during industrial revolution. 150 I DOUGHNUT ECONOMICS: SEVEN WAYS TO THINK LIKE A 21ST-CENTURY ECONOMIST 40 % of land will be lost. 2 out of 3 will live in water-stressed areas. 80 % of fisheries are fully or over-exploited. 2050 more plastic than fish in the seas. 12 9 planetary boundaries. Chemical pollution, endangering ecosystem on land and in ocean. Nitrogen and phosphorus loading cause algae blooming that kill of aquatic life. Freshwater withdrawals, water is essential for life. Land conversion, can destroys life supporting ecosystems. Biodiversity. Decreasing diversity means decreasing resilience. Decreasing resilience of ecosystems means decreasing capacity of ecosystems capacity to provide food, fuel and fibre, and to sustain life. See THINKING IN SYSTEMS – A PRIMER on importance on resilience, ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS – PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS on importance on ecosystems 243 I THINKING IN SYSTEMS – A PRIMER Resilience, self-organization and hierarchy make systems work well. 75 Resilience. Resilience depends on self-organizing. 76 Large organizations lose their resilience because of delays in feedback from environment. Big resilience – big plateau, safe operating space. “Systems need to be managed not only for productivity or stability, they also need to be managed for resilience - the ability to recover from perturbation, the ability to restore or repair themselves.” 78 Self-organization. Self-organizations is often destroyed in the name of productivity and stability. It produces heterogeneity and unpredictability. 79 “Self-organization is basically a matter of an evolutionary raw material – a highly variable stock of information from which to select patterns – and a means for experimentation, for selecting and testing new patterns.” Importance of biodiversity. Biodiversity is the source of evolutionary potential. “Allowing species to go extinct is a systems crime”. Human cultures. “Insistence on a single culture shuts down learning and cuts back resilience. Any system, biological, economic, or social, that gets so encrusted that it cannot self-evolve, a system that systematically scorns experimentation and wipes out the raw material of innovation, is doomed over the long term on this highly variable planet.” Encourage variability, experimentation and diversity even if it means losing control. “Let a thousand flower bloom and anything could happen!” 160 I ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS – PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS Ecosystem function that has value to human = ecosystem service. Examples Cassowary bird box 6-3. Unaware of services provided, ozone for example. 103 Intact ecosystems are funds that provide ecosystems services. See 71, 72 Nature can renew itself, regenerate. See DOUGHNUT ECONOMICS: SEVEN WAYS TO THINK LIKE A 21ST-CENTURY ECONOMIST, MEASURING REGENERATIVE ECONOMICS: 10 PRINCIPLES AND MEASURES UNDERGIRDING SYSTEMIC ECONOMIC HEALTH. Note 9 on fluorocarbons and James Lovelock (Gaiahypothesis). 104 “In review, the structural elements of an ecosystem are stocks of biotic and abiotic resources (minerals, water, trees, other plants and animals), which when combine together generate ecosystem functions, or services” 106, 107 Destroying biological stocks destroys funds. Forest to timber. Soil moisturizer. “The relationship between natural capital stock-flow and fund-service resources illustrates one of the most important concepts in ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS – PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS: It is impossible to create something from nothing; all economic production requires a flow of natural resources generated by a stock of natural capital. This flow comes from structural components of ecosystems, and the biotic stock are also funds that produce ecosystem services. Therefore, an excessive rate of flow extracted from a stock affects not only the stock and its ability to provide a flow in the future, but also the fund to which the stock contributes and the services that fund provides. Even abiotic stocks (i.e, elements and fossil fuels) can only be extracted and consumed at some cost to the ecosystem. In other words, production requires inputs of ecosystem structure. Ecosystems structure generates ecosystem function, which in turn provides services. All economic production thus as an impact on ecosystem services, and because this impact is unavoidable, it is completely internal to the economic process” Problems of wastes – the other end of economic process’s impact on environment, dictated by laws of thermodynamics, things will not disappear and more disorder will be produced. Much of the waste can be assimilated but only absorbed at a fixed rate but created in any rate. Waste absorption capacity. Damaging ecosystem structure and function can damage the ability to absorb waste. 107
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