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This editorial introduces the Special Issue “Metabolism of Islands”. It makes a case why we should care about islands and their sustainability. Islands are hotspots of biocultural diversity, and home to 600 million people that depend on one-sixth of the earth’s total area, including the surrounding oceans, for their subsistence. Today, they are on the frontlines of climate change and face an existential crisis. Islands are, however, potential “hubs of innovation” and are uniquely positioned to be leaders in sustainability and climate action. We argue that a full-fledged program on “island industrial ecology” is urgently needed with the aim to offer policy-relevant insights and strategies to sustain small islands in an era of global environmental change. We introduce key industrial ecology concepts, and the state-of-the-art in applying them to islands. Nine contributions in this Special Issue are briefly reviewed to highlight the metabolic risks inherent in the island cases. The contributors explore how reconfiguring patterns of resource use will allow island governments to build resilience and adapt to the challenges of climate change.
Simron Singh; Marina Fischer-Kowalski; Marian Chertow. Introduction: The Metabolism of Islands. Sustainability 2020, 12, 9516 .
AMA StyleSimron Singh, Marina Fischer-Kowalski, Marian Chertow. Introduction: The Metabolism of Islands. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (22):9516.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSimron Singh; Marina Fischer-Kowalski; Marian Chertow. 2020. "Introduction: The Metabolism of Islands." Sustainability 12, no. 22: 9516.
Transition pathways of the Greek island Samothraki from an agrarian sociometabolic regime to modern tourism and beyond: a real world lab in sustainability
Marina Fischer-Kowalski[1], Nikos Skoulikidis[2], Georg Gratzer[3]
We reconstruct the developmental course of a small mountainous Greek island during the past decades in qualitative and quantitative terms. Conceptually, these efforts are integrated by a socio-metabolic system model (Fischer-Kowalski & Petridis 2016). The approaches from the angle of various disciplines (social ecology, land-use science, aquatic science, forest ecology) as well as the transdisciplinary collaborative approaches sought to compensate for the lack of long-term environmental monitoring data. Ultimate goal of this interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research was (and is) giving scientific support to a local sustainability transition. We briefly describe the following sociometabolic stages of this process.
stage 1: traditional agrarian / foraging (fishing) socio-metabolic regime
Its features dominated up into the 1960s; the island sustained a population of 3-4000 people on livestock herding (sheep and goats), subsistence agriculture and fishing. Technical energy source: wood and charcoal from mountain forests (Quercus petraea). Grazing was the dominant land-use. Livestock breeding (mainly goats and sheep) was exclusively based on human manpower: free roaming animals, land management practices like regular burning of weeds on pastures.
stage 2: gradual transition to a modern industrial / touristic regime
Beginning with electrification (local diesel aggregate) and state services (schools, health care, road building, legal institutions, expansion of harbour and ferry services) in the 1960s, the island gradually turns into a (modest, national) tourist destination. Income for farmers/herders lags behind, and is supported by state, and later, EU subsidies. The coupling of subsidies to animal numbers leads to a substantial rise in small ruminants, serious overgrazing and decline in vegetation cover (Fetzel et al. 2018) and biodiversity (Biel and Tan 2014), lack of forest regrowth (Heiling 2019), increase in soil erosion (Panagopoulos et al. 2019) as well as rising demand for freshwater and a rising generation of wastewater (Skoulikidis et al. 2019a,b).
stage 3: designing a real-world experiment towards a sustainable future for the island
In the face of the Greek financial crisis, with support from Unesco, a team of scientists from various countries engaged in finding pathways to secure a sustainable course for the island’s future. Upon their advice, the municipality and the relevant Greek authorities in 2013 signed an application for the island to become a Man-and-Biosphere Reserve by Unesco standards, the municipality granted a local LTER-observatory, the regional authority rejected an industrial wind farm proposal, and Unesco welcomed these efforts. The municipality and grass roots actors use the support from international scientists to find sustainable solutions for problems that have been accumulating.
