Visions+of+the+Future

Visions of the Future: Challenges and Adaptations to the Socio-
Ecological Perturbations of Contemporary Capitalism
Heather Alberro
MSc Environmental Social Science
2015

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Visions of the Future: Challenges and Adaptations to the
Socio-Ecological Perturbations of Contemporary Capitalism
Heather Alberro
MSc Environmental Social Science
Word Count: 16,469

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“But if there is a reason for social movements to exist, it is not to accept
dominant values as fixed and unchangeable but to offer other ways to
live- to wage, and win, a battle of cultural worldviews” (Klein, 2014, pg.
61).
We are living in precarious, unprecedented times in terms of the sheer
range and magnitude of crises presently faced by humanity- from the
socioeconomic woes of staggering global inequality, poverty, and stifling
economic insecurity endured by the world’s multitudes (Oxfam, 2014), to
accelerating biospheric decline manifested most starkly by rampant
biodiversity loss and, what is perhaps the gravest existential threat of our
modern era, climate change. The extensive scale of human impacts on natural
systems, or rather, that of modern industrial socioeconomic systems, is so
profound, so sweeping that scientists have coined a new term for our current
geological era: the Anthropocene1 (Crutzen and Stoermer, 2000). Historical
and contemporary thinkers have pointed specifically to the rapacious logic of
industrial capitalism- a system predicated on the profligate consumption of
energy and other natural resources in order to fuel its maxims of ceaseless
growth and profit maximization- as one of the primary underlying causes of
our myriad socio-ecological troubles. While our reigning socioeconomic
paradigm is undoubtedly one of the key forces driving the phenomena
previously alluded to, at least one thing is certain: our present trajectories
1 Crutzen and Stoermer define the ‘anthropocene’ as follows: Considering
the…major and still growing impacts of human activities on earth and
atmosphere, and at all, including global, scales, it seems to us more than
appropriate to emphasize the central role of mankind in geology and ecology
by proposing to use the term ‘anthropocene’ for the current geological
epoch” (Crutzen and Stoermer, 2000, pg. 17).

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are dangerously unsustainable and must be thoroughly reassessed and
reconstructed. Such is the standpoint from which two novel forms of social
organization have arisen as adaptive responses to a world in decline: The
Venus Project and the Transition Towns Network.
While emphasizing slightly different approaches, both of these
imaginative initiatives stress that we need to fundamentally reconstruct our
ways of life in order to reintroduce resilience, socio-ecological sustainability,
and happiness into our otherwise precarious modern subsistence patterns.
While neither group will have all of the answers and will indeed encounter
numerous difficulties in attempting to implement their visions for a new
society, the Venus Project and the Transition Towns Network are
nonetheless vital in that they have dared to construct a wholly new social
narrative in order to offer humanity a better version of itself (Klein, 2014),
and a glimpse of the wonders we may accomplish if we apply our limitless
wealth of knowledge, experiences, and creative capacities to the issues at
hand. Both initiatives are, in essence, exercises in exploring the potentialities
of human ingenuity, and they have resolutely sounded the alarm for a much-
needed alternate course wherein the man-nature dialectic is rendered
harmonious rather than contradictory.
The Scale of the Problem
“If the news that in the past 40 years the world has lost over 50% of its
vertebrate wildlife fails to tell us that there is something wrong with the
way we live, it’s hard to imagine what could. Who believes that a social

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and economic system which has this effect is a healthy one? Who,
contemplating this loss, could call it progress?” (Monbiot, The Guardian,
2015)
Over the past few years, a seemingly endless stream of
perturbing article headlines have dominated news sources such as The
Guardian, underscoring the pressing need for mass societal change. From the
geophysical-ecological end of the spectrum, one Guardian article published in
January, 2015 ominously titled, “Rate of environmental degradation puts life
on Earth at risk, say scientists”, warns that, “Of nine worldwide processes
that underpin life on Earth, four have exceeded ‘safe’ levels – human-driven
climate change2, loss of biosphere integrity, land system change and the high
levels of phosphorus and nitrogen flowing into the oceans due to fertiliser
use” (Milman, 2015). Current rates of planetary species depletion are so
astronomical that many scientists and scholars have signaled the arrival of
the 6th mass extinction, described by the Center for Biological Diversity as,
“the worst rate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million
years ago” (CBD). Indeed, The World Wildlife Fund’s Annual Living Planet
Report uncovered that since the 1970s the planet has seen a 52% decline in
thousands of mammal, bird, amphibian, and reptile species populations
across the globe, an incomprehensibly prodigious figure that doesn’t even
2 The world’s foremost authoritative body on climate science, the
International Panel on Climate Change, declared in its 2013 summary report
for policymakers: “The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of
snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of
greenhouse gases have increased...it is extremely likely that human influence
has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th
century” (IPCC, 2013).

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include the likely equally substantial global losses of invertebrate species.
The report’s scientists conclude that the leading causes of such losses include
the exploitation of the natural world, unsustainable levels of hunting and
fishing, habitat degradation, and climate change (WWF, 2014) (Ceballos et al,
2015).
“In the last 300 years the amount of pasture in the world has
increased by 680 percent and the amount of cropland by 560 percent.
This has been paralleled by a 43 percent drop in the grassland area and a
22 percent fall in the amount of forest and woodland” (Ponting, 2007, pg.
236).
In addition to the biodiversity crisis, the planet is undergoing
increasingly destructive land-use changes and ever-intensifying levels of
resource depletion through deforestation for agriculture3, mining, logging,
biofuels, and fossil fuel extraction, phenomena that in turn further
exacerbate environmental crises such as biodiversity loss in a self-
perpetuating cycle. If present rates of deforestation continue, wherein areas
roughly the size of Panama are wiped out annually, it is predicted that the
world’s rainforests could vanish within a century (FAO). Similarly, Dr.
Vandana Shiva remarks on the grave socio-ecological threats posed by
3 Millions of hectares of forest, largely in the global south, have been cleared
just to grow feed crops such as soya and maize for the world’s billions of
farm animals raised for meat consumption (Friends of the Earth, 2008). As
Magdoff & Foster describe such trends, “We are in the midst of a ‘land-grab’,
as private capital and government sovereign wealth funds strive to gain
control of vast acreage throughout the world to produce food and biofuel
feedstock crops for their ‘home’ markets” (Magdoff & Foster, 2010).

