Jun 13
Although Daly’s basic tenet in From a Failed Growth Economy to a Steady State Economy has considerable merit, Steady-state economy theory is a Northern-centered theory that is written from an exclusively Northern viewpoint. It reflects Northern interests and Northern fears. It does not take into consideration the situation of the South. Given their present circumstances, virtually all countries in the South would require many years of positive growth to be able to significantly alleviate (not to speak of eradicating) poverty, and for their populations to be able to attain a decent living level…
I am happy to let readers who have read my piece judge for themselves. As for readers who have not read it, I will just suggest that they do–Mervyn kindly provided a web link to it. As he notes it was written from a Northern perspective–the best thing the North can do for the South is to move to a steady state economy and free up some resources and ecological space for the South to grow into for the alleviation of poverty. If the South can provide a better model of sharing for the North to emulate that would be great, but I don’t see it in Nigeria–maybe Cuba, maybe Kerala? Also once growth becomes uneconomic it will no longer help the poor or the rich!
Regards, Herman Daly
Professor, School of Public Policy
University of Maryland
[Posting note: link to Daly article is
http://www.eoearth.org/article/From_a_Failed_Growth_Economy_to_a_Steady-State_Economy
Many thanks for posting Mervyn Claxton’s critique of Daly. I like a lot of what Daly says, but felt uncomfortable with it too. Claxton helped me to define my discomfort in his comments on the culture centric roots of some of Daly’s work and especially in his closing paragraph on the difficulties (if not impossibility) of implementing a zero or negative growth economy because of ingrained North American and European (judeo-christian) values opposed to redistribution.
I’m not so sure however that the Second Law of Thermodynamics itself creates a technological imperative as much as the way it has been used (abused) by capital. I don’t think Georgescu-Roegen in his 1971 The Entropy Law and the Economic Process, argues this. Critics of Georgescu-Roegen and the literature on the rebound effect (the Jevons paradox?) expose many of the same flaws as Claxton without saying the Second Law itself is flawed.
I’ve started to develop some helpful contacts with Canadian aboriginal activists and am finding more literature on Evo Morales’ “vivir bien” ideas which will enrich my book on “decroissance” for the New Internationalist.
Here’s a link to a recent Le Monde article you might find interesting.
Bob
Le Monde diplomatique: English Edition
June 2009
http://mondediplo.com/2009/06/11greennewdeal
Break with all history since the industrial revolution
Towards zero growth
What defines a Green New Deal? Could the world actually introduce policies to create it? And could it both solve the present economic disaster and reduce human damage to the planet?
by Peter Custers
…there are many reasons to be cautious when assessing these measures’ social and green significance
A Keynesian Green New Deal isn’t a solution because Keynes took the economy of exponential growth as his starting point. Yet the capitalist economy with its drive to accumulate must fail since it will gradually lead to the exhaustion of raw materials, and to ever rising expenditures and energy use to extract raw materials. It is time for a transition away from the present economy of capital accumulation towards an economy that refuses to grow. This transition needs to be at world level, and to be strategised to protect the global South. This may sound utopian. But then, the idea of a Green New Deal would have sounded utopian a few years back.
Peter Custers is an expert on arms production and exports, affiliated researcher at the International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden, and author of Questioning Globalized Militarism, Tulika Publishers, New Delhi/Merlin Press, London, 2007
The links below might be helpful for anyone wanting to pursue some of these ideas further.
Georgescu-Roegen
http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/georgescu.htm
Some reviews of the Amazon entry on G-N’s book that highlight criticisms as well as the importance of his book
http://www.amazon.com/Entropy-Law-Economic-Process/product-reviews/1583486003/ref=cm_cr_dp_synop?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending#R3NGP88PGH56F
On degrowth my own draft bibliography might be useful
http://www.web.ca/~bthomson/Decroissance_Index.html
Dear Mervyn:
Mostly agreeing with you as I do from my readings alone of the poetry of many cultures, I hesitate to differ on anything. But I will if I may.
Your argument on religio-cultural underpinnings of the “Northern” ethic is founded on migration of meanings of two words in the passage of the Bible you quote. That those migrations are based in exegeses of the Bible suggests that Judeo-Christianity may in fact not be the source of the
problem. It may be one imposed on the Word by another word.
