The Green Economy: the Dangerous Path of Nature Commoditization
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Building a Sustainable and Desirable Economy-In-Society- In-Nature
SCIENCE | ENVIRONMENT State of the World 2013 2013 STATE OF THE WORLD is Is Sustainability Still Possible? SUSTAINABILITY “State of the World 2013 assembles the wisdom and clarity of some of the earth’s finest thinkers, visionaries, and activists into a dazzling array of topics that merge to offer a compellingly lucid and accessible vision of where we are—and what is the wisest and healthiest course for the future.” OF THE WORLD STATE —NINA SIMONS, Cofounder, Bioneers Still Possible? “This edition forges a new path for the State of the World series, and for environmental thinking in general. A pivotal book that marks a defining moment for our species.” — RICHARD HEINBERG, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute, and author of The End of Growth “State of the World 2013 is a powerful collection of articles, and the vision behind it is impressive. Here is a book that gets beyond ‘sustainababble’ and asks the tough, essential questions. It should make readers more determined than ever to do their part in avoiding planet-wide disaster—and better informed about how to do that.” — PETER SINGER, Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University, and author of Animal Liberation, One World, and The Life You Can Save Sustainability gets plenty of lip service, but the relentless worsening of key environmental trends reveals much of that attention to be “sustainababble.” From climate instability and species extinctions to approaching scarcities of freshwater, minerals, and energy, worrisome limits to human economic activity look more pressing each year—all while our political institutions seem impotent to address the challenge. THE WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE, in this edition of the celebrated State of the World series, takes an unflinching look at what the data say about the prospects for achieving true sustainability, 2013 what we should be doing now to make progress toward it, and how we might cope if we fail to do so. -
Fictitious Commodities: a Theory of Intellectual Property Inspired by Karl Polanyi’S “Great Transformation”
Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal Volume 29 XXIX Number 4 Article 4 2019 Fictitious Commodities: A Theory of Intellectual Property Inspired by Karl Polanyi’s “Great Transformation” Alexander Peukert Goethe University, Frankfurt, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/iplj Part of the Intellectual Property Law Commons, International Law Commons, and the Science and Technology Law Commons Recommended Citation Alexander Peukert, Fictitious Commodities: A Theory of Intellectual Property Inspired by Karl Polanyi’s “Great Transformation”, 29 Fordham Intell. Prop. Media & Ent. L.J. 1151 (2019). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/iplj/vol29/iss4/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Fictitious Commodities: A Theory of Intellectual Property Inspired by Karl Polanyi’s “Great Transformation” Cover Page Footnote Professor Dr. iur., Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, [email protected]. This article is available in Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/iplj/vol29/iss4/4 Fictitious Commodities: A Theory of Intellectual Property Inspired by Karl Polanyi’s “Great Transformation” Alexander Peukert* The puzzle this Article addresses is this: how can it be explained that intellectual property (IP) laws and IP rights (IPRs) have continuously grown in number and expanded in scope, territorial reach, and duration, while at the same time have been contested, much more so than other branches of property law? This Article offers an explanation for this peculiar dynamic by applying insights and concepts of Karl Polanyi’s book “The Great Transformation” to IP. -
Water Privatization in Developing Countries: Principles, Implementations and Socio-Economic Consequences
Available online at www.worldscientificnews.com WSN 10 (2015) 17-31 EISSN 2392-2192 Water privatization in developing countries: Principles, implementations and socio-economic consequences Sayan Bhattacharya1,*, Ayantika Banerjee2 1Department of Environmental Studies, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India 2Department of Environmental science, Asutosh College, Kolkata, India *E-mail address: [email protected] , [email protected] ABSTRACT Water related problems are continuously affecting the social infrastructures and jeopardizing the productivity of modern globalized society. As the water crisis intensifies, several governments around the world are advocating a radical solution: the privatization, commoditization and mass diversion of water. Water privatization involves transferring of water resources control and/or water management services to private companies. The water management service may include operation and management, bill collection, treatment, distribution of water and waste water treatment in a community. The privatization of water has already happened in several developed countries and is being pushed in many developing countries through structural adjustment policies. Water privatization will invariably increase the price of this common property resource because there are hidden costs involved in water collection, purification and distribution systems. Increase in water consumption will be satisfied through the market dynamics often at the cost of the poor who cannot afford the increased water tariffs. The corporations will recover their costs by exploiting the consumers irrespective of their economic conditions. Another possible threat of water privatization is the unsustainable water extraction by the water corporations for maximizing profits and subsequent destructions of water bodies and aquifers. Corporations in search of profits can compromise on water quality in order to reduce costs. -