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industrial agriculture, which she emphasizes is destroying the planet by
depleting water sources and biodiversity, increasing economic insecurity by
farmers through increasing their dependence on chemical inputs, and
exacerbating climate change as the planet’s largest contributor of greenhouse
gases (GHGs), accounting for roughly 40% of all GHGs—including carbon
dioxide, methane, and nitrogen oxide (Shiva, 2015). While anthropogenic
impacts on natural systems are by no means unprecedented, their scale and
intensity have risen to dangerous new levels due to such factors as
burgeoning global populations and, more insidiously, a parasitic global
economic system with an increasingly powerful arsenal of technological
tools4 to facilitate its boundless appetite (Magdoff & Foster, 2010).
Another recent Guardian article frankly titled, “Let’s Face It: We Have
To Chose Between Our Economy and Our Future”, enumerates the
pathological effects of a global socioeconomic system that prioritizes wealth
accumulation over socio-ecological wellbeing. Most notably, the article cites
the findings of a 2014 Oxfam report that uncovers the vastly unequal state of
global intra-national and international wealth distribution. The report
outlines that, “at the start of 2014, the richest 85 people on the planet owned
4 One illuminating example of the disastrous ramifications of technological
innovation under capitalist production is the introduction of factory steam
trawlers in commercial fisheries that effectively replaced traditional sail-
powered schooner fleets. Utilizing massive nylon nets, these extractive
behemoths can wipe out entire marine communities, capturing millions of
fish and other organisms at a time while discarding millions more of
commercially non-viable species known as ‘bycatch’ back into the sea
(Clausen & Clark, 2010).

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as much as the poorest half of humanity”, and that, “between March 2013 and
March 2014, these 85 people grew approximately $668 million richer each
day” (Oxfam, 2014, pg. 8). Such audacious disparities in wealth accumulation
and access to resources, developments that have flourished under the reign
of ‘oligarchic capitalism’5 (García-Olivares & Solé, 2015), underlie recent
proliferations of slogans such as ‘economy for the 99%’ and ‘Capitalism Isn’t
Working’ (PopularResistance, 2015), as well as the rise of social
transformation movements such as Occupy. They are varied protestations
against what Pope Francis has termed in his groundbreaking encyclical, an
‘economy of exclusion’ (PAS, 2014) (García-Olivares & Solé, 2015). Change of
revolutionary proportions is indeed long overdue.
Historical and Contemporary Musings On the Roots of our Modern
Socio-Ecological Predicaments
“They had gradually created (or allowed to grow, rather) a most
elaborate system of buying and selling, which has been called the World-
Market; and that World-Market, once set a-going, forced them to go on
making more and more of these wares, whether they needed them or not.
So what while (of course) they could not free themselves from the toil of
making real necessities, they created in a never-ending series sham or
artificial necessaries, which became, under the iron rule of the aforesaid
World-Market, of equal importance to them with the real necessaries
which supported life. By all this they burdened themselves with a
prodigious mass of work merely for the sake of keeping their wretched
system going” (Morris, 1890, pg.84)
5 Enclosures and dispossessions (or, privatization) have gained considerable
traction under the neo-liberal phase of capitalism stemming from the early
1980s which saw the implementation of reforms designed to roll back the
State, reduce taxes, and welfare expenditures and expand private property
and market exchange into new spheres (Kallis et al, 2013).

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The above excerpt, which delineates with remarkable prescience the
problematic nature of modern capitalism, is featured in News from Nowhere,
a visionary work by the 19th century English poet and novelist, William
Morris, wherein he envisions a future society unencumbered by primitive
social arrangements such as private property and monetary systems,
wherein human societies live within the boundaries of natural ecosystems by
producing and consuming only that which is necessary for a healthy,
environmentally sustainable, and joyful life. The vision bears striking
resemblance to the social system sketched out in Thomas More’s classic
satirical novel, Utopia, which similarly describes in enchanting detail a
society characterized by common ownership of the means of production,
wherein resources are allocated freely and equitably to all without the use of
a barter system, and where the myriad social, environmental, and political
woes that plague modern societies are nonexistent6. Such alternate visions
evoke the provocative notion that somewhere along the line, we forgot the
true sources of happiness and wellbeing such as meaningful relationships
(Lane, 2008), good health, a thriving biosphere (Frumkin, 2001), and
equitable access to the necessities of life.
6 “Though, to tell you the truth, my dear More, I don’t see how you can ever
get any real justice or prosperity, so long as there’s private property, and
everything’s judged in terms of money…In Utopia, everyone gets a fair share,
so there are never any poor men or beggars. Nobody owns anything, but
everyone is rich- for what greater wealth can there be than cheerfulness,
peace of mind, and freedom from anxiety?” (More, 1965, Pg. 65; 128)