“Subdue” equivocates into “conquer” in your analysis, and “dominion over” equivocates into “dominate.” The thesaurus gives two synonyms for “subdue”: “restrain” and “overmaster”. Do they not suggest vastly different attitudes from which one may choose?
Secondly, I know nothing of the original Greek language of the first found texts of the Bible, but I offer this reasonable hypothesis: Knowing the Greeks, they would have had a very distinct word for “dominate”; therefore, they could presumably have had little need to produce a word that translates into “dominion over.” My elementary etymology here suggests that they
and/or their translators were forced to reach for some notion that suggests what the Iroquois and Ghanaians are attempting to effect.
I guess all I am saying is that you place a source of bad behaviour in a specific religious attitude and that attitude is only available to us in quite specific uses/understandings of language. The language of domination used to understand the King James version which the North would have been working with for some time is the language imposed by kings and imperialists. (It is not the language you have to choose as you seem to have done.) Therfore, the quite unmistakable verse in the King James Version of the Judeo-Christian Word after your selection is always missed by everyone – except RastafarI.
That verse was meant, ones feel, to direct all man and beast to vegetarian living, and hence an attitude of holding nature in trust with theological governance: Genesis 1:29 “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb
bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
(30) And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.”
One so desires the lamb to lay down with the lion and a little child to lead them – an environmental miracle of high order, cause children does both lead
and follow.
Guidance,
Margaret Kawamuinyo
Margaret,
I readily agree with you re the difficulty of determining the exact meaning of scriptural texts and the various problems posed by transalation and transliteration of ancient languages, several of which are no longer extant like, for example, aramaic – the language spoken by Jesus. Aramaic is currently used only as a liturgical language by certain Eastern Christian sects. That problem is not specific to Judaeo-Christian texts. It is one with which Islam has always wrestled. Take, for example, the famous suras in the Koran and the Hadith sayings, which promise martyrs 72 virgins when they get to heaven. That intrepretation, according to the thesis proposed by Christoph Luxenberg in his recent book (“The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran; a contribution to the decoding of the language of the Qur’an”, 2007), is based on a mistranslation of the Koranic text.
The book’s central argument is that many ambiguities in the Koran would be clarified if certain words are read as being Syriac rather than Arabic. Syriac, which began as a dialect of Aramaic, was spoken throughout the Middle East in the early centuries A.D. Classical Syriac became a major literary language between the 4th and 8th centuires ““ a period covering the years during which the Koran was written. The Koran, which is renowned for the beauty of its language, is written in a literary style. With Luxemberg’s thesis, the translation of the sura verses in question yields “white raisins” of “crystal clarity” instead of “doe-eyed” and “ever willing virgins”. Moreover, Luxenberg states that the context makes it clear that it is food and drink which is being offered to the martyrs in those verses, not untouched maidens or “houris”.
Furthermore, in view of my conviction (and that of many researchers and specialists) that the Bible, like the foundation texts of all ancient religions, should be read as an allegory rather than taken literally, I tend to place Bibilical exegesis in the same category as the medieval scholastic argument about how many angels could dance on the head of a pin. I agree totally with the point you make re languages of domination etc. Indeed, you would surely remember that I explored that very point in my first article in the Culture and Development series, in discussing the insidious influence on our thinking, in Caricom and the South, by having been schooled in the language of the dominant power. I cited the Sapir-Whorf thesis, namely, that (I quote from my article): “the language we use is more than a mere instrument for expressing our thoughts, it actually helps to determine them. It influences how we frame questions, how we organize our arguments, and how we solve puzzles with logic and reasoning.”