[2] Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Athens
[3] Institute for Forest Ecology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna
Marina Fischer-Kowalski. Transition pathways of the Greek island Samothraki from an agrarian sociometabolic regime to modern tourism and beyond: a real world lab in sustainability. 2020, 1 .
AMA StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski. Transition pathways of the Greek island Samothraki from an agrarian sociometabolic regime to modern tourism and beyond: a real world lab in sustainability. . 2020; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski. 2020. "Transition pathways of the Greek island Samothraki from an agrarian sociometabolic regime to modern tourism and beyond: a real world lab in sustainability." , no. : 1.
This is a case study on a small mountainous island in the Aegean Sea with the policy goal of preparing it to become member of UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves. While the local community opted for such an identity very early on, there are a number of obstacles to be overcome. The multidisciplinary research is based upon a sociometabolic approach and focuses on two issues: The transformation of agriculture, mainly herding of sheep and goats, and the shift to tourism. The degradation of the landscape caused by extensive roaming of goats and sheep constitute one of the major sustainability challenges of the island. We analyze farmers’ opportunities and describe new initiatives to get out of this deadlock. The impacts of the transition to tourism are addressed from an infrastructural perspective: A shift from traditional stone buildings to bricks and concrete, the establishment of new roads and ports, and the challenges to water supply and wastewater removal, also with reference to the quality and amounts of wastes generated that need to be dealt with. The island has so far escaped mass tourism and attracts mainly eco-tourists who value its remoteness and wilderness. We discuss how to serve this clientele best in the future, and increase local job opportunities and income while maintaining environmental quality. Finally, we reflect upon emerging new forms of local collaboration and the impact of our research efforts on a sustainability transition that might be on its way.
Marina Fischer-Kowalski; Markus Löw; Dominik Noll; Panos Petridis; Nikolaos Skoulikidis. Samothraki in Transition: A Report on a Real-World Lab to Promote the Sustainability of a Greek Island. Sustainability 2020, 12, 1932 .
AMA StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski, Markus Löw, Dominik Noll, Panos Petridis, Nikolaos Skoulikidis. Samothraki in Transition: A Report on a Real-World Lab to Promote the Sustainability of a Greek Island. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (5):1932.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski; Markus Löw; Dominik Noll; Panos Petridis; Nikolaos Skoulikidis. 2020. "Samothraki in Transition: A Report on a Real-World Lab to Promote the Sustainability of a Greek Island." Sustainability 12, no. 5: 1932.
Recent high-level agreements such as the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals aim at mitigating climate change, ecological degradation and biodiversity loss while pursuing social goals such as reducing hunger or poverty. Systemic approaches bridging natural and social sciences are required to support these agendas. The surging human use of biophysical resources (materials, energy) results from the pursuit of social and economic goals, while driving global environmental change. Sociometabolic research links the study of socioeconomic processes with biophysical processes and thus plays a pivotal role in understanding society–nature interactions. It includes a broad range of systems science approaches for measuring, analysing and modelling of biophysical stocks and flows as well as the services they provide to society. Here we outline and systematize major sociometabolic research traditions that study the biophysical basis of economic activity: urban metabolism, the multiscale integrated assessment of societal and ecosystem metabolism, biophysical economics, material and energy flow analysis, and environmentally extended input–output analysis. Examples from recent research demonstrate strengths and weaknesses of sociometabolic research. We discuss future research directions that could also help to enrich related fields.
Helmut Haberl; Dominik Wiedenhofer; Stefan Pauliuk; Fridolin Krausmann; Daniel B. Müller; Marina Fischer-Kowalski. Contributions of sociometabolic research to sustainability science. Nature Sustainability 2019, 2, 173 -184.
AMA StyleHelmut Haberl, Dominik Wiedenhofer, Stefan Pauliuk, Fridolin Krausmann, Daniel B. Müller, Marina Fischer-Kowalski. Contributions of sociometabolic research to sustainability science. Nature Sustainability. 2019; 2 (3):173-184.
