Description
Book SynopsisEnergy drives the economy, economics informs policy, and policy affects social outcomes. Since the oil crises of the 1970s, pundits have debated the validity of this sequence, but most economists and politicians still ignore it. Thus, they delude the public about the underlying influence of energy costs and constraints on economic policies that address such pressing contemporary issues as income inequality, growth, debt, and climate change. To understand why, Carey King explores the scientific and rhetorical basis of the competing narratives both within and between energy technology and economics.
Energy and economic discourse seems to mirror Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion: For every narrative there is an equal and opposite counter-narrative. The competing energy narratives pit "drill, baby, drill!" against renewable technologies such as wind and solar. Both claim to provide secure, reliable, clean, and affordable energy to support economic growth with the most benefit to society, but how? To answer this question, we need to understand the competing economic narratives, techno-optimism and techno-realism. Techno-optimism claims that innovation overcomes any physical resource constraints and enables the social outcomes and economic growth we desire. Techno-realism, in contrast, states that no matter what energy technologies we use, feedbacks from physical growth on a finite planet constrain economic growth and create an uneven distribution of social impacts. In The Economic Superorganism, you will discover stories, data, science, and philosophy to guide you through the arguments from competing narratives on energy, growth, and policy. You will be able to distinguish the technically possible from the socially viable, and understand how our future depends on this distinction.
Trade Review1. “In exploring the debate between technological optimism and technological realism, concerning the importance of market forces vs. limits, The Economic Superorganism is a book that will endure in relevance.”
--- Joseph Tainter, Professor of Environment and Society, Author of The Collapse of Complex Societies
2. “This book is panoramic in its vision of recasting economic discourse … the book is readable by the scholar and the informed citizen, willing to question the orthodoxy of natural resources management within contemporary economic doctrines.”
--- Saleem H. Ali, Blue & Gold Distinguished Professor of Energy and the Environment, University of Delaware
3. “This book deserves to be widely read by energy and climate scientists, policy makers, reporters, and economists.”
--- Richard Heinberg, Author and Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute
4. “This is a must read for those thinking seriously about our future, but be forewarned, you will likely have to rethink your own views.”
--- John Day, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, School of the Coast & Environment, Louisiana State University
5. “Carey King indicates the weak points in the narratives of mainstream economics, which hardly cares about fundamental natural laws. The book is well written, and the reader feels the intellectual fire that moves its author. I highly recommend it.”
--- Dr. Reiner Kümmel, Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Würzburg
6. “The Economic Superorganism offers a fresh perspective on the sometimes heated, sometimes myopic policy debate over the feasibility of a green energy transition.”
--- David Spence, Baker Botts Chair in Law, the University of Texas at Austin School of Law
7. “Growth-addicted politicians and bureaucrats are running planet Earth on premises and principles drawn from the ecological vacuity of neoliberal economics. As Carey King deftly reveals, this is analogous flying a 787 Dreamliner using the intellectual equivalent of a 1955 Volkswagen Beetle driver’s manual.”
--- William Rees, professor emeritus and former director of the School of Community and Regional Planning at University of British Columbia; creator and co-developer of ecological footprint analysis.
8. “The Economic Superorganism provides a refreshing perspective, a wealth of good basic information, and insights into the disagreements and narratives surrounding energy and its role in society.”
--- Charles A. S. Hall, Professor Emeritus, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
9. “Carey King has produced a very valuable overview of energy issues, together with their economic, social, general business and financial implications.”
--- Professor Michael Jefferson, ESCP Europe Business School, Former Chief Economist, The Royal Dutch/Shell Group
10 “The Economic Superorganism is a deep meditation on the facts and fictions around energy, food, economic and climate systems past and future. King has a deductive approach that assumes nothing but intelligence.”
--- Raj Patel, Research Professor, University of Texas at Austin
11. “The Economic Superorganism convincingly explains how and why economics must be forced to confront the essential role of energy, fossil or renewable, in industrial civilisation and the dilemmas that poses for our growth-obsessed social system.”
--- Professor Steve Keen, Distinguished Research Fellow, Institute for Strategy, Resilience and Security, University College London.
Table of ContentsPreface: Why we need to understand the Truthiness of Energy Part I: BackgroundChapter 1: History of Energy, Background of ways of thinking about the future and various people making "truthy" statements.Chapter 2: Story 1: Fossil Fuels: why they are seen as good and badChapter 3: Story 2: Renewable Energy: why it is seen as good and badPart II: The broader perspective within which energy systems resideChapter 4: Other relevant trends of the world (population and demographics, water, land, debt and interest rates, climate - we really are in an unprecedented situation)Chapter 5: Systems thinking and understanding interdependence of world systemsChapter 6: How Macroeconomic modeling works now: World, we have a problem (ignores too many relevant trends, discuss implications of current macroeconomic modeling for low-carbon transition that say anything is possible).Chapter 7: Why the problem with Stories 1 & 2 is the same: Finite Earth, minimum in energy and food costs, overhead, debt, and other trends discussed in this Part 2.Chapter 8: The economists’ delusions and distractions: confidence, political will, technological optimism, “better finance”, etc. These are all part of Story 1 and/or Story 2 (with a little tweak we can just keep going)Part III: The Earth is finite and both Stories (1 = fossil, 2 = renewable) have constraints ignored by most economistsChapter 9: Paying attention to the obvious fact: the Earth is finite, it takes time to change, you need to recognize when this fact is becoming relevant. It is relevant now, independent of climate change. Here is where I discuss that the cost of ``energy and food'' (relative to GDP and incomes) as core resources for humans is behind the two major turning points in post-WW II society: (i) early 1970s, (ii) 2000s (leading to financial crisis)Chapter 10: Why we are shifting to renewables and low-variable cost society (low interest rates, depletion, net energy, size of energy and food sector); Comparing Renewables and Fossil (net energy, fixed vs. variable costs, other systems metrics). This is an expected trend of capitalism (per Karl Marx).Chapter 11: Likely upcoming decisions society will have to consider. Discuss the uncertainties and ideas to look out for. Consumers versus technology. Moving to less ownership and more services. How to think of political governance and accountability. Beware of truthiness.Chapter 12: Metrics, models, and ideas to watch. We need a new set of sound economic principles that are ready for a world of slower/declining growth and unpayable debt. We need to create better macroeconmic models and scenarios since the current macroeconomic approaches (for low-carbon transition) are not feasible.
