From elite folk science to the policy legend of the circular economy

This paper explores the implications of the widespread success of the term circular economy in the institutional and public debate. The concept of circular economy in itself implies a logical contradiction: on the one hand, the concept acknowledges the dependence of the economy on biophysical flows;...

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Autores: Giampietro, Mario|||0000-0002-5569-7023, Funtowicz, Silvio O.
Formato: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:304750
Acesso em linha:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/304750
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2020.04.012
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Circular economy
Decoupling
Life-support system
Policy legend
Post-Normal science
Uncomfortable knowledge
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spelling From elite folk science to the policy legend of the circular economyGiampietro, Mario|||0000-0002-5569-7023Funtowicz, Silvio O.Circular economyDecouplingLife-support systemPolicy legendPost-Normal scienceUncomfortable knowledgeThis paper explores the implications of the widespread success of the term circular economy in the institutional and public debate. The concept of circular economy in itself implies a logical contradiction: on the one hand, the concept acknowledges the dependence of the economy on biophysical flows; on the other hand, the proposed solution-a business model guaranteeing a full decoupling of the economy from natural resources-seemingly ignores that biophysical processes are subject to thermodynamic constraints. A biophysical view of the sustainability predicament-the flows exchanged between the technosphere and the biosphere - is depicted to show that the idea of a full decoupling is simply due to ignorance of the knowledge generated in (inter)disciplinary scientific fields other than the dominant economic one. The success of economics as an 'elite folk science' is explained by the need of the establishment to ignore uncomfortable knowledge that would destabilize existing institutions. The success of the term circular economy can be seen as an example of socially constructed ignorance in which folk tales are used to depoliticize the sustainability debate and to colonize the future through the endorsement of implausible socio-technical imaginaries. A strategy that can lead to an irresponsible management of expectation: implausible master narratives are impossible to govern. Rather than continuing to impose technocratic plans, as if we knew the optimal thing to do, Post-Normal Science suggests that it is much more effective and responsible to adopt a flexible management approach, exploring the ability of self-organization of social-ecological systems. 22020-01-0120202020-01-01Articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://ddd.uab.cat/record/304750https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2020.04.012reponame:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UABinstname:Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaInglésengEuropean Commission https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 689669Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003329 MDM-2015-0552open accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ddd.uab.cat:3047502026-06-06T12:50:31Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv From elite folk science to the policy legend of the circular economy
title From elite folk science to the policy legend of the circular economy
spellingShingle From elite folk science to the policy legend of the circular economy
Giampietro, Mario|||0000-0002-5569-7023
Circular economy
Decoupling
Life-support system
Policy legend
Post-Normal science
Uncomfortable knowledge
title_short From elite folk science to the policy legend of the circular economy
title_full From elite folk science to the policy legend of the circular economy
title_fullStr From elite folk science to the policy legend of the circular economy
title_full_unstemmed From elite folk science to the policy legend of the circular economy
title_sort From elite folk science to the policy legend of the circular economy
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Giampietro, Mario|||0000-0002-5569-7023
Funtowicz, Silvio O.
author Giampietro, Mario|||0000-0002-5569-7023
author_facet Giampietro, Mario|||0000-0002-5569-7023
Funtowicz, Silvio O.
author_role author
author2 Funtowicz, Silvio O.
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Circular economy
Decoupling
Life-support system
Policy legend
Post-Normal science
Uncomfortable knowledge
topic Circular economy
Decoupling
Life-support system
Policy legend
Post-Normal science
Uncomfortable knowledge
description This paper explores the implications of the widespread success of the term circular economy in the institutional and public debate. The concept of circular economy in itself implies a logical contradiction: on the one hand, the concept acknowledges the dependence of the economy on biophysical flows; on the other hand, the proposed solution-a business model guaranteeing a full decoupling of the economy from natural resources-seemingly ignores that biophysical processes are subject to thermodynamic constraints. A biophysical view of the sustainability predicament-the flows exchanged between the technosphere and the biosphere - is depicted to show that the idea of a full decoupling is simply due to ignorance of the knowledge generated in (inter)disciplinary scientific fields other than the dominant economic one. The success of economics as an 'elite folk science' is explained by the need of the establishment to ignore uncomfortable knowledge that would destabilize existing institutions. The success of the term circular economy can be seen as an example of socially constructed ignorance in which folk tales are used to depoliticize the sustainability debate and to colonize the future through the endorsement of implausible socio-technical imaginaries. A strategy that can lead to an irresponsible management of expectation: implausible master narratives are impossible to govern. Rather than continuing to impose technocratic plans, as if we knew the optimal thing to do, Post-Normal Science suggests that it is much more effective and responsible to adopt a flexible management approach, exploring the ability of self-organization of social-ecological systems.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2
2020-01-01
2020
2020-01-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://ddd.uab.cat/record/304750
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2020.04.012
url https://ddd.uab.cat/record/304750
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2020.04.012
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv European Commission https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 689669
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003329 MDM-2015-0552
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
instname:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
instname_str Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
reponame_str Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
collection Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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