Distinction Between Privatization of Services and Commodification of Goods: the Case of the Water Supply in Porto Alegre Rafael Flores
Distinction between privatization of services and commodification of goods: the case of the water supply in Porto Alegre Rafael Flores To cite this version: Rafael Flores. Distinction between privatization of services and commodification of goods: the case of the water supply in Porto Alegre. 11th edition of the World Wide Workshop for Young Environmental Scientists (WWW-YES-2011) - Urban Waters: resource or risks?, Jun 2011, Arcueil, France. hal- 00607834 HAL Id: hal-00607834 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00607834 Submitted on 11 Jul 2011 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Distinction between privatization of services and commodification of goods: the case of the water supply in Porto Alegre Rafael Kruter FLORES* * Postgraduate Program of Administration, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Washington Luís, 855, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. (E-mail: [email protected]) Abstract One of the main debates regarding urban water in the last years concerns the privatization of water and sewage services. The critique of the privatization of the services is usually associated with the critique of the commodification of the good. This paper makes a conceptual distinction between both processes, reflecting on the case of the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil. -
Green Economy Or Green Utopia? Rio+20 and the Reproductive Labor Class
Green Economy or Green Utopia? Rio+20 and the Reproductive Labor Class Ariel Salleh University of Sydney [email protected] Sociologists use the concept of class variously to explain and predict people's relation to the means of production, their earnings, living conditions, social standing, capacities, and political identification. With the rise of capitalist globalization, many sociologists focus on the transnational ruling class and new economic predicaments faced by industrial workers in the world-system (see, for example, Robinson and Harris 2000). Here I will argue that to understand and respond to the current global environmental crisis, another major class formation should be acknowledged - one defined by its materially regenerative activities under "relations of reproduction" (Salleh 2010). The salience of this hypothetical third class is demonstrated by the 2012 United Nations Rio+20 summit and its official "green economy" negotiating text The Future We Want (UNCSD 2012). Clearly, the question that begs to be asked is - who is the "we" in this international document, and whose "utopia" does it serve? Part of the answer is found in a recent G20 media release, suggesting that "current high energy prices open policy space for economic incentives to renewables [...] investors are looking for alternatives given the low interest rates in developed countries, a factor that presents an opportunity for green economy projects” (Calderon 2012). The UN, together with the transnational capitalist class, looks to technology and new institutional architectures to push against the limits of living ecologies, and these measures are given legitimation as "economic necessity." Yet empirically, it is peasants, mothers, fishers and gatherers working with natural thermodynamic processes who meet everyday needs for the majority of people on earth. -
Green Growth Policy, De-Growth, and Sustainability: the Alternative Solution for Achieving the Balance Between Both the Natural and the Economic System
sustainability Editorial Green Growth Policy, De-Growth, and Sustainability: The Alternative Solution for Achieving the Balance between Both the Natural and the Economic System Diego A. Vazquez-Brust 1,2 and José A. Plaza-Úbeda 3,* 1 Portsmouth Faculty of Business and Law, Richmond Building, Portland Street, Portsmouth P01 3DE, UK; [email protected] 2 Production Engineering Department, Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis 88040-900, SC, Brazil 3 Economics and Business Department, University of Almeria, 04120 Almeria, Spain * Correspondence: [email protected] 1. Introduction “We are ethically obliged and incited to think beyond what are treated as the realistic limits of the possible” (Judith Butler, 2020) The existence of an imbalance between our planet’s reserves of resources and the conditions necessary to maintain high levels of economic growth is evident [1]. The limitation of natural resources pushes companies to consider the possibility of facing critical situations in the future that will make it extremely difficult to reconcile economic Citation: Vazquez-Brust, D.A.; and sustainable objectives [2]. Plaza-Úbeda, J.A. Green Growth In this context of dependence on an environment with finite resources, there are Policy, De-Growth, and Sustainability: growing interests in alternative economic models, such as the Circular Economy, oriented to The Alternative Solution for the maximum efficient use of resources [3–5]. However, the Circular Economy approach is Achieving the Balance between Both still very far from the reality of industries, and the depletion of natural resources continues the Natural and the Economic System. undeterred [6]. It is increasingly necessary to explore alternative approaches to address the Sustainability 2021, 13, 4610. -