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Ruminating on the early developments of industrial capitalism and
the ethical depravity of its exclusive fixation on profit maximization, Henry
David Thoreau famously proclaimed in his classic novel, Walden: “I respect
not his labors, his farm where everything has its price, who would carry the
landscape, who would carry his God to market, if he could get anything for
him…on whose farm nothing grows free, whose fields bear no crops, whose
meadows no flowers, whose trees no fruits, but dollars.” (Thoreau, 2012, pg.
153). Remarking on the biophysical limitations of such a rapacious logic,
Ernst Schumacher notes that, “An attitude to life which seeks fulfillment in
the single-minded pursuit of wealth…does not fit into this world, because it
contains within itself no limiting principle, while the environment in which it
is placed is strictly limited…” (Schumacher, 1973, Pg.18). Indeed, the myriad
ecological barriers that have forcefully reasserted their significance in recent
decades such as dwindling fresh water sources and cultivatable arable land,
declining ecosystem resilience, and increased climatic volatility due to
anthropogenic climate change, serve as vivid testaments to the
incompatibility of endless growth with the finite nature of our biosphere
(García-Olivares & Solé, 2015).
One of the most insightful historical conceptualizations in terms of its
striking relevance to our modern socio-ecological predicaments is Karl

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Marx’s theory of metabolic rift7, born of his analyses of the problematic
socioeconomic, technological, and environmental changes brought about by
the 19th century development and spread of industrial capitalism. Prior to
such changes, traditional production processes involved more intimate and
cyclical relationships between man and the land cultivated for subsistence8,
wherein essential nutrients were directly returned to the soil through human
consumption of goods such as food and clothing (Foster and Clark, 2010). As
Marx conceptualizes the necessarily interdependent relationship between
man and the natural world, “Man lives from nature, i.e. nature is his body, and
he must maintain a continuing dialogue with it if he is not to die. To say that
man’s physical and mental life is linked to nature simply means that nature is
linked to itself, for man is a part of nature” (Marx, 1844; Foster, 2000, pg.
158). However, the private appropriation of land and the consequent spatial
shifts in production which precipitated higher urban concentrations, by
physically removing man from intimate contact with the land and the means
of production, generated a ‘rift’ in the man-nature dialectic that helped to
7 “Large landed property reduces the agricultural population to an ever
decreasing minimum and confronts it with an ever growing industrial
population crammed together in large towns; in this way it produces the
conditions that provoke an irreparable rift in the interdependent process of
the social metabolism, a metabolism prescribed by the natural laws of life
itself” (Marx, Capital, Vol. 3).
8 For the majority of human history, the concept of the private ownership of
land and natural resources, for instance, was unheard of; indeed, many
hunter-gatherer societies still do not recognize it (Ponting, 2007).

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create the conditions for future exploitation in various forms- of people and
of the natural world itself9 (Smith, 2014).
“At some moment between 1 July 2006 and 1 July 2007…the
percentage of the world’s population living in towns and cities exceeded
50 per cent. Henceforth, most people on the planet…for the first time
would no longer be in close contact with the natural or even semi-natural
world; a majority, and a rapidly expanding one, would no longer have
direct access to the rhythms of the growth cycle, to the effects of
seasonality…to birds and wild mammals, to insects and wild flowers…”
(McCarthy, 2015, pg. 125).
One especially deleterious feature of capitalism noted by thinkers like
Marx, Morris, and Schumacher, and one that social change initiatives such as
The Venus Project and Transition Towns Network aim to eradicate, is the
emphasis on production for the provision of exchange value rather than for
use value. Whereas the production of commodities in previous periods (as
well as in the ideal social arrangements featured Utopia and News from
Nowhere) was centered around use value, or value derived from goods and
services that satisfy human needs, under capitalism it is largely geared
towards exchange value, or the amount of profit that can be generated from
9 This exploitative relationship embodies the colonial worldview known as
extractivism, developed especially under capitalism but also present under
extractivist, hyper-industrialised leftist regimes such as that of Stalin; based
on ever-increasing removal of raw materials from the earth, it is a
fundamentally “nonreciprocal, dominance-based relationship with the earth,
one purely of taking. It is the opposite of stewardship, which involves taking
but also taking care that regeneration and future life continue” (Klein, 2014,
pg. 169)

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the sale of a particular commodity10. In such a system, as Schumacher
elucidates, “All goods are treated the same, because the point of view is
fundamentally that of private profit-making” (Schumacher, 1973, pg.29).
Marx vividly captures the insidious, “vampire-like” man-nature relations
engendered under exchange-value-oriented production, noting that
ultimately the earth becomes “a reservoir, from whose bowels the use-values
are to be torn”. Capitalism’s introduction of the abstract notion of exchange
value as the sole object of production effectively transformed production
almost solely into a means for the accumulation of private wealth, thereby
obscuring matters such as social and ecological wellbeing.
The prominent American sociologist, Allan Schnaiberg, has offered
invaluable contributions to socio-ecological interaction studies through his
introduction of concepts such as ‘treadmills of production and
consumption’11 and, more generally, his analyses of the growing
incompatibility between modern industrial societies and the workings of
10 Sociologist Michael Bell notes that the various use values that can be
derived from a particular place, such as supportive networks of friends and
families, a clean environment, aesthetic appeal, and feelings of attachment to
the local landscape, are often incompatible with the exchange value that can
be generated by a business through, for instance, transforming a community
park into a parking lot (Bell, 1998).
11 This theory refers to the ever-increasing extraction of resources
(ecological withdrawals in the form of raw materials such as fossil fuels and
minerals, as well as the attendant ecological damage resulting from accessing
and extracting such materials) for the perpetuation of production. Increases
in production are “‘consumed’ by the population”, and, “rising consumer
expectations and greater accumulation or surplus for future production in
turn spur exponentially rising levels of production” (Schnaiberg, 1980,
pg.19).