Chicago/Turabian StyleHelmut Haberl; Dominik Wiedenhofer; Stefan Pauliuk; Fridolin Krausmann; Daniel B. Müller; Marina Fischer-Kowalski. 2019. "Contributions of sociometabolic research to sustainability science." Nature Sustainability 2, no. 3: 173-184.
The transition from a traditional agrarian to a fossil fuel based energy regime began before the industrial revolution and is still ongoing. This paper explores the relation of this transition process and social revolutions. Using statistical analysis, we find that at the very beginning of countries' energy transition, a critical phase can be identified, within which social revolutions are most likely to happen. This applies to the grand revolutions across the past five centuries investigated for a core set of industrial and emerging economies, as well as to supplementary samples of Latin American and post-World War II developing countries. No statistically significant relation between the historical time and the pace of transition towards modern fuels is found, which means that the energy transition does not accelerate. Among the sample of developing countries with revolutions after World War II we find an even slower pace of transition to an industrial energy regime. Apparently, transitions in primary energy source and energy abundance are not just a matter of technological change, but strongly interact with the social, institutional and political fabric of societies. Revolutions are not randomly scattered in space and time, nor are they confined to a certain historical epoch. They are likelier under certain conditions, the early stages of a transition from an agrarian energy regime to a fossil-fuel-based energy regime. Seemingly, unique historical events like social revolutions followed a pattern linked to the specific mode societies exploit natural resources. Not just human inventiveness and technology matters, but also a gift from nature – fossil energy carriers – is found to be at the roots of the industrial transformation. Their superior energy return on investment (EROI) over traditional biomass, and their sheer quantity, permit a fundamental transformation; these benefits can only be harvested if accompanied by an equally fundamental socio-political transformation. Such insights link the study of politics and history to the study of social metabolism in a systematic way.
Marina Fischer-Kowalski; Elena Rovenskaya; Fridolin Krausmann; Irene Pallua; John R. Mc Neill. Energy transitions and social revolutions. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 2018, 138, 69 -77.
AMA StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski, Elena Rovenskaya, Fridolin Krausmann, Irene Pallua, John R. Mc Neill. Energy transitions and social revolutions. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 2018; 138 ():69-77.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski; Elena Rovenskaya; Fridolin Krausmann; Irene Pallua; John R. Mc Neill. 2018. "Energy transitions and social revolutions." Technological Forecasting and Social Change 138, no. : 69-77.
The global energy system subsumes both extreme wealth (and waste) and extreme poverty. A minority of the global population is consuming the majority of the fossil fuel-based energy and causing global warming. While the mature industrialized economies maintain their high levels of energy consumption, the emerging economies are rapidly expanding their fossil energy systems, emulating traditional patterns of industrialization. We take a global, socio-metabolic perspective on the energy transition phases—take-off, maturation, and completion—of 142 countries between 1971 and 2015. Even within our global fossil energy system, the transition to fossil energy is still ongoing; many countries are in the process of replacing renewable energy with fossil energy. However, due to globally limited supplies and sinks, continuing the fossil energy transition is not an indefinite option. Rather than a “Big Push” for renewable energy within pockets of the fossil energy system, a sustainability transformation is required that would change far more than patterns of energy supply and use. Where this far-reaching change requires pushing back against the fossil energy system, the energy underdogs—the latecomers to the fossil energy transition—just might come out on top.
Anke Schaffartzik; Marina Fischer-Kowalski. Latecomers to the Fossil Energy Transition, Frontrunners for Change? The Relevance of the Energy ‘Underdogs’ for Sustainability Transformations. Sustainability 2018, 10, 2650 .
