The Growth Paradigm: Measuring Nothing
The following essay is an excerpt from America’s Addiction to Automobiles by Chad Frederick. The book argues that contrary to the ethos of much contemporary urban planning, simply increasing the multimodal infrastructure of our cities is not enough to free them from automobile dependency. This task requires that we change the underlying logic of city governance, away from the growth paradigm to the sustainable development paradigm, with equity at its center.
Social Ecology: Communalism against Climate Chaos
An article by ISE board member Brian Tokar, featured in the Winter 2018 issue of ROAR Magazine with an overall theme of System Change: “To address the full magnitude of the climate crisis and maintain a habitable planet for future generations we need to shatter the myths of capitalist growth once and for all.”
New review of “Ecology or Catastrophe”
Published in Anarchist Studies 25:1, pp.103-105. By Eleanor Finley, University of Massachusetts Amherst, PhD student & ISE Board member, and Dr. Federico Venturini, Independent Researcher and Activist, Transnational Institute for Social Ecology A review of Janet Biehl, Ecology or Catastrophe: The Life of Murray Bookchin, Oxford University Press, 2015 In recent years, there has been […]
Enroll now for fall online seminar – Mondays Oct. 30-Dec. 18
Please stay tuned for several new courses in the works for 2018, along with our next in-person intensive seminar.
2nd International Meeting on Social Ecology: Bilbao, Spain – October 27-29
Second International Meeting on Social Ecology: Bilbao, Spain – October 27-29.
Teaming with Black activists and microbes for the soul of organic
by Grace Gershuny, [Originally posted at http://www.organic-revolutionary.com/single-post/2017/05/29/Teaming-with-Black-activists-and-microbes-for-the-soul-of-organic] I tend to be a big picture thinker, and have always just assumed that the connections between organic agriculture and social justice were self-evident. Yet clearly many others don’t see this connection, and believe that with the advent of a federally mandated organic certification and marketing program, organic […]
System Change or Extinction? Thoughts on “The Uninhabitable Earth”
“There are thus two critiques of “The Uninhabitable Earth.” First, Wallace-Wells fails to account for all the positive environmental actions we’re going to take. But he also ignores the negative political actions that are bound to occur. But something is missing here. These two critiques don’t go well together. It just doesn’t make sense that we could make major reductions in emissions with the same old “vicious right-wing minority” in power. If they’re still in charge and pushing wars, we’re screwed. It seems obvious, but apparently bears repeating: environmental change requires political change. Capitalism fuels environmental devastation. We will only halt environmental devastation if we dismantle capitalism.”
Kurds and supporters gather in Hamburg
Internationalizing Democratic Modernity : A report from Challenging Capitalist Modernity III by Eleanor Finley From April 15 – 17, 2017 in Hamburg, Germany the Kurdish freedom movement held its third instantiation of Challenging Capitalist Modernity, the biennial conference dedicated to ‘democratic modernity’ and the ideas developed by imprisoned Kurdish political leader Abdullah Ocalan. On the […]
Spring Social Ecology online seminar May 8-June 26!
Stay tuned for future versions of our online social ecology course, plus several new courses in the works for the 2017-18 academic year!
Reason, creativity and freedom: The communalist model
On the unique relevance of communalism in this historical moment. By Eleanor Finley, originally published by ROAR Magazine.
