The Meaning of Political Ecology | Tim Hayward | 1994. The locus of these mediations, and hence the object-field of political ecology, can perhaps best be described as the ‘human metabolism with nature’. This idea captures fundamental aspects of our existence as both natural and political beings: these include the energetic and material exchanges which occur between human beings and their natural environment both at an individual level (reproduction of the human organism and, more importantly in the present context, at a social level (through the activities of extraction of materials, agriculture, construction, manufacture etc.). This ‘metabolism’ is regulated from the side of nature by natural laws governing the various physical processes involved (energetic and chemical exchanges etc.), and from the side of society by institutionalised norms governing the division of labour and distribution of wealth etc. The ensemble of regulating factors from the side of nature can be gathered under the head of ecology; those from the side of society under that of politics: the conjoined effects of those two sets of factors and their interrelations constitute the field of political economy. radicalphilosophy/article/the-meaning-of-political-ecology
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 15:09:02 +0000