AMA StyleAnke Schaffartzik, Marina Fischer-Kowalski. Latecomers to the Fossil Energy Transition, Frontrunners for Change? The Relevance of the Energy ‘Underdogs’ for Sustainability Transformations. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (8):2650.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnke Schaffartzik; Marina Fischer-Kowalski. 2018. "Latecomers to the Fossil Energy Transition, Frontrunners for Change? The Relevance of the Energy ‘Underdogs’ for Sustainability Transformations." Sustainability 10, no. 8: 2650.
Academic enterprises seeking to support society’s efforts to achieve global sustainability need to change their legacy reward systems. We need new structures to foster knowledge that is deeply integrated across disciplines and co-produced with non-academic stakeholders.
Elena G. Irwin; Patricia J. Culligan; Marina Fischer-Kowalski; Kara Lavender Law; Raghu Murtugudde; Stephanie Pfirman. Bridging barriers to advance global sustainability. Nature Sustainability 2018, 1, 324 -326.
AMA StyleElena G. Irwin, Patricia J. Culligan, Marina Fischer-Kowalski, Kara Lavender Law, Raghu Murtugudde, Stephanie Pfirman. Bridging barriers to advance global sustainability. Nature Sustainability. 2018; 1 (7):324-326.
Chicago/Turabian StyleElena G. Irwin; Patricia J. Culligan; Marina Fischer-Kowalski; Kara Lavender Law; Raghu Murtugudde; Stephanie Pfirman. 2018. "Bridging barriers to advance global sustainability." Nature Sustainability 1, no. 7: 324-326.
By virtue of being close to the epicentre, the Nicobar Islands located in the Bay of Bengal were severely affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Overwhelming aid followed, transforming an indigenous community of hunters-and-gatherers and coconut growers into a consumer society in a matter of months. Based on several years of fieldwork, this chapter describes the tsunami and its aftermath, the role of aid organizations, the media, and the government in driving the islanders from being self-reliant to becoming an aid dependent society, plagued with social conflicts. We call this a ‘complex disaster’, a situation that has fundamentally challenged the socio-ecological system to reproduce itself, an effect more severe and longer lasting than what the disaster itself had accomplished. In other words, a complex disaster is a consequence of inappropriate interventions following a ‘simple’ disaster, which affects the social system’s ability to regenerate, to govern its own recovery, by interfering with its cultural, economic, and political regulation. This, in turn, affects the environmental relations of the society. The case of the Nicobar Islands is discussed in the context of sustainability to reveal the inherent paradox between humanitarian aid and community resilience, asking the question: What is good help?
Simron Jit Singh; Marina Fischer-Kowalski; Willi Haas. The Sustainability of Humanitarian Aid: The Nicobar Islands as a Case of ‘Complex Disaster’. The Asian Tsunami and Post-Disaster Aid 2018, 143 -165.
AMA StyleSimron Jit Singh, Marina Fischer-Kowalski, Willi Haas. The Sustainability of Humanitarian Aid: The Nicobar Islands as a Case of ‘Complex Disaster’. The Asian Tsunami and Post-Disaster Aid. 2018; ():143-165.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSimron Jit Singh; Marina Fischer-Kowalski; Willi Haas. 2018. "The Sustainability of Humanitarian Aid: The Nicobar Islands as a Case of ‘Complex Disaster’." The Asian Tsunami and Post-Disaster Aid , no. : 143-165.
Tamara Fetzel; Panos Petridis; Dominik Noll; Simron Singh; Marina Fischer-Kowalski. Reaching a socio-ecological tipping point: Overgrazing on the Greek island of Samothraki and the role of European agricultural policies. Land Use Policy 2018, 76, 21 -28.
AMA StyleTamara Fetzel, Panos Petridis, Dominik Noll, Simron Singh, Marina Fischer-Kowalski. Reaching a socio-ecological tipping point: Overgrazing on the Greek island of Samothraki and the role of European agricultural policies. Land Use Policy. 2018; 76 ():21-28.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTamara Fetzel; Panos Petridis; Dominik Noll; Simron Singh; Marina Fischer-Kowalski. 2018. "Reaching a socio-ecological tipping point: Overgrazing on the Greek island of Samothraki and the role of European agricultural policies." Land Use Policy 76, no. : 21-28.
