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Ecology and the politics of scarcity: Prologue to a political theory of the steady state
Book by Ophuls, William
303 pages, Paperback
First published May 2, 1977
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 10, 2023
William Ophuls book is the one brilliant, essential book on politics, economics and ecology that everyone interested in the current climate crisis should read. In roughly 240 pages he manages to define the problems and thoroughly address the answers in eminently readable style with deep dives into western political and economic philosophy.
"Why would anyone read such a book published in 1973?" is a fair question. And its true, Ophul's main weakness is his assessments of "current" technological solutions of the 1970s. But even in this, his writing illustrates the powerful hold that certain technologies have on our thinking even to this day. First and foremost, he is not a "technological optimist", and uses that phrase to criticize others in industry and academia. He calls nuclear energy "Technology's Faustian Bargain". But his section titled "Solar Power: The Ultimate Fuel", for example, is filled with dismal "unproven" and "as yet uninvented" prognosis, while the section, "Fusion Power: Infinite Potential", is full of a curious optimism. But, he concludes, "The impact on climate is the ultimate limit on human energy use, a limit which no amount of technological ingenuity can remove".
However, the book's strengths are in how his arguments build. From Biology, every species faces limitations and constraints. From Physics, the laws of thermodynamics limit our abilities to harness and use energy. From these limitations comes scarcity and its political results. He describes America's current political fascination of Manifest Destiny, laissez faire and Freedom as the result of two centuries of Colonial growth upon a relatively empty continent with little to no constraint. But in "Toward A Politics of the Steady State", he also provides a sufficient outline of political expectations:
"Indeed it must be understood that ultimately politics is about the definition of reality itself. As John Meynard Keyes pointed out, we are all the prisoners of dead theorists: the ideas of John Locke, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and all the other philosophers of the Great Frontier in effect define reality for us. Before we can even see what the problem is, we must tear off their fetters on our imaginations."
"Why would anyone read such a book published in 1973?" is a fair question. And its true, Ophul's main weakness is his assessments of "current" technological solutions of the 1970s. But even in this, his writing illustrates the powerful hold that certain technologies have on our thinking even to this day. First and foremost, he is not a "technological optimist", and uses that phrase to criticize others in industry and academia. He calls nuclear energy "Technology's Faustian Bargain". But his section titled "Solar Power: The Ultimate Fuel", for example, is filled with dismal "unproven" and "as yet uninvented" prognosis, while the section, "Fusion Power: Infinite Potential", is full of a curious optimism. But, he concludes, "The impact on climate is the ultimate limit on human energy use, a limit which no amount of technological ingenuity can remove".
However, the book's strengths are in how his arguments build. From Biology, every species faces limitations and constraints. From Physics, the laws of thermodynamics limit our abilities to harness and use energy. From these limitations comes scarcity and its political results. He describes America's current political fascination of Manifest Destiny, laissez faire and Freedom as the result of two centuries of Colonial growth upon a relatively empty continent with little to no constraint. But in "Toward A Politics of the Steady State", he also provides a sufficient outline of political expectations:
"Indeed it must be understood that ultimately politics is about the definition of reality itself. As John Meynard Keyes pointed out, we are all the prisoners of dead theorists: the ideas of John Locke, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and all the other philosophers of the Great Frontier in effect define reality for us. Before we can even see what the problem is, we must tear off their fetters on our imaginations."
January 1, 2008
read 09.01.86
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January 16, 2015the staple book in terms of international relations/ecology
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews