Toward an Environmental Rationality

From an article on Tierramérica:

The conflict between economy and ecology and that impossible goal that is “sustainable development” give rise to concern over the feasibility of an alternative economy, writes Mexican environmental researcher Enrique Leff in this exclusive column for Tierramérica.

MEXICO, Jan 12 (Tierramérica).- Rejecting the commodification of nature is not enough. The existing real economy must be dismantled and a new one, founded on environmental rationality, must be erected in its place. What does this mean?

This assertion stems from the realization that the root cause of the world’s environmental crisis, ecological degradation, and global warming is to be found in an economic process that operates as an entropic force, driving the planet rapidly to its death.

Moreover, with the current economic structure in place, it is not possible to slow down growth, as this structure stimulates economic expansion, increasing its entropic consumption of nature and destroying the basis of sustainability of both the economy and life.

If these assertions are correct, then they put into question the possibility of reconstructing the economy by incorporating environmental regulations, technological innovations and distributive balances. In other words, is it possible to rebalance the economy within the same rationality -- theoretical and instrumental, economic and legal -- that it rests on?

The conflict between economy and ecology and that impossible goal that is “sustainable development” give rise to concern over the feasibility of an alternative economy. Is it possible to create an alternative production rationality, founded on different production principles and different social values?