Marina Fischer-Kowalski. Christian Fleck (2015): Sociology in Austria since 1945. Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie 2017, 42, 433 -437.
AMA StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski. Christian Fleck (2015): Sociology in Austria since 1945. Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie. 2017; 42 (4):433-437.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski. 2017. "Christian Fleck (2015): Sociology in Austria since 1945." Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie 42, no. 4: 433-437.
The international industrial ecology (IE) research community and United Nations (UN) Environment have, for the first time, agreed on an authoritative and comprehensive data set for global material extraction and trade covering 40 years of global economic activity and natural resource use. This new data set is becoming the standard information source for decision making at the UN in the context of the post-2015 development agenda, which acknowledges the strong links between sustainable natural resource management, economic prosperity, and human well-being. Only if economic growth and human development can become substantially decoupled from accelerating material use, waste, and emissions can the tensions inherent in the Sustainable Development Goals be resolved and inclusive human development be achieved. In this paper, we summarize the key findings of the assessment study to make the IE research community aware of this new global research resource. The global results show a massive increase in materials extraction from 22 billion tonnes (Bt) in 1970 to 70 Bt in 2010, and an acceleration in material extraction since 2000. This acceleration has occurred at a time when global population growth has slowed and global economic growth has stalled. The global surge in material extraction has been driven by growing wealth and consumption and accelerating trade. A material footprint perspective shows that demand for materials has grown even in the wealthiest parts of the world. Low-income countries have benefited least from growing global resource availability and have continued to deliver primary materials to high-income countries while experiencing few improvements in their domestic material living standards. Material efficiency, the amount of primary materials required per unit of economic activity, has declined since around 2000 because of a shift of global production from very material-efficient economies to less-efficient ones. This global trend of recoupling economic activity with material use, driven by industrialization and urbanization in the global South, most notably Asia, has negative impacts on a suite of environmental and social issues, including natural resource depletion, climate change, loss of biodiversity, and uneven economic development. This research is a good example of the IE research community providing information for evidence-based policy making on the global stage and testament to the growing importance of IE research in achieving global sustainable development.
Heinz Schandl; Marina Fischer-Kowalski; James West; Stefan Giljum; Monika Dittrich; Nina Eisenmenger; Arne Geschke; Mirko Lieber; Hanspeter Wieland; Anke Schaffartzik; Fridolin Krausmann; Sylvia Gierlinger; Karin Hosking; Manfred Lenzen; Hiroki Tanikawa; Alessio Miatto; Tomer Fishman. Global Material Flows and Resource Productivity: Forty Years of Evidence. Journal of Industrial Ecology 2017, 22, 827 -838.
AMA StyleHeinz Schandl, Marina Fischer-Kowalski, James West, Stefan Giljum, Monika Dittrich, Nina Eisenmenger, Arne Geschke, Mirko Lieber, Hanspeter Wieland, Anke Schaffartzik, Fridolin Krausmann, Sylvia Gierlinger, Karin Hosking, Manfred Lenzen, Hiroki Tanikawa, Alessio Miatto, Tomer Fishman. Global Material Flows and Resource Productivity: Forty Years of Evidence. Journal of Industrial Ecology. 2017; 22 (4):827-838.
Chicago/Turabian StyleHeinz Schandl; Marina Fischer-Kowalski; James West; Stefan Giljum; Monika Dittrich; Nina Eisenmenger; Arne Geschke; Mirko Lieber; Hanspeter Wieland; Anke Schaffartzik; Fridolin Krausmann; Sylvia Gierlinger; Karin Hosking; Manfred Lenzen; Hiroki Tanikawa; Alessio Miatto; Tomer Fishman. 2017. "Global Material Flows and Resource Productivity: Forty Years of Evidence." Journal of Industrial Ecology 22, no. 4: 827-838.
