Virtual icon Virtual Panel - DEBATING ECOMODERNISM: TECHNOLOGY, JUSTICE AND SUSTAINABILITY IN WARMING PLANET

Abstract

What should be done to tackle global unsustainability in a way that is effective, fair, and democratic? As the faltering energy transition or the ongoing loss of biodiversity come to show, the question is pressing. This workshop seeks to scrutinise, both theoretically and empirically, the much-discussed answer provided by ecomodernism, a rising environmental philosophy grounded on the belief that humanity can prosper while reducing its pressure on Earth systems if only the right social and technological innovations are implemented within liberal democracies and beyond. A new and timely subject, ecomodernism carries normative and practical implications that await scrutiny and discussion.vTo make sense of ecomodernism, though, advocates and critics as well as other scholars should join forces. It is time to shed light on its normative foundations, empirical claims, and political implications. This panel provides the opportunity to do so in a balanced and rigorous fashion, thus fostering scholarly engagement with the subject. The core questions that this panel seeks to answer are the following: Which are ecomodernism's normative foundations? Do they fit into environmental political theory? What is "ecological" about ecomodernism? How does it conceive of nature? What role do the state, the market, and civil society play in the ecomodernist approach? What are the philosophy and the politics of technology advocated by ecomodernism? What conception of justice underpins the ecomodernist vision? What is the place of gender in it? As a result, we welcome papers that deal with the place of ecomodernism within environmental political theory and political theory writ large; the normative foundations of ecomodernism and its compatibility with other approaches; the place of nature in ecomodernism and its view of socionatural relations; the philosophy and politics of technology in ecomodernism and their implications; the relationship between ecomodernism and democracy; the relationship between ecomodernism and justice (including gender, race, class, nonhuman beings); ecomodernism in environmental policy and the role of the state; and ecomodernism's relation with the market, including critical perspectives. Bibliography Arias-Maldonado M (2020) Blooming landscapes? The paradox of utopian thinking in the Anthropocene. Environmental Politics, 29(6), 1024-1041. Asafu-Adjaye J. et al. (2015) An Ecomodernist Manifesto. Avalaible at: http://www.ecomodernism.org/ Ausubel, J. (1996). The Liberation of the Environment. Daedalus, 125(3), 1-17. Disponible en : https://www.jstor.org/stable/20027368. Brand, S. (2010). Whole Earth Discipline. New York: Penguin Books Breewood, H., Garnett, T. (2022). What is Ecomodernism? https://tabledebates.org/building-blocks/ecomodernism Ellis, E., Lynas, M. et. al (2023). Ecomodernism. A Clarifying Perspective. The Anthropocene Review (Ahead of Print). Hällmark, K. (2023). Politicization after the ‘end of nature’: The prospect of ecomodernism. European Journal of Social Theory, 26(1), 48-66. Kallis, G. (2021). “Limits, ecomodernism and degrowth”. Political Geography, 87, 102367. Doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.102367 Karlsson, R (2018) The high-energy planet. Global Change, Peace and Security, 30(1), 77-84. Karlsson, R. (2020). Conflicting Temporalities and the Ecomodernist Vision of Rewilding. In Pereira C. & Saramago A. (Eds.), Non-Human Nature in World Politics: Theory and Practice (pp. 91-109). Springer International Publishing. Lewis, M. W. (1995). Green Delusions: An Environmentalist Critique of Radical Environmentalism. Durham and London: Duke University Press Nordhaus, T. and Shellenberger, M. (2004). The Death of Environmentalism. Available at :https://s3.useast2.amazonaws.com/uploads.thebreakthrough.org/legacy/images/Death_of_Environmentalism.pdf Nordhaus T. and Shellenberger, M. (2009). Break Through. Why We Can’t Leave Saving the Planet to Environmentalists. Boston: Mariner Books. Shellenberg, M. and Nordhaus, T. eds. (2011). Love Your Monsters: Postenvironmentalism andthe Anthropocene. Oakland: Breakthrough Institute. Symons J (2019) Ecomodernism: Technology, Politics, and the Climate Crisis. Cambridge: Polity Press. Symons, J. and Karlsson, R. (2018). Ecomodernist citizenship: rethinking political obligations in a climate-changed world. Citizenship Studies, 22(7).

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