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natural ecosystems. Schnaiberg notes that, “As societies developed more
sociocultural production, the significance of ecosystem principles (such as
restitution and maximum sustainable yield12) diminished for the
organization of human populations. If we were to point to a single factor
differentiating human from ecological communities, the nature of surplus
would be a prime candidate” (1980. Pg.17). Thus, herein lies the fundamental
paradox of our era: whereas modern societies operate to multiply their
surpluses, “particularly industrial capitalist societies”, as the primary
objective under capitalist production is to maximize private profits, natural
ecosystems tend to mature by stabilizing numbers of consumers and levels of
consumption in a relative state of equilibrium (Schnaiberg, 1980, pg.19;
Lovelock, 2000). Yet, increasingly and most troublingly, the scale and impacts
of modern industries have become, “far larger (greater biomass removed),
more permanent (species extinctions, severe depletion by habitat removal),
more vital (…reproductive impairment through pollution), and far broader
(multiple ecosystems drawn on and disrupted for production needs)”
(Schnaiberg, 1980, pg. 28).
The ever-growing demands of industrial capitalism and its insatiable
pro-growth paradigm (Schumacher, 1973) have subsumed nearly all the
12 A concept that is increasingly unheeded in commercial fisheries
management, maximum sustainable yield refers to the “number (or weight)
of a species that can be removed from the stock of animals without impacting
the long-term stability of the population” (noaa.gov).

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world within its sphere of influence. As Schumacher muses, “The industrial
system of the United States cannot subsist on internal resources alone and
has therefore had to extend its tentacles right around the globe to secure its
raw material supplies” 13(1973, pg. 96). Likewise, Schnaiberg notes that, “The
notion of the modern multinational corporation having a ‘global reach’
indicates the extent of ecosystems and biospheric elements involved in large-
scale contemporary production”14 (1980, pg. 28). The monolithic dimensions
of our post-WWII (Schnaiberg, 1980) socioeconomic systems and their
associated production and consumption patterns have generated chronic,
life-threatening socio-ecological deficiencies through accelerated biospheric
additions and withdrawals, trends that have risen almost exponentially since
the post-1980s deregulation era. What’s more, these impacts not only affect
human societies but, as exhibited by the global biodiversity crisis, our non-
human co-evolutionary kin, whose large-scale disappearance due largely to
human-induced environmental degradation itself constitutes a crime of
unfathomable proportions.
13 Ponting presents a disturbing excerpt by Cecil Rhodes which underlines
the guiding rationale of free-market capitalism which propelled British
expansion in the late 19th century: “We must find new lands from which we
can easily obtain raw materials and at the same time exploit the cheap slave
labor that is available from the natives of the colonies” which would also
“provide a dumping ground for the surplus goods produced in our factories”
(2007, pg. 197).
14 “Today multinational corporations scour the world for resources and
opportunities wherever they can find them, exploiting cheap labor in poor
countries and reinforcing, rather than reducing, imperialist divisions. The
result is a more rapacious global exploitation of nature and increased
differentials of wealth and power. Such corporations have no loyalty to
anything but their own bottom lines” (Magdoff & Foster, 2010).

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A useful framework for grasping the shifts in subsistence patterns and
man-nature interactions that projects such as TVP and TTN note are an
absolute imperative is the field of ecological economics, one that has arisen
as the direct antithesis of neoclassical economics, exemplified most notably
by thinkers such as Schumacher and Schnaiberg. Crucially, ecological
economics aims to address, “the most profound failure of neoclassical
economics…which is to deal adequately with resource depletion and
environmental destruction both locally and globally” (Ingebrigsten &
Jakobsen, 2012, pg. 84). It strives to dismantle the mechanistic, neoclassical
economic paradigm that characterizes societies as amalgamations of
individually operating units propelled solely by greed and self-interest,
where the primary imperative is continuous maximization of financial wealth
and similar quantitative indicators of “progress”15. Rather, this promising
new discipline seeks to supplant the pathological ‘growth fetishism’ (D’Alisa
et al, 2013) that pervades modern capitalism and traditional economic
thought, which treats resources as infinitely exhaustible and environmental
degradation as a mere non-quantifiable externality, with a more holistic
approach that emphasizes qualitative development16, the significance and
15 The main methodological tools for measuring success in our current pro-
growth economic systems are inadequate quantitative measures such as GDP
which don’t account for issues such as environmental degradation,
socioeconomic inequality, and other non-quantifiable effects of economic
activity (PAS, 2014).
16 One interesting example of a new type of ‘qualitative measure’ that has
been constructed in order to displace inadequate traditional societal

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complexity of relationships between, and the establishment of more
harmonious relations between social and ecological systems.
“The challenge now is to go much further and much faster, progressively
eliminating waste by developing a circular economy that mimics nature’s
loops and cycles, rather than perpetuating our largely unsustainable and
linear way of doing things” (Prince Charles, 2015, Speech at Cambridge’s
Institute for Sustainability Leadership).
Dispelling the Semblances of Economic Necessity
Many of us seem to have endowed economic systems with all-
powerful and immutable qualities, somehow mistaking them for living
entities with desires and needs of their own rather than as mere social
constructions. McKenzie Wark synthesizes the musings of the Soviet
philosopher and science fiction writer, Alexander Bogdanov, who wrote of
the notion of economic necessity in market exchange relations as a form of
abstract fetishism17: “…in exchange relations economic necessity—external to
people and foreign to them—determines both their actions and the objective
results of those actions. The nature and origin of economic necessity will
remain unknown to people because they find themselves struggling with
development indicators such as GNP and GDP is the Happy Planet Index
(HPI), which “measures… the extent to which countries deliver long, happy,
sustainable lives for the people that live in them using data on global life
expectancy, experienced wellbeing, and ecological footprint”, and then “ranks
countries on how many long and happy lives they produce per unit of
environmental input” (Happy Planet Index).
17 “The positing of absolute concepts that are essences outside of human
experience” in such ways that they are essentially conceptualized and treated
as things-in-themselves (Wark, 2015, pg.71).

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other commodity producers in the marketplace, and they cannot see the
social collaboration which is hidden beneath this struggle... Causation moves
away from particular authorities, from lords and The Lord, but still posits a
universal principle of command”18 (Wark, 2015, pg. 72). Thus, the
mechanisms of ‘the market’ are ascribed an almost supernatural power akin
to that of a deity, much like Adam Smith’s notion of “the invisible hand”
(Offer, 2012). Similarly, Ernst Schumacher often employs the phrase, “the
religion of economics” (1973), when referring to the tendency for modern
societies to sacrifice virtually all other concerns- social, environmental, and
the like- for the sake of ‘economic efficiency’ and other ‘needs of the market’
the way a credulous religious worshipper would give sacrificial offerings to a
god (Bell, 1998) (Schumacher, 1973).
Michael Bell eloquently encapsulates such a gross misplacement of
priorities, reminding us that the economy is not an imperative; it does not
have needs. It “often appears to us as an external structure, as a force over
which we have no control, as ends to which we must give way. But for all its
objective status as facts of the market and of science, money is our own
creation…it is we who have the needs. All we need to do is wake up and decide
where we really want to go” (Bell, 1998, pg. 101). The Venus Project and the
18 Marx referred to this trend, characteristic of capitalist systems, as
‘commodity fetishism’, whereby production is ultimately stripped of its social
element which consists of relationships between workers and is instead
supplanted by relationships between objects, or commodities, which are seen
to gradually assume lives of their own (Hudson & Hudson, 2003).

19
Transition Towns Network have each arisen in response to litany of social
and environmental deficiencies largely generated by our presently
unsustainable socioeconomic trajectories and decided that a fundamental
shift in direction is desperately needed during this historical and socio-
ecological bifurcation point. They have presented an entirely new way
forward that attempts to realize visions very much like those envisaged by
More, Morris, and countless others, calling for new modes of subsistence
predicated on a ‘new ecological paradigm’19 (Dunlap & Michelson, 2002) that
fundamentally serves the needs of humans and our natural support systems
above all else20.
The Transition Towns Network
“It is no longer just a case of whether we should be questioning the forces
of economic globalization because they are unjust, inequitable or a
rapacious destroyer of environments and cultures. Instead it is about
looking at the Achilles heel of economic globalization, one from which
there is no protection other than resilience: its degree of oil dependency”
(Hopkins, 2008, p.14).
19 A crowning theoretical construct of environmental sociology that aims to
dismantle the traditional ‘Human Exemptionalism Paradigm’ (HEP), which
maintains that human societies are largely exempt from observing ecological
constraints due to their unique cognitive, technological, and similar
capacities relative to other species (Dunlap & Michelson, 2002)
20 As Bruce Allsopp encapsulates the unique challenge of the era of ‘industrial
man’, “We cannot escape. We cannot go back. We have achieved miracles and
the new challenge is to bridle the wild horse of industrialization and
establish a new balance with nature so that our efforts tend towards
enrichment and not, as at present, towards disaster and the loss of all that we
have struggled to achieve” (Allsopp, 1972, pg. 23).

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Characterized as the ‘fastest growing environmental movement in the
global North’ (Barry & Quilley, 2009), the Transition Towns Network has
spread to dozens of countries with hundreds of official initiatives currently in
place and hundreds more in their nascent stages. Founded in 2008 by writer
and environmental activist, Rob Hopkins, the UK-based grassroots
movement has since spread with infectious zeal and creative resolve from its
first official project in Totnes, Devon, determined to address the twin threats
of climate change and peak oil2122. The Transition Town movement is
premised on the conviction that our modern globalized socioeconomic
systems boast unsustainable dependencies on finite fossil fuel sources whose
continued use will inevitability generate environmental (increased climatic
volatility due to growing levels of greenhouse gas emissions) and
sociopolitical disorder (due to intensifying disputes over dwindling fossil fuel
sources) (Barry & Quilley, 2009), and therefore that business as usual is no
longer tenable (Hopkins, 2008). Thus, TTN proposes a rapid global
downscaling, or re-localization, of production and consumption through
series of practical steps and the creation of new social narratives in order to
21 Two phenomena that are intimately intertwined as anthropogenic climate
change is largely the result of “the incessant and ever-growing” (Hopkins,
2008) release of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere through the
profligate burning of fossil fuels, in addition to other environmental perils
such as land-use changes and deforestation.
22 Although the precise timing of this event is widely contested, both the
discoveries of new oil fields and their respective sizes have been steadily
declining since the world’s peak in oil discovery in 1965. Due to more
difficult access and increased competition over dwindling sources,
subsequent oil exploration and production ventures have become
increasingly expensive, environmentally risky, and geopolitically precarious
(Heinberg, 2011).

21
construct more ecologically sustainable, self-sufficient and socioeconomically
resilient global communities.
The Transition Handbook provides a comprehensive illustration of
the ‘transition concept’ and serves as the movement’s blueprint containing
vital information for guiding the emergence of future initiatives. The re-
localization of production and consumption, in addition to bringing human
societies within the biophysical limits of the planet by reducing the ecological
footprints23 of communities, would also generate economic self-sufficiency
and durability in the face of global economic perturbations24, while
engendering socio-psychological benefits through increased interpersonal
interactions and cooperation amongst more tight-knit communities. A
fundamental component of resilient systems, be they ecological or
socioeconomic, is diversity. Thus, just as diverse and complex natural
ecosystems with numerous species able to fill different niches are less prone
to collapse following cataclysmic environmental events (Thompson et al,
2009), localized socioeconomic systems with a variety of small niche
23 WWF Australia defines the concept of an ecological footprint from the
national scale as: “the sum of all the cropland, grazing land, forest and fishing
grounds required to produce the food, fibre and timber it consumes, to
absorb the wastes emitted when it uses energy and to provide space for
infrastructure”.
24 Hopkins notes the imminent increase in the volatility of a hyper-globalized
market utterly steeped in fossil fuels when the peak is reached, causing the
gap between oil supply and demand to widen and the price per barrel to
spike in accordance (2008, pg. 29).