Panos Petridis; Marina Fischer-Kowalski; Simron J. Singh; Dominik Noll. The role of science in sustainability transitions: citizen science, transformative research, and experiences from Samothraki island, Greece. Island Studies Journal 2017, 12, 115 -134.
AMA StylePanos Petridis, Marina Fischer-Kowalski, Simron J. Singh, Dominik Noll. The role of science in sustainability transitions: citizen science, transformative research, and experiences from Samothraki island, Greece. Island Studies Journal. 2017; 12 (1):115-134.
Chicago/Turabian StylePanos Petridis; Marina Fischer-Kowalski; Simron J. Singh; Dominik Noll. 2017. "The role of science in sustainability transitions: citizen science, transformative research, and experiences from Samothraki island, Greece." Island Studies Journal 12, no. 1: 115-134.
Anke Schaffartzik; Marina Fischer‐Kowalski. Book Review of Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming, by Andreas Malm. Brooklyn, NY, USA: Verso Books, 2016, 496 pp., ISBN 9781784781293, paperback, $29.95. Journal of Industrial Ecology 2017, 21, 430 -431.
AMA StyleAnke Schaffartzik, Marina Fischer‐Kowalski. Book Review of Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming, by Andreas Malm. Brooklyn, NY, USA: Verso Books, 2016, 496 pp., ISBN 9781784781293, paperback, $29.95. Journal of Industrial Ecology. 2017; 21 (2):430-431.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnke Schaffartzik; Marina Fischer‐Kowalski. 2017. "Book Review of Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming, by Andreas Malm. Brooklyn, NY, USA: Verso Books, 2016, 496 pp., ISBN 9781784781293, paperback, $29.95." Journal of Industrial Ecology 21, no. 2: 430-431.
The goal of this chapter is a macro-scale discussion of growth: human, economic and material, and the positive feedback links between these macro elements. A sustainability transition, we argue, must address the full spectrum of these macro forces, and do so with the awareness of the historical forces that have shaped them. We represent human society as feedback loops between economic activity (as measured by gross domestic product), human population, and social metabolism (measured as physical flows). The nodes of this triangle are mutually reinforcing: economic growth is in part driven by population growth, larger populations require more resources, more resource use enables greater economic investment and activity. We analyse these feedbacks quantitatively, globally and on regional levels. We find that the self-reinforcing power of these relations has gradually become weaker. If the system is not as self-amplifying any more, it equally might not be as self-diminishing. Thus, for high-income countries, no-/low-economic growth may no longer represent a systemic threat. However, for them, the issue at stake is higher: the departure from their high fossil fuel use, as well as a reduction in the use of material resources, is not a matter of no/low growth, but of substantial degrowth, at least biophysically. Globally speaking the current development model is extremely unsustainable, and probably many of those on the way will now be able to successfully achieve their goals because of global environmental and economic feedbacks.
Marina Fischer-Kowalski; Julia K. Steinberger; Peter Victor; Brett Dolter. Growth and sustainability in a material world: the self-reinforcing cycle of population, GDP and resource use. Handbook on Growth and Sustainability 2017, 372 -394.
AMA StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski, Julia K. Steinberger, Peter Victor, Brett Dolter. Growth and sustainability in a material world: the self-reinforcing cycle of population, GDP and resource use. Handbook on Growth and Sustainability. 2017; ():372-394.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski; Julia K. Steinberger; Peter Victor; Brett Dolter. 2017. "Growth and sustainability in a material world: the self-reinforcing cycle of population, GDP and resource use." Handbook on Growth and Sustainability , no. : 372-394.
Anke Schaffartzik; Marina Fischer-Kowalski. A Socio-metabolic Reading of the Long-term Development Trajectories of China and India. Global Change, Ecosystems, Sustainability: Theory, Methods, Practice 2017, 66 -79.
