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Page added on January 19, 2015
Economics of the Anthropocene
Post Carbon Fellow Joshua Farley was one of 45 leading scholars, authors and activists who convened at The Great Hall of Cooper Union, New York City, on October 25-26, 2014, for the public presentation: “Techno-Utopianism and the Fate of the Earth.” Speakers discussed the profound impacts—environmental, economic and social—of runaway technological expansionism and cyber immersion; the tendency to see technology as the savior for all problems.
Joshua Farley is an ecological economist and Associate Professor in Community Development & Applied Economics and Public Administration at the University of Vermont. Josh holds degrees in biology, international affairs and economics. He has previously served as program director at the School for Field Studies, Centre for Rainforest Studies, as Executive Director of the University of Maryland International Institute for Ecological Economics, and as adjunct faculty and licensed examiner at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill. He recently returned from a Fulbright fellowship in Brazil, where he served as visiting professor at the Federal Universities of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and Bahia (UFBA).
His broad research interests focus on the design of an economy capable of balancing what is biophysically possible with what is socially, psychologically and ethically desirable. More specifically, his research focuses on mechanisms for allocating resources under local control and national sovereignty that generate global public goods, developing transdisciplinary case study approaches to environmental problem solving as an educational tool, ecological restoration of rainforest ecosystems, economic globalization, and the valuation and finance of restoring natural capital.
Recorded October 2014
International Forum on Globalization
3 Comments on "Economics of the Anthropocene"
Plantagenet on Mon, 19th Jan 2015 12:43 pm
Science and technology are neither good nor bad. It’s all in how they are used
Jerry McManus on Mon, 19th Jan 2015 12:57 pm
In a nutshell:
A few minor tweaks to re-jigger the market economy and the resulting explosion of “green” technology will solve all our problems!
Hmm…, I don’t know what this guy has been smoking, but maybe he should have a talk with the “eugenics” folks.
J-Gav on Mon, 19th Jan 2015 3:37 pm
Jerry – I’d say he’s a little more subtle than that. Looking at what is “bio-physically possible” is not an entirely useless pursuit for me. His critique of market-dominated economics is coherent, particularly when you consider that those pretending to defend “free markets” are in fact the fundamentalist enemies of it.
Granted, he’s not a great public speaker and, also granted, his call for “new agricultural technologies” etc may be wishful thinking (We already have the agricultural technology to effect massive change – it’s called permaculture)but, how shall I put it? I’ve seen worse.