22
businesses25 offer a greater range of responses to challenges and are better
able to weather global economic downturns than hyper-globalized systems
dominated by conglomerates which, when in crisis, generate damaging ripple
effects throughout entire economies (Hopkins, 2008).
“It is essential that communities…be of such a size that their
members can feel responsible for them and within them. The single voice
must be able to make itself heard and anomy, the disease of the over-
grown state, must be eliminated, partly because men are much happier
when they feel responsible and able to participate, partly because, with
such freedom, the intellectual, social, artistic and skillful potentialities of
people have a chance to flower and enrich the world” (Allsopp, 1984, pg.
106)
In order to create more resilient and sustainable communities, the
Transition Towns Network particularly emphasizes a substantial reduction
of socio-ecologically destructive activities such as the international sourcing
of foods and other products towards, to the extent possible, local production,
the use of local materials in construction and related activities, and local
energy production. Another key concept that functions as the ‘design glue’
and ethical foundation of the Transition Initiative (Hopkins, 2008) is
‘permaculture’, an adaptive response stemming from the oil crises of the
1970s which refers to a “’permanent agriculture’”, marked by a move “away
from annual cropping and monoculture in agriculture to multilayered
25 A 2015 report by the UK House of Commons notes that, “independent
retailers - specialists in particular - possess a comprehensive knowledge of
their products. This allows them to offer a worthy customer service that
takes into account variations in the marketplace, which are brought on by
changes in the global economy. Their size and lean decision-making structure
allows them to adapt rapidly…” (pg. 14).

23
systems making use of productive and useful trees and perennial plants”
(Hopkins, 2008, pg. 137). Far from applying exclusively to food production,
the concept involves firmly embedding the notion of permanence into all
human-environment interactions through the systematic application of
ecological principles to subsistence practices, such as recycling materials in
order to reduce and eliminate waste, designing self-regulating systems,
integrating component parts in holistic configurations, minimizing scale and
impact, and promoting diversity2627 (Hopkins, 2008, pg. 138,139).
“When we start doing Energy Descent work, we should be looking to draw
in the novelists, poets, artists, and storytellers. The telling of new stories
is central” (Hopkins, 2008, p.94).
The Transition Handbook lays out the “Twelve Steps of Transition” as
a systematic enumeration of key ideas for those who want to create their
own transition initiative, whether at the scale of a small town or an entire
city, each according to their own particular cultural, geographic,
socioeconomic and related circumstances. The steps include: (1) Set up a
steering group and design its demise from the outset (this step is intended to
gather like-minded individuals for different tasks who will get the project
moving but who will not become so fixated on their roles that they impede
26 Compare to permaculture’s near polar opposite, industrial agriculture,
which is dominated by chemically intensive monocultures featuring
enormous single-crop farms that are dependent on heavy fossil fuels and
precious water sources for their productive activities (Union of Concerned
Scientists).
27 Permaculture can be seen as one way to mend the ‘metabolic rift’ between
man and the natural world.

24
any further progress); (2) Raise awareness (includes talks by experts and
film screenings on the core issues of climate change and peak oil in order to
build a solid understanding in the community of the issues at hand and thus
facilitate discussions about how they might be overcome); (3) lay the
foundations (networking and collaborating with existing groups and
organizations that are addressing similar issues); (4) Organize a great
unleashing (a major event featuring a gathering of experts and community
enthusiasts in order to build momentum through talks, music, dancing, and
the like to generate a sense of hope and enthusiasm for the work to come. It
is, “a celebration of the community’s resourcefulness and creativity”
(Hopkins, 2008, pg. 157)).
The next steps include: (5) Set up groups (done in order to facilitate
the development of specific aspects of the transition process, wherein some
focus on food relocalisation and similar features of a low-energy future); (6)
use open space (often features the use of technology such as laptops and
cameras for more efficient and effective coordination of meetings that
include up to one thousand people); (7) develop visible practical
manifestations of the project (here the emphasis is shifted towards
practicality rather than the merely ideal, on creating tangible examples of
change such as tree planting or the installation of solar panels); (8) facilitate
the great reskilling (the strengthening and building of practical skills in order
to empower individuals and build a sense of community, such as gardening,

25
knitting and sowing, and constructing buildings out of local materials); (9)
build a bridge to local government (part of the Transition Movement’s
emphasis on combining bottom-up and top-down approaches, and therefore
urges the forging of positive and productive relationships with local
governments to ensure the success of the projects).
The final steps include: (10) Honour your elders (as Hopkins notes,
“There is a great deal that we can learn from those who directly remember
the transition to the age of Cheap Oil”, as well as, “the gradual disappearance
of local resilience28” (Hopkins, 2008, pg. 172)); (11) let it go where it wants
to go (this step emphasizes the importance of fluidity in the design of
projects and responsiveness to change); and lastly, (12) create an energy
descent plan (this sets out a vision of a “powered-down, resilient, and
relocalised” future and then lays out a map of practical tactics for how to
achieve it (Hopkins, 2008, pg. 172)). However, the energy descent plan
involves much more than mere practical steps for reducing fossil fuel
dependency and resource consumption; it is a communal vision replete with
an assortment of inventive narratives and skills for self-empowerment, and it
is richly multifaceted, drawing inspiration from artists, poets, economists,
farmers, scientists, government officials and other members of society in the
28 Hopkins cites a report by the New Economics foundation which found that,
since the 1940s, the numbers of small shops in the UK have declined by
roughly 10% annually. Between 1995 and 2000 alone, “independent fresh
food specialists- bakers, butchers, etc.- saw their sales drop by 40% as
supermarkets consolidated their grip over the food retail sector” (Hopkins,
2008, pg. 55).