THE ART of EMBRACING COMMODITIZATION by Eric Boudier, Anders Porsborg-Smith, and Martin Reeves
THE ART OF EMBRACING COMMODITIZATION By Eric Boudier, Anders Porsborg-Smith, and Martin Reeves hina’s economic slowdown has led Understanding Advantage in Cto overcapacity in many sectors and a Commoditizing Markets significant fall in the prices of many com- Eventually, all products become commod- modities. Although many businesses will itized. (See “BCG Classics Revisited: The regard this as a short-term, cyclical chal- Growth-Share Matrix,” BCG Perspectives, lenge—one they can weather through June 2014, and “Adaptability: The New capacity adjustments—it may prove for Competitive Advantage,” BCG article, Au- others to be something entirely different. It gust 2011.) A company’s optimal strategic may mark the onset of commoditization, a response will depend not only on the in- secular and more severe challenge for which dustry’s current state but also on its likely businesses may be wholly unprepared. evolution. In attempting to gauge the latter, a company must try to determine whether Commoditization is not necessarily a death it can establish a sustainable position on sentence. (See “Escaping the Doghouse: the basis of any one of three factors: its Winning in Commoditized Markets,” BCG cost position; whether, and to what extent, Perspectives, April 2015.) But surviving it, there are imperfections in the market that or even benefiting from it, can entail dras- it can exploit; and its ability to redifferenti- tic measures, such as rethinking strategy, ate its product. (See Exhibit 1.) repositioning the company in the indus- try’s value chain, and overhauling its oper- Many businesses will instinctively lean to- ating model. Many businesses facing com- ward redifferentiating their product (if possi- moditization fail to respond with anywhere ble) or creating a cost advantage (if neces- near the required boldness or speed, how- sary), ignoring the opportunity to exploit ever. -
Capturing Value and Avoiding Commoditization Through Pricing
No. 61 IMD Faculty Capturing Value and Avoiding Commoditization Professor Stefan Michel through Pricing Excellence Research & Development want and how much they are willing to Michael Sorell pay for what they want Michelle Perrinjaquet 2. Economics: Understanding both the internal economics of the company and the economics of the market 3. Pricing management: Setting the right price and making sure that your discounting policy makes sense 4. Pricing psychology: Understanding that it is the customer’s perception of the price While organizations might think they that drives the behavior. understand competitive pricing, potential sales are often lost because of price One company that clearly knows how to competition. The challenge that most use customer insights to its advantage is businesses face is that they cannot afford Bossard, a Swiss-based fastening technology to adopt a lowest price strategy. To compete company that sells screws, nuts and bolts to successfully in today’s global business companies such as John Deere and Tesla. In environment, companies need to achieve a hugely competitive market, it realized that pricing excellence. the only way to stay alive was to capture more value and to price its products according to Google is the world champion of pricing how much they are worth to the customer. excellence. It is able to ascertain from its customers how much they are willing to pay Having discovered that its customers’ and adjusts its pricing to reflect this. This is employees were spending more time the essence of the pricing excellence model. manually lubricating screws than putting In April 2016, around 60 The ultimate goal is to uncover and capture machines together, Bossard teamed up executives attended an the value that is created for each customer. -
Youthxchange Green Skills and Lifestyles Guidebookpdf
The United Nations Educational, Scientifi c, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) www.unesco.org The United Nations Educational, Scientifi c and United Nations Educational, Scienti c Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was founded on and Cultural Organization November 16, 1945. This specialized United Nations Tel: +33 (0) 1 45 68 10 00 United Nations agency’s mission is to contribute to the building Fax: +33 (0) 1 45 67 16 90 Educational, Scientific and United Nations Cultural Organization of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable [email protected] Educational, Scientific and development and intercultural dialogue through Cultural Organization education, the sciences, culture, communication and information. For more information: UNESCO Division for Inclusion, www.ilo.org Peace and Sustainable Development International Labour Organization 7, place de Fontenoy Tel: +41 (0) 22 799 6111 75732 Paris Cedex 07 France Fax: +41 (0) 22 798 8685 Tel: +33 (0) 1 456 810 36 [email protected] Fax: +33 (0) 1 456 856 44 Email: [email protected] www.unesco.org/education This publication is a contribution to: – The Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development, which seeks to generate and scale-up ESD as the follow up to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. The GAP’s priority action area #4 focuses on empowering and mobilizing youth. For more information: http://en.unesco.org/gap youth change – The 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production’s Sustainable Lifestyles & Education Programme, X which aims to foster the uptake of sustainable ©Thad Mermer Green Skills and Lifestyles Guidebook lifestyles as the common norm, with the objective of ensuring their positive contribution to addressing global challenges. -
