Theories of Post-Industrial Sustainability

Ecological Modernization
Ecological modernization is a social/political theory that has
come to provide the contextual framework for policy design
around sustainable development in several advanced nations.

Ecological Modernization

Ecological Modernization
The past few hundred years of Anglo-European history can be
divided into three relatively distinct phases beginning with a premodern phase.

Ecological Modernization
Pre-modernityextending in much of northern and western
Europe until the latter portion of the eighteenth centurywas
primarily characterized by agrarian systems of production,

Ecological Modernization
Relatively small-scale, artisan crafted production,...

Ecological Modernization
And comparatively low levels of urbanization.

Ecological Modernization
The industrial revolution began to gather momentum during the
latter decades of the eighteenth centuryfirst in England and
then throughout other European countries and elsewhere.

Ecological Modernization
The predominance of agrarian lifestyles began to give way to
industrial production and associated modes of living.

Ecological Modernization
Industrial cities like Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham began to
develop as important manufacturing centers.

Ecological Modernization
Urbanization gathered momentum as people migrated from rural
lands in remote areas to the growing industrial cities.

Ecological Modernization
These processes of industrialization and population concentration
brought about the emergence of new environmental problems
the so-called design flaws or side-effects of modernity.

London (circa 1850)

Industrial Revolution
It is inaccurate to view the industrial revolution as a single,
continuous event. Rather the industrial revolution was comprised
of at least three separate smaller industrial revolutions.

Industrial Revolution
The first industrial revolution occurred between about 1750 and
1825 and was largely based on technological advances in textile
production in northern England.

Industrial Revolution
These were the dark, satanic mills described by poet William
Blake, an image that continues to inform much of our
understanding of the early years of the industrial revolution.

Industrial Revolution
It also merits observing the slow pace of any substantive
improvement to address the horrid health conditions created by
early European (and American in later years) industrialization.

Industrial Revolution
For instance, the British Parliament was not compelled to take
action on Londons chronic sewage problem until 1858 when the
House of Commons was evacuated due to the smelly odors
coming out from the River Thames.

Industrial Revolution
Manchester in the 1840s

Industrial Revolution
The second industrial revolution was primarily motivated by
scientific developments in metallurgy and chemistry in Germany.

Industrial Revolution
Indeed, the establishment of technical (or polytechnical) institutes
was prompted by an economic need to transplant this knowledge
to the United States.

Industrial Revolution
The third industrial revolution, starting at the start of the
twentieth century, has been organized around electrical
engineering and began with the telephone and eventually spread
to the development of computers.

Industrial Revolution
What now? Or whats next?

Ecological Modernization

Pre-modernity

Modernity

Ecological
Modernity

Ecological modernization is an optimistic

school of thought in the social sciences that
argues that the economy benefits from
moves towards environmentalism. It has
gained increasing attention among scholars
and policymakers in the last several decades

Precursors of Ecological Modernization

The theory of ecological modernization in many respects is an
extension of several prior conceptions of post-industrial
transformation.

Walter Rostow (1916-2003)

Rostows Linear Stage Theory of Development

High-mass
consumption
Maturity phase
Take-off phase

Transitional phase

Traditional society

Rostows Linear Stage Theory of Development

Simon Kuznets (1901-1985)

Kuznets Curve

Environmental Kuznets Curve

Nikolai Kondrotieff (or Kondrottiev) (1892-1938)

Nikolai Kondratieff (1892-1938)

Kondrotieff Waves

Kondrotieff Waves

Joseph Schumpeter (1883 -1950)

Schumpeters Theory of Creative Destruction

Schumpeter is most famous today for observing that capitalistic
economic systems where characterized by regular gales of
creative destruction.

A New Industrial Revolution?

Ecological modernity will be characterized by a new industrial
revolution organized around advanced environmental
technologies that will correct the design flaws or sideeffects of modernity.

A New Industrial Revolution?

Rather the new generation of environmental technologies will
fundamentally transform industrial production by generating
zero waste and achieving several-fold improvements in energy
and materials efficiencies.

A New Industrial Revolution?

The ultimate objective is to decouple economic growth from
environmental performance and to allow value added to increase
while reducing energy and materials inputs.

A New Industrial Revolution?

Countries at the forefront of earlier industrial revolutions were
able to achieve significant comparative economic advantages and
nations that are the pioneers of ecological modernity will get
similar benefits.

A New Industrial Revolution?

Ecological modernization thus presents a radically different view
of the future than is conventionally advanced by many
mainstream environmentalists in the United States and elsewhere.

Ecological Modernization as Policy Practice

Over the past twenty years, ecological modernization has become
an increasingly central (and relatively uncontroversial) feature of
European sustainability policy making.

Six Key Tenets of Ecological Modernization

Six Key Tenets of Ecological Modernization

1. Superindustrialization

Six Key Tenets of Ecological Modernization

2. Precautionary Principle

Six Key Tenets of Ecological Modernization

Six Key Tenets of Ecological Modernization

3. Organizational Internalization of Environmental Responsibility

Six Key Tenets of Ecological Modernization

4. Strict (but Flexible) Government Regulations

Six Key Tenets of Ecological Modernization

5. Consensus-Oriented Decision Making

Tom Friedman, Never Heard That Before (from course website)

Six Key Tenets of Ecological Modernization

6. Environmental Improvement Becomes a Keystone of Innovation

Why Support the Transition Toward Ecological Modernity?

1. Pollution is a sign of waste (i.e., pollution prevention pays)

Why Support the Transition Toward Ecological Modernity?

2. It is cheaper to proactively address environmental problems early on
rather than further down the road (e.g., toxic waste).

Why Support the Transition Toward Ecological Modernity?

3. Consumer demand for greener consumption is increasing. A green
identity can confer marketing and promotional benefits.