26
hopes of building stronger, happier, healthier and more interconnected
communities.
A brief exploration of the movement’s first official initiative after the
Kinsale project, Transition Town Totnes, bears mentioning as its success has
been crucial in inspiring others to spring forth. Located in Devon with a
population of relatively manageable scale at around 8,000 inhabitants, and
with the particularly favorable socioeconomic conditions of possessing an
“uncharacteristically high proportion of small, locally owned shops”
(Hopkins, 2008, pg. 176)29, TTT’s first trial period kicked off in 2005 with the
screenings of the film, The End of Suburbia. Other film favorites shown during
the nascent stages of TTT and numerous other initiatives at ‘awareness
raising’ events include The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak
Oil30. TTT went on to feature nut-tree-planting sessions, talks by experts in
key sustainability fields, and featured Transition Tales events wherein ideas
29 In other words, as Hopkins explicates, Totnes had thus far managed to
evade the “Clone Town Britain phenomenon” (Hopkins, 2008, pg. 76) of the
gradual replacement of local shops with chain stores and multinationals that
had affected other parts of the country. Such conditions are ideal for the
emergence of re-localization initiatives.
30 This fascinating documentary describes the astonishing feats undertaken
by the Cuban government and people during ‘the special period’ following
the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, an event that precipitated
widespread economic and subsistence crises across the island nation. Cuba’s
externally imposed ‘peak oil’ experience, further exacerbated by the U.S’
aggressive economic sanctions under the embargo, was ultimately overcome
by nationwide re-localization initiatives including a switch to decentralized
organic and urban agriculture programs, energy conservation initiatives, a
revitalization of public transport including the mass adoption of bike travel,
and perhaps most notably, the unshakeable determination and sense of
community of the Cuban people (Piercy et al, 2010).

27
such as how to rebuild communities beyond the car are explored. However,
its lasting legacy has been the launch of its own local currency, the Totnes
Pound. The first round was launched in 2007 and included 300 notes, each
roughly equivalent to one pound so as to lessen potential tax implications for
the participating local shops (Hopkins, 2008).
The Totnes Pound was an overwhelming success amongst community
members, shop owners, and tourists alike, prompting TTT members to create
a new round of revised notes that were greater in number, smaller in size,
and with a 5% devaluation margin (1 Totnes Pound = 95p) in order to
provide further incentive towards their continued use and circulation in the
community (Hopkins, 2008). As previously mentioned, the notes could be
used to purchase goods, exchange with TTT for 95p each, handed out as
change, and even used to pay staff. At a fundamental level, as Hopkins
elucidates, “The notes tell a story about money and our relationship with it”
(2008, pg. 200). The new currency, in other words, possesses symbolic
significance that helps empower individuals and enforces the idea that
economies should work for the benefit of communities rather than the other
way around. By helping to fortify a sense of community while increasing local
resiliency and economic security by circling wealth locally, local currencies

28
such as the Totnes Pound provide numerous socio-psychological as well as
economic benefits31.
The Transition concept has infiltrated the hearts and minds of
countless individuals and communities across the world since its inception,
effectively morphing into a ‘Transition Culture’ that aims to explore and
develop the ‘head, heart and hands of energy descent’ in all its myriad forms
(Hopkins, 2015). Transition Black Isle’s recent Million Miles Project, which
aimed towards cutting car use by one million miles per year through
increased use of public transport such as bicycling, carpooling, and
improvements in infrastructure to further facilitate such changes, has
resulted in an annual reduction of over 700 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Crystal Palace Transition Town’s renowned community Food Market, which
won second place in the 2015 BBC Food and Farming Awards, takes place
every Saturday and sells an array of locally produced foods, drinks, arts,
crafts, and even natural handmade cosmetics while featuring live music by
local artists, games and storytelling. In addition to assisting in the
development of creative and exciting sustainability initiatives, these types of
projects foster powerful feelings of solidarity and communal oneness that are
essential for building and strengthening relationships, and ultimately, a new
global society.
31 The Totnes pound is merely one example of successful local currency
projects. Others include the Swiss WIR complementary currency that dates
back to the mid 1930s, and the Brazillian Branco Palmas Currency (New
Economics Foundation).

29
“The hope inspired by newly emerging socio-ecological experiments is
that they “are signs that hint that a lower-impact and more wholesome
way of life can be a possibility. It can be a re-tribalisation- a re-building
of extended family- that meets fundamental human emotional and
economic needs grounded in a community of place” (McIntosh, 2008, pg.
71).
The Venus Project
“If we are genuinely concerned about the environment and fellow human
beings, and want to end territorial disputes, war, crime, poverty, hunger,
and other problems that confront us today, the intelligent use of science
and technology are the tools with which to achieve a new direction…Our
times demand the declaration of the world’s resources as the common
heritage of all people” (Fresco, 2002, pg. 2)
Amidst the winding tropical terrain of Venus, Florida lies the 25-acre
Venus Project Research Center, home of the 99-year-old visionary industrial
designer, inventor, and social engineer, Jacque Fresco. Fresco’s life’s work
has been dedicated to delineating the root causes of and solutions to many of
the deficiencies plaguing modern societies which he views as not only
unacceptable but entirely avoidable- rampant despoliation of the natural
world, widespread poverty and inequality, war, and resource scarcity. His
search has culminated in his grand vision of the Venus Project, a socio-
technological blueprint for the future wherein the scientific method and
technological innovation are intelligently and humanely applied to all aspects
of subsistence in order to create the “optimal symbiotic relationship between