Climate Change: Green Recovery and Trade
UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT CLIMATE CHANGE, GREEN RECOVERY AND TRADE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT CLIMATE CHANGE, GREEN RECOVERY AND TRADE Geneva, 2021 ii © 2021, United Nations This work is available through open access, by complying with the Creative Commons licence created for intergovernmental organizations, at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. The designations employed and the presentation of material on any map in this work do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Photocopies and reproductions of excerpts are allowed with proper credits. This publication has not been formally edited. United Nations publication issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2021/2 eISBN: 978-92-1-005630-4 iii Contents Note ........................................................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................iv Acronyms and abbreviations ......................................................................................................................v -
The Potential Role of Carbon Labeling in a Green Economy
Energy Economics 34 (2012) S53–S63 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Energy Economics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/eneco The potential role of carbon labeling in a green economy Mark A. Cohen a,b,⁎, Michael P. Vandenbergh c a Vanderbilt University, United States b Resources for the Future, United States c Climate Change Research Network, Vanderbilt Law School, United States article info abstract Article history: Over the past several years, labeling schemes that focus on a wide range of environmental and social metrics Received 30 January 2012 have proliferated. Although little empirical evidence has been generated yet with respect to carbon footprint Received in revised form 22 May 2012 labels, much can be learned from our experience with similar product labels. We first review the theory and Accepted 30 August 2012 evidence on the role of product labeling in affecting consumer and firm behavior. Next, we consider the role Available online 7 September 2012 of governments and nongovernmental organizations, concluding that international, multistakeholder organi- zations have a critical part to play in setting protocols and standards. We argue that it is important to consider JEL classification: D82 the entire life cycle of a product being labeled and develop an international standard for measurement and F18 reporting. Finally, we examine the potential impact of carbon product labeling, discussing methodological K32 and trade challenges and proposing a framework for choosing products best suited for labeling. L15 © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. M31 Q54 Keywords: Carbon labels Voluntary disclosure Consumer behavior Life-cycle analysis Rebound effect Leakage 1. Introduction retailers to promote green products. -
Haberdashers' Aske's School
1 Haberdashers’ Aske’s School Occasional Papers Series in the Humanities Occasional Paper Number Twenty-Nine The “Ugly truth” of Facebook Friendship: An expansion of Polanyi’s fictitious commodity to friendship within Facebook and modern social media Freddie Marshall Old Haberdasher [email protected] November 2019 A Haberdashers’ Aske’s Occasional Paper. All rights reserved. 2 Haberdashers’ Aske’s Occasional Paper Number Twenty-Nine November 2019 All rights reserved Freddie Marshall The “Ugly truth” of Facebook Friendship An expansion of Polanyi’s fictitious commodity to friendship within Facebook and modern social media Abstract This essay considers whether Polanyi’s conception of the fictitious commodity can apply to social media platforms, specifically Facebook. The fictitious commodity, a marketisation of a natural good, can apply beyond Polanyi’s original remit towards the new fictitious commodity of friendship within the era of Facebook. To explain this, the essay utilises Polanyi’s theoretical framework and applies it to modern understandings of Facebook’s operation as representative of the wider social media communications revolution. In placing this framework into a modern context, it can be seen that Polanyi’s historical, sociological and political considerations remain relevant to explaining current trends. It is shown how the fictitious commodity can be legitimately expanded; how the market operation of friendship creates this fictitious commodity and lastly how this is a relevant expansion to help understand specific tensions within the wider communications revolution. To consider this thesis, research was undertaken into critiques of Polanyi, modern expansions of his work and understanding how friendship can be defined and operate within the context of Facebook.