AMA StyleAnke Schaffartzik, Marina Fischer-Kowalski. A Socio-metabolic Reading of the Long-term Development Trajectories of China and India. Global Change, Ecosystems, Sustainability: Theory, Methods, Practice. 2017; ():66-79.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnke Schaffartzik; Marina Fischer-Kowalski. 2017. "A Socio-metabolic Reading of the Long-term Development Trajectories of China and India." Global Change, Ecosystems, Sustainability: Theory, Methods, Practice , no. : 66-79.
Within the socioecological framework, labor figures in two contexts. One context is social metabolism: extracting and transforming materials from nature for social consumption. This is not fundamentally different from what any other animal does to secure its food and the food for its offspring, and it is, as far as we know from hunter-gatherers, not very much work. The second context is what we term colonizing activities. Colonizing activities are deliberate interventions in natural systems to modify their functioning and truly demand labor from humans; the energy transition of the Neolithic revolution is the starting point for man as a laborer. We assume that human society is currently in another energy transition in which we are moving away from the use of fossil fuels. This transition will have as many implications for human labor as the transition toward the fossil fuel-based industrial society had. In the first section, we characterize quantitative, qualitative and institutional features of human labor from a socioecological perspective. We then focus on the interrelation between sociometabolic regimes and the amount of human life time spent on labor, the respective critical capacities of human labor power (physical power, intelligence/knowledge, empathy) and the institutional forms in which labor is employed. The third section speculates about the future: what might labor look like after the ongoing socioecological transition is completed? In light of the major changes in work and life induced by the fossil-fuel-based socioecological transition, what changes might we expect from a major societal transition away from fossil fuels?
Marina Fischer-Kowalski; Willi Haas. Toward a Socioecological Concept of Human Labor. Social Ecology 2016, 169 -196.
AMA StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski, Willi Haas. Toward a Socioecological Concept of Human Labor. Social Ecology. 2016; ():169-196.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski; Willi Haas. 2016. "Toward a Socioecological Concept of Human Labor." Social Ecology , no. : 169-196.
The very ‘insularity’ of islands makes them excellent focal points for sustainability studies that systematically analyze the interactions between human activities and the environment. In this chapter, we seek to explore the factors that cause island societies to prosper and sustain themselves and those that lead to collapse. A number of historical cases of collapse have occurred on the island we investigate (Samothraki, Greece) in the sense of a breakdown of social complexity and rapid population decline. At present, there is a fragile situation of slow population decline and ecological challenges that might be brought to a ‘tipping point’ by the impacts of the Greek economic and governance crisis and by climate change. The island community has decided to make an effort to turn the whole island into a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO standards. Building upon a sociometabolic understanding of socioecological systems and using systems thinking (and, to a certain degree, modeling), we attempt to identify environmental and social ‘tipping points’ for Samothraki. Moreover, in line with the Long-Term Socioecological Research (LTSER) tradition, we argue that analyzing society-environment relations for different phases of the island’s history and gaining insights from past collapses can help to identify threats and possible ailments. Finally, this chapter will reflect not only on the outcome but also on the process of performing transdisciplinary research, that is, research that aims to achieve a practical outcome.
Panos Petridis; Marina Fischer-Kowalski. Island Sustainability: The Case of Samothraki. Social Ecology 2016, 543 -557.
AMA StylePanos Petridis, Marina Fischer-Kowalski. Island Sustainability: The Case of Samothraki. Social Ecology. 2016; ():543-557.
Chicago/Turabian StylePanos Petridis; Marina Fischer-Kowalski. 2016. "Island Sustainability: The Case of Samothraki." Social Ecology , no. : 543-557.
In the 20th century, the human population grew fourfold and the global economy grew 20-fold. This chapter explores how social metabolism has changed with these megatrends. It shows that material and energy use have grown faster than the population but less than the GDP, implying a growth in metabolic rates and some decoupling of resource use from economic growth. Since the beginning of the 21st century, global resource use has again accelerated, and much of the remaining world is transitioning from an agrarian to an industrial metabolic profile.
