Disrupting technologies:can the planetary technosphere be steered politically toward a post-capitalist metabolism?

The dominant approach in (trans/sub)national governance of ecological crises, mostnotably climate change, is ecological modernisation. As a framing of collectiveaction, ecological modernisation assumes that the structure of economic growth canbe made sustainable by deploying market instruments to drive the sociotechnicaltransition away from the present fossil-fueled technological base. However, scientistsare warning that such a market-driven technology-frst approach, ensconced inthe UNFCCC since at least the Kyoto Protocol, might not be comprehensive andrapid enough to prevent global warming beyond 2°C above the pre-industrial levelsand thus a signifcant breakdown of ecosystems, rendering vulnerable indigenous,low-income, and working-class communities across the world.This thesis analyses how organisations that are operating in the “middle ground,”between the policymaking arena and their social constituencies, are seeking todisrupt the hegemony of technology-frst policies, while at the same time proposingalternative pathways to transition away from the extractivist and capitalist socialmetabolism to a plurality of environmentally livable and socially just futures for all.Taking an iterative theory-building approach, the thesis frst conceptualises thestrategic agency of these social actors: against the historical trajectory of industrialcapitalist social metabolism; within the power-diferentiated social structures of thecapitalist state; and through the framing and distributive struggles sited betweenthe climate action arena and the social feld. By drawing on a set of complementarytheories — ecological Marxism, environmental humanities, science and technology studies, the critical theory of technology, strategic-relational approach, andinstitutional logics theory — it proposes two analytical frameworks to indicatestrategic openings for “middle-ground” organisations to impact sociotechnical andsociometabolic transitions.In a second step, the thesis provides two case studies contrasting two organisations and two environmentalisms: a degrowth-oriented Institute for Political Ecology,hailing from the periphery of European capitalism; and a green new deal-orientedindustrial trade union Unite the Union, hailing from one of the centres of Europeancapitalism. Drawing on interviews, analysis of documents, and joint research withthe two organisations, it argues that they engage the governance terrain as epistemicactors and work with diferent social constituencies to instil distributive justice into climate action. These actors are disrupting the dominant market-driven technologyfrst approach and are thereby re-politicising and re-democratising the environmentalgovernance. In a fnal step, the thesis analyses and speculates on the prospects oftheir counter-proposals in the present political and environmental conjuncture.<br/

Archives

Archives have become a nexus in the wake of the digital turn. This book sets out to show how expanded archival practices can challenge contemporary conceptions and inform the redistribution of power and resources. Calling for the necessity to reimagine the potentials of archives in practice, the three contributions ask: Can archives fulfill their paradoxical potential as utopian sites in which the analog and the digital, the past and future, and remembrance and forgetting commingle? Contents: Introduction: Contesting "The Archive," Archives, and Thanatarchy (Andrew Lison); Archives of Inconvenience (Rick Prelinger); System of a Takedown: Control and De-commodification in the Circuits of Academic Publishing (Marcell Mars and Tomislav Medak)

Heavy metals in lysimetric solution of pseudogley soils in the the Kupa and Česma river areas

Background and Purpose: The concentration of heavy metals in the environment has increased due to, among other reasons, the influence of human activity. An increase in concentration is not at the same level for all metals and depends mainly on the amount and the way of transmission, aswell as the source of pollution. The way that any heavy metal moves within an ecosystem depends on the biogeochemical cycle. There are a number ofways of circulation between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere and biosphere. The transmission of heavy metals can be observed through atmospheric flows in the form of gases as well as sedimentation of dry and wet deposits in the forest ecosystem. Materials and Methods: The following heavy metals were monitored: lead (Pb) copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd). Sampling was performed by means of funnels (throughfall) and the amount of precipitation was measured in rain gauges with a surface opening of 60 cm2. Rain gauges and funnels were placed diagonally by 6–9 items, each on 30x30m plot. On a control plot, where the impact of vegetation was excluded, funnels (bulks) were placed in a random order or circularly. Plastic zero tension lysimeters were placed in the soil at the depth of 20 cmor beneath the humus layer and in mineral part of the soil at the depth of 100 cm. They collected the seeped liquid (seepage) in the soil. Sampling was carried out once a month. According to data obtained by monitoring, our forests and soils absorb more deposited heavy metals (wet and dry sedimentation) compared to the control samples in the open area. Results: Concentration of lead and cadmium in some samples in lysimeters at a depth of 10 cm was increased and according to drinking water standards in Croatia (Pb>2.0 μgL–1, Cd>0.20 μgL–1) was t0o high. In lysimetric liquids, a slightly increased amount of heavy metals was observed. The average content of cadmium in lysimeters (spring, summer and autumn) was 0.13–0.36–0.37 μgL–1, lead 4.3–4.2–5.1 μgL–1, copper 3.3–5.3–4.6 μgL–1, zinc12.7–8.9–17.6 μgL–1, respectively. Conclusions: The forest ecosystems of Pedunculate oak and common hornbeam, with its bio-mass surface, allow increased dry deposition of substances which, by means of precipitation, become leached through tree-crowns. These results are in agreement with other investigations (Bretchel,1989; Van Breemen at al. 1988; Lindberg at al.1988;) which demonstrate that the deposition under forest tree-crowns is greater than in a open space, away from the influence of vegetation. This influences forest soils and soil solution in forest soils. There was an increased input of heavy metals intoour forest ecosystem at all monitored sites. At control locations (bulks), where impact of vegetation is excluded, the amounts of heavy metals are always lower. On the basis of these investigations it can be concluded that problems of constant accumulation of heavy metals in soils are present in the region of lowland forests. In this processthe types of soil play a significant role in buffering deposition substances which fall as precipitation