I feel that energy spent in the careful examination of the wording,the language, and the actual content of the Old Testament in efforts to elict eternal Truths, might be a futile exercise. Several key passages in the Old Testament were borrowed, lock, stock and barrel, from Mesopotamian historical legends. I shall just mention two. The Biblical account of Noah, the Flood, and the Ark was copied, in great detail, from the legend of Gilgamesh, a Mesopotamian King who reigned around 2600 B.C. The historical accuracy of that legend was established by a British archaeologist, George Smith, who presented the results of his research in a paper he delivered at an archaeological meeting in London in 1872. He had succeeded in deciphering the cuneiform script of the Gilgamesh legend from clay tablets he discovered during an archaelogical expedition in modern day Iraq, The Gilgammesh legend was identical in virtually every resepct, to the Biblical “legend” of Noah and the Ark. The account of the Great Flood in the Mesopotamian legend predates the Biblical account by several centuries – the former was written around the 18th century B.C
whereas the latter account was written in stages between the 14th-13th and 5th centuries B.C.
The Biblical story of Moses, who is supposed to have lived around the 13th or 14th century B.C. also appears to have been copied from another Mesopotamian legend – one that recounts the origins of Sargon, a Mesopotamian King, who, as written tablets show, actually reigned 1000 years before – from 2334 B.C. to 2279 B.C. The story of his life begins with the baby Sargon being found, by a gardener called Aqqi, floating in a basket down the Euphrates river. Sargon’s mother was an important priestess and, as such, was forbidden to have children. She had placed him in a basket made of reeds, which she made waterproof by using asphalt to seal it. According to the legend, Sargon entered the service of UR-Zababa, the king of Kish, as a young man. He became a cup-bearer at court, was elevated to the rank of prince, and then dethroned his benefactor by seizing power. Apart from the fact that the Mesopotamian account antedates the virtually identical Biblical story of Moses by 1000 years, what confirms that the Biblical account was copied from the Mesopotamian one is the use of asphalt, in both accounts, to make the reed basket waterproof.
Asphalt was a common substance in Mesopotamia but it did not exist in Egypt! So, like a school boy whom a teacher discovers to have copied from his classmate because he also copied the same mistakes as his classmate, the Bible has been caught in flagrante delicto copying from Mesopotamian legend!
Those historically-proven Biblical “borrowings” from Mesopotamian legends and history, effectively undermine the fervent belief of Christian fundamentalists that the Bible is a historical account of creation and of early human history which should be understood literally. What is amazing is that those borrowings were established, beyond any doubt, as far back as the 19th century and, although knowledge of them is easily accessible, they have not been widely publicised. If, as Marx allegedly said, religion is the opium of the masses, ignorance is the weapon certain influential groups in the Christian Church use to keep them drugged.
I now come to the substance of your argument, namely, that: “That verse was meant, ones feel, to direct all man and beast to vegetarian living, and hence an attitude of holding nature in trust with theological governance”. I am less concerned with what the Genesis verse I quoted in my message meant, especially in light of the views I expresed above, than in the meaning Christians and Christian fundamentalist give, and have given to it. The central importance of that particular verse for Christian fundamentalists in America is not a figment of my imagination nor is it a misinterpretation, on my part, of their beliefs. They have publicly proclaimed it themselves in a very unambiguous way.
The Interfaith Council for Environmental Stewardship (ICES) is a radical Christian Right organization that was founded by a group of American evangelists, including Jerry Falwell. The ICES has stated in writing that its environmental views are shaped by that verse in the Book of Genesis: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the seas, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on this earth.” The ICES further claims that that particular passage proves that “man” is superior to nature and that it provides Biblical justification for unchecked population growth and unrestrained resource use.
“America’s Providential History”, (1991), a school textbook written by Mark Beliles and Stephen McDowell for the fundamentalist faithful, was published by the (American) Providence Foundation. The book, which is based on the thesis that all history is providential, has become so popular that the Conservative Book Club triumphantly announced: “This volume seems destined to become one of the best selling Christian books of our time.” Let us see what the authors state (in their own words), in the preface, is the book’s objective. Be warned! It makes quite chilling reading:
“The goal of America’s Providential History is to equip Christians to be able to introduce Biblical principles into the public affairs of America, and every nation in the world, and in doing so bring Godly change throughout the world. We will be learning how to establish a Biblical form (and power) of government in America and we will see how our present governmental structures must be changed. Since the principles we will be learning are valid in every society and in any time in history, they will be able to be applied throughout the world and not just in America. As we learn to operate nations on Biblical principles, we will be bringing liberty to the nations of the world and hence fulfilling part of God’s plan for the nations.”