Fridolin Krausmann; Anke Schaffartzik; Andreas Mayer; Nina Eisenmenger; Simone Gingrich; Helmut Haberl; Marina Fischer-Kowalski. Long-Term Trends in Global Material and Energy Use. Social Ecology 2016, 199 -216.
AMA StyleFridolin Krausmann, Anke Schaffartzik, Andreas Mayer, Nina Eisenmenger, Simone Gingrich, Helmut Haberl, Marina Fischer-Kowalski. Long-Term Trends in Global Material and Energy Use. Social Ecology. 2016; ():199-216.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFridolin Krausmann; Anke Schaffartzik; Andreas Mayer; Nina Eisenmenger; Simone Gingrich; Helmut Haberl; Marina Fischer-Kowalski. 2016. "Long-Term Trends in Global Material and Energy Use." Social Ecology , no. : 199-216.
Social Ecology is an interdisciplinary research field rooted in the traditions of both the Social Sciences and Natural Sciences. The common denominator of this research field is not a shared label but a shared paradigm. Related labels that extend beyond Social Ecology include Human Ecology, Industrial Ecology, Ecological Economics and Socioecological Systems Analysis. The core axioms of the shared paradigm are that human social and natural systems interact, coevolve over time and have substantial impacts upon one another, with causality working in both directions. Social Ecology offers a conceptual approach to society-nature coevolution pertaining to history, to current development processes and to a future sustainability transition. This chapter reviews several academic traditions that have contributed to the emergence of this paradigm and then describes the research areas belonging to the field. One cluster deals with society’s biophysical structures (such as energy and society, land use and food production and social metabolism, the field covered by Industrial Ecology and Ecological Economics). Other clusters identify the environmental impacts of human societies (such as the IPAT and footprint approaches), biohistory and society-nature coevolution. Another research area considers regulation, governance and sustainability transitions. In the last section, we describe the distinguishing characteristics of the Vienna Social Ecology School.
Marina Fischer-Kowalski; Helga Weisz. The Archipelago of Social Ecology and the Island of the Vienna School. Social Ecology 2016, 3 -28.
AMA StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski, Helga Weisz. The Archipelago of Social Ecology and the Island of the Vienna School. Social Ecology. 2016; ():3-28.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski; Helga Weisz. 2016. "The Archipelago of Social Ecology and the Island of the Vienna School." Social Ecology , no. : 3-28.
This chapter outlines the basics of our socioecological theory. It starts with the question of why entities such as ‘culture’ have been so successful that an evolving species like humankind could become the dominant power on the planet. It explains social systems as ‘hybrids’, a structural coupling between a (cultural) communication system and interconnected biophysical elements. In what sense are humans, domestic animals and artifacts hybrids? In what sense do these elements ‘belong’ to a certain cultural (communication) system? The constitutive operation is ‘colonization’. Human beings are culturally ‘colonized’, as are their livestock and their artifacts. These hybrid elements and the metabolic flows required to maintain them determine the social system’s impact upon the ‘rest of nature’. This influence happens through the metabolic exchange of energy and materials (which in part occurs unintentionally, such as breathing or evaporation) and through ‘labor’, or culturally guided human action. The sociometabolic model is described in the following section as an interrelation of stocks (human population, territory, livestock and artifacts) and flows (energy and materials). It has systematic similarities with national accounting and is thus useful for addressing many research questions, such as the resource productivity of a national economy or its energy intensity. To some extent, it is the description of an economy, at any time in history, using biophysical instead monetary parameters.
Marina Fischer-Kowalski; Karl-Heinz Erb. Core Concepts and Heuristics. Social Ecology 2016, 29 -61.
AMA StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski, Karl-Heinz Erb. Core Concepts and Heuristics. Social Ecology. 2016; ():29-61.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMarina Fischer-Kowalski; Karl-Heinz Erb. 2016. "Core Concepts and Heuristics." Social Ecology , no. : 29-61.