Heavy metals in lysimetric solution of pseudogley soils in the the Kupa and Česma river areas

Background and Purpose: The concentration of heavy metals in the environment has increased due to, among other reasons, the influence of human activity. An increase in concentration is not at the same level for all metals and depends mainly on the amount and the way of transmission, aswell as the source of pollution. The way that any heavy metal moves within an ecosystem depends on the biogeochemical cycle. There are a number ofways of circulation between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere and biosphere. The transmission of heavy metals can be observed through atmospheric flows in the form of gases as well as sedimentation of dry and wet deposits in the forest ecosystem. Materials and Methods: The following heavy metals were monitored: lead (Pb) copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd). Sampling was performed by means of funnels (throughfall) and the amount of precipitation was measured in rain gauges with a surface opening of 60 cm2. Rain gauges and funnels were placed diagonally by 6–9 items, each on 30x30m plot. On a control plot, where the impact of vegetation was excluded, funnels (bulks) were placed in a random order or circularly. Plastic zero tension lysimeters were placed in the soil at the depth of 20 cmor beneath the humus layer and in mineral part of the soil at the depth of 100 cm. They collected the seeped liquid (seepage) in the soil. Sampling was carried out once a month. According to data obtained by monitoring, our forests and soils absorb more deposited heavy metals (wet and dry sedimentation) compared to the control samples in the open area. Results: Concentration of lead and cadmium in some samples in lysimeters at a depth of 10 cm was increased and according to drinking water standards in Croatia (Pb>2.0 μgL–1, Cd>0.20 μgL–1) was t0o high. In lysimetric liquids, a slightly increased amount of heavy metals was observed. The average content of cadmium in lysimeters (spring, summer and autumn) was 0.13–0.36–0.37 μgL–1, lead 4.3–4.2–5.1 μgL–1, copper 3.3–5.3–4.6 μgL–1, zinc12.7–8.9–17.6 μgL–1, respectively. Conclusions: The forest ecosystems of Pedunculate oak and common hornbeam, with its bio-mass surface, allow increased dry deposition of substances which, by means of precipitation, become leached through tree-crowns. These results are in agreement with other investigations (Bretchel,1989; Van Breemen at al. 1988; Lindberg at al.1988;) which demonstrate that the deposition under forest tree-crowns is greater than in a open space, away from the influence of vegetation. This influences forest soils and soil solution in forest soils. There was an increased input of heavy metals intoour forest ecosystem at all monitored sites. At control locations (bulks), where impact of vegetation is excluded, the amounts of heavy metals are always lower. On the basis of these investigations it can be concluded that problems of constant accumulation of heavy metals in soils are present in the region of lowland forests. In this processthe types of soil play a significant role in buffering deposition substances which fall as precipitation

Monoskop Exhibition Library

The Exhibition Library reimagines the medium of art exhibition as well as that of art catalogue. Catalogues carry exhibitions through time and space, figuring as tropes for imagining arrangements and the course of works and settings they describe. However, they rarely give us a clue about what really happened, since they are often made before the show opens. Rather than documenting it, they often stand on their own, almost as if another work on display, truly as an artistic medium on its own. For this work, artists, designers, curators, poets and collectives created thirty catalogues of imaginary exhibitions. Exploring both the potential and impossible in art, the resulting exhibition library also serves as a “library of exhibitions.