Does that sound familiar? Replace Biblical with Koranic, and Christians with Muslims, and you come face to face with Bin Laden’s thesis and his plan for Islamic world domination. The popular Christian fundamentalist textbook could not be more explicit in its views (and those of the Christian Right’) on the environmnent: “The secular or socialist has a limited resource mentality and views the world as a pie…..that needs to be cut up so everyone can get a piece”¦”¦The Christian knows that the potential in God is unlimited and that there is no shortage of resources in God’s Earth. The resources are waiting to be tapped”. Another passage states: “While many secularists view the world as overpopulated, Christians know that God has made the earth sufficiently large with plenty of resources to accommodate all of the people”.
Now, a shocked mainstream Christian believer may be inclined to argue that those views are restricted to a far-right fringe group and, as such, they do not pose any threat. Let’s look at the facts. Two very influential Republican politicians of the Christian Right, House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay, and James Inhofe, Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee during the Bush administration, not only fully share those views but have also tried their best to implement them. Both have vehemently denounced the Environmental Protection Agency, which they call “the Gestapo”. And DeLay has fought to repeal the Clean Air and Endangered Species acts. As for Senator Inhofe, he invited a group of like-minded climate climate change deniers to testify at a hearing of his Senate Committe, at the conclusion of which Inhofe declared that global warming is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people”.
During the 2000 Pesidential election campaign, Delay called that year’s Presidential election an apocalyptic “battle for souls”, a fight to the death against the forces of liberalism, feminism, and environmentalism which are corrupting America. He argued that such movements are doomed to fail because “they are not inspired by God”. As a Christian feminist activist yourself, it might come as a great surprise to you to learn that feminism is not inspired by God. You learn that “divine” fact not from any Tom, Dick, or Harry, but from one of themost important political personalities in America – someone who, like the unlamented Bush, prides himself on knowing God’s Will , like all Fundamentalists ““ Christian, Islamic or Jewish – do.
As a general rule, I never make uninformed statements on public issues, which does not mean that my interpretation of them is correct. But, as I did in my in-depth critical analysis of the POS Declaration, I am always ready to provide source references for any of my arguments. If you wish to have more references, than the ones I have provided in this message, on the Biblical/environmental nexus of American Christian fundamentalist views, please do not hesitate to make your wishes known. You will get an extensive list of them by return e-mail.
Mervyn
Dear Mervyn:
Your emails, because of your reasonings and especially their references are always a nuanced source of knowledge. I appreciate that, as I read very little except poets and can hardly quote them. Although, Confucius said something that totally intrigued me:
“You love the sheep; I love the ceremony.”
I wonder if he was expressing an environmental attitude there or doing something else? Just thinking aloud.
I have read Gilgamesh, the translation by Stephen Mitchell with an extensive introduction and notes and loved it. I find it useless to engage in
arguments about derivatives when it comes to faith. Human kind has always reached for god and god has always encountered the I in love. Wherever.
Perhaps because I speak essentially of meaning and you speak essentially of fact we cannot be said so much to differ as to offer.
As a Christian feminist activist bi-polar dis-order poet mother and old woman, part-time economist and dangerously Marxist, little surprises me. I was surprised though that you let the Fundamentalist Right get away with
ignoring the environmental attitude expressed in the same King James Bible about the lion, the lamb and the little child.
I did not contest your argument about elite uses of the Bible in establishing an anti-nature platform. I contested your assertion that it
was Judeo Christianity from even back by Abraham that carried that attitude. My authority? Neither the historically-proven nor the scholarly researched, which to my selective mind are just another Bible. Merely my own reflective
reading of the said beautifully poetic King James version, insertion of this one ideolect, practise of the faith, and a keen desire to enjoin and join on to, as a friend of mine who not too sure bout this god thing calls it, Up-full Justice.
You may ignore my contestation or offering as you WERE talking about steady state economy. I just find things link up, as you evidently also did.
Guidance,
Margaret Kawamuinyo
ps, I also buy and read Archie Comics. Seriously.