Cover image for Land and resource scarcity : capitalism, struggle and well-being in a world without fossil fuels
Title:
Land and resource scarcity : capitalism, struggle and well-being in a world without fossil fuels
Series:
Routledge studies in environmental policy ; 1
Publication Information:
London ; New York : Routledge, 2013
Physical Description:
ix, 307 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
ISBN:
9780415630610

9780203097564
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30000010320849 HD9502.A2 L36 2013 Open Access Book Book
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Summary

Summary

This book brings together geological, biological, radical economic, technological, historical and social perspectives on peak oil and other scarce resources. The contributors to this volume argue that these scarcities will put an end to the capitalist system as we know it and alternatives must be created. The book combines natural science with emancipatory thinking, focusing on bottom up alternatives and social struggles to change the world by taking action. The volume introduces original contributions to the debates on peak oil, land grabbing and social alternatives, thus creating a synthesis to gain an overview of the multiple crises of our times.

The book sets out to analyse how crises of energy, climate, metals, minerals and the soil relate to the global land grab which has accelerated greatly since 2008, as well as to examine the crisis of profit production and political legitimacy. Based on a theoretical understanding of the multiple crises and the effects of peak oil and other scarcities on capital accumulation, the contributors explore the social innovations that provide an alternative.

Using the most up to date research on resource crises, this integrative and critical analysis brings together the issues with a radical perspective on possibilites for future change as well as a strong social economic and ethical dimesion. The book should be of interest to researchers and students of environmental policy, politics, sustainable development and natural resource management.


Author Notes

Andreas Exner is an ecologist at Umweltbüro GmbH, Austria.

Peter Fleissner was Professor at Vienna University of Technology, Austria, until he retired in 2006.

Lukas Kranzl is a senior researcher at the Energy Economics Group at Vienna University of Technology, Austria.

Werner Zittel is a scientist at Ludwig Bölkow Systemtechnik GmbH, Germany.


Table of Contents

Elmar Altvater and Margot GeigerWerner ZittelWerner ZittelWerner Zittel and Andreas ExnerLukas Kranzl and Gerald Kalt and Christian Lauk and Kai Kemendy and Andreas ExnerAndreas ExnerPeter Fleissner and Andreas ExnerAndreas ExnerAndreas Exner
Notes on the authorsp. vii
Acknowledgementsp. xi
Introductionp. 1
1 Exiting the multiple crises through 'green' growth?p. 6
2 The end of the black epoch: fossil fuel peaksp. 30
3 The stuff of the green revolution: nitrogen, potassium and phosphatep. 46
4 Mining between comeback and dead endp. 54
5 Land and the centrality of biomassp. 74
6 The new land grab at the frontiers of the fossil energy regimep. 119
7 Possible futures among dictatorship, chaos, and living wellp. 163
8 De-growth solidarity: the great socio-ecological transformation of the twenty-first centuryp. 185
9 A strategy of double power: the state and global regulationp. 245
Referencesp. 260
Indexp. 295