Asymmetries : Conceptualizing Environmental Inequalities as Ecological Debt and Ecologically Unequal Exchange

In this compilation thesis, consisting of six papers and an introductory chapter, the concepts of ecological debt, climate debt, ecologically unequal exchange, and unequal carbon sink appropriation are at the centre. Their intellectual and political histories are traced to environmental justice movements, ecological economics and neo-Marxist economics. They are developed conceptually and linked together analytically using a stock-flow perspective. Special concern is devoted to climate debt as understood by the climate justice movement. Its claims on climate debt are identified, their normative assumptions tested and climate debt is quantified as consisting of both an emission debt and an adaptation debt. The last paper focus on a historical case study, where a method for measuring ecologically unequal exchange – time-space appropriation – is applied to discuss core and peripheries in the early modern world system, indicating a Sinocentric world economy. In the introductory chapter, sections on critical realism and mixed methods research position the thesis theoretically and methodologically. The concepts at the centre of the thesis are synthesized into what is called an ecological-economic asymmetries approach. Further, the possibilities to base the approach on ecological Marxism and historical-geographical materialism are explored and a potential future research strategy sketched

En grön arbetstidsförkortning?

Det finns nu forskningsstöd för att arbetstidsförkortning leder till minskad miljöpåverkan. Mycket tyder till och med på att arbetstidsförkortning är en helt central del av en socialt och ekologiskt hållbar klimatpolitik. Det viktigaste sambandet är att arbetstiden påverkar ekonomins storlek, som i sin tur påverkar miljöförslitningen. Även om ekonomins storlek onekligen spelar roll menar författaren avslutningsvis att vänstern inte oreflekterat bör överta den tillväxtkritiska rörelsens argument

Linking ecological debt and ecologically unequal exchange: stocks, flows, and unequal sink appropriation

Ecological debt is usually conceptualized as the accumulated result of different kinds of uneven flows of natural resources and waste, but these flows are seldom referred to as ecologically unequal exchange. Ecologically unequal exchange, on the other hand, is usually defined as different flows of resources and waste, but the accumulated results of these flows are seldom referred to as ecological debt. In this article, influential definitions and conceptualizations of ecological debt and ecologically unequal exchange are compared and the notions linked together analytically with a stock-flow perspective. A particular challenge is presented by emissions of substances that have global consequences, most importantly carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. They form part of ecologically unequal exchange, but what is unequal is not the exchange of resources or energy, but the appropriation of the sinks that absorb these substances. New concepts, unequal sink appropriation and the more specific carbon sink appropriation are proposed as a way of highlighting this distinction. Key words: ecological debt, ecologically unequal exchange, unequal sink appropriation, carbon sink appropriatio

Kärlek och marxism

Recension av Nina Björks "Lyckliga i alla sina dagar: om pengars och människors värde

Ekologisk Marxism: att göra vänstern grön

För den spirande miljömedvetenheten på 1960-talet måste det har tett sig uppenbart att den socialistiska rörelsen – på båda sidor om verkliga och ideologiska murar – prioriterade sysselsättning och växande (privat och offentligt) konsumtionsutrymme långt före ekologiska hållbarhetsfrågor, och trots att miljöpolitik nu har lagts till andra politikområden har den prioritetsordningen knappast ändrats idag. Men i socialismens historia finns också en djup och delvis fördold tradition av teoretiskt och praktiskt engagemang för miljön ända sedan Marx och Engels analyser av sin tids ekologiska utmaningar och teorier om förhållandet mellan samhälle och natur.

A renewable energy transition: capitalist barriers, socialist enticements

Why is current capitalism unwilling (or unable) to shift its energy base from fossil fuels to renewable energy? Explanations such as information deficit, socially organized denials, or game-theoretical dilemmas are insufficient. Neither are the obstacles primarily technical or financial. Rather, the problems are related to social relations and capitalism as such. Four potential barriers to a renewable energy transition within capitalism are identified: The Lauderdale Paradox, the attraction of spatio-temporal fixes, the fear of decentralization, and bad timing. These barriers can, however, be reverted into enticements under eco-socialist relations

Det är rätt att gå före

En normativ analys av argument för ett land att "gå före" i klimatarbetet

Inledning: Fyra debatter och en begravning

En teoretisk och politisk introduktion till ekomarxismen, i synnerhet de bidrag som översätts till boken Ekomarxism: Grundtexter