30
nature and humankind”32 (Fresco, 2002, pg. 7). The principle feature of this
system is the “resource-based economy”, a “holistic socio-economic system
in which all goods and services are available without the use of money,
credits, barter or any other system of debt or servitude”,33and wherein the
planet’s resources are deemed the common heritage of all mankind, not
merely a select few (Fresco, 2002). Fresco considers the continued reliance
on barter systems as irrelevant to the necessities of life and even
counterproductive to human survival given the relative abundance of natural
resources irrespective of whether or not there exist sufficient funds to
procure them (Fresco, 2002).
“The advances in measured productivity in all sectors –
agriculture, industry and services – enable us to envision the end of
poverty, the sharing of prosperity, and the further extensions of life
spans. However, unfair social structures have become obstacles to an
appropriate and sustainable organization of production and a fair
distribution of its fruits…” (Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 2014).
A fundamental tenet of the Venus Project is the implementation of
ecological principles such as carrying capacity in the redesign of future
32 Similar to García-Olivares and Solé’s future post-capitalist, ‘symbiotic
economy’ wherein the primary goals are to improve the quality of life of all
people in ways that are symbiotic with natural ecosystems (García-Olivares
& Solé, 2015).
33 “When I consider any social system that prevails in the modern world, I
can’t, so help me God, see it as anything but a conspiracy of the rich to
advance their own interests under the pretext of organizing society. They
think up all sorts of tricks and dodges, first for keeping safe their ill-gotten
gains, and then for exploiting the poor by buying their labour as cheaply as
possible…even poverty itself, the one problem that has always seemed to
need money for its solution, would promptly disappear if money ceased to
exist” (More, 1965, pg.130).

31
societies through, for instance, minimizing ecological additions and
withdrawals via technological innovation (Schnaiberg, 1980) and embedding
concern for ecological integrity into all socio-ecological interactions. Fresco
maintains a systems view of life (Capra, 1996), stressing that one of our main
issues is that we lack the understanding that we form “an integral part of the
chain of life” and are not separate from it (2002, pg. IX). Indeed, the rampant
ecological crises that proliferate throughout the Anthropocene suggest, if not
a general lack of awareness of the workings of the natural world and how our
actions impact it, then a strange sort of indifference towards such matters34.
Thus, Fresco’s novel social system would be predicated first and foremost on
the carrying capacity of the planet, its available resources, and the needs of
its inhabitants. Such matters would be coordinated through the advanced
technologies of a resource-based economy wherein the earth’s extant natural
resources would be catalogued via large-scale computer-based systems so as
to avoid mismanagement and overexploitation.
“Silver and gold, the raw materials of money, get no more respect
from anyone than their intrinsic value deserves- which is obviously far
less than that of iron. Without iron human life is simply impossible, just
as it is without fire or water- but we could easily do without silver and
gold, if it weren’t for the idiotic concept of scarcity-value” (More, 1965, pg.
86)
34 Williams argues that such a tendency is due in part to the biological
hardwiring of the human brain that has been shaped over millions of years of
evolution and which predisposes humans to be most concerned with
immediate, local, and tangible phenomena such as pollution rather than more
abstract occurrences such as climate change (Williams, 2007).

32
Fresco purports that with an economic system predicated on our
relatively abundant natural resources and unencumbered by the
socioeconomic constraints of a barter system, the necessities of life could be
made readily available in order to provide a high standard of living for all35
(Fresco, 2002). As he astutely points out, “It is not money that people need
(as money is merely a social convention, a tool for mediating exchange
relations that possesses no value in itself36, unlike priceless potable water
and nutritious food), but access to the necessities of life... In a resource-based
economy money is irrelevant (as is the institution of private property).
What’s required are the resources and manufacturing and distribution of
products” (2002, pg. 41). Furthermore, Fresco delineates how in our present-
day, monetary-based societies, particularly within the profit-seeking
paradigm of global capitalism (García-Olivares et al), profit maximization is
kept alive through wholly destructive maneuvers such as the creation of
artificial scarcity of goods/services in order to maintain exchange value and
augment private riches (Foster et al, 2010), and the conscious withdrawal of
efficiency in the design of products in order to facilitate premature
breakdown and ensure continued consumption, a phenomenon known as
35 “All of the world’s economic systems…perpetuate social stratification,
elitism, nationalism, and racism, based primarily on economic disparity. As
long as a social system uses money or barter, people and nations will seek
differential advantage by maintaining their competitive edge or by military
intervention” (Fresco, 2002, pg. 31).
36 In one trenchant passage which highlights the arbitrary nature of value, a
Utopian citizen muses upon encountering foreign visitors adorned in jewels
and other ornaments: “Their very hats were festooned with glittering ropes
of pearls and other jewels…all the things used in Utopia for punishing slaves,
humiliating criminals, or amusing small children” (More, 1965, pg. 88).

33
planned obsolescence37. Such activities, in conjunction with mass marketing
campaigns designed to stimulate demand and create new markets for a range
of increasingly superfluous products (Ponting, 2007), serve to keep the
treadmills of production and consumption in perpetual motion.
Cities by Design: A Social, technological, and Ecological Synthesis
The Venus Project, in like manner as the Transition Towns Network, is
premised on the notion that human systems must reduce the scale and
resource-intensity of their operations in order to preserve biospheric
integrity and thus create more resilient and happier human communities.
Thus, in addition to designing industrial machinery and other forms of
technology that minimize harmful social and environmental impacts, such as
sensors that avoid collisions with other devices and living beings and
pollution-free aircraft (Fresco, 2002), Fresco proposes a wholehearted shift
towards clean and renewable energy sources to power the cities of the
future, such as geothermal, solar38, wind, and tidal power. Such changes
would require the complete redesign of cities, transportation systems,
37 From a purely environmental standpoint, this common marketing and
business tactic is outrageously wasteful and unsustainable as it requires ever
increasing amounts of raw materials for its sustenance while generating
mass pollution in the form of heavy metals such as lead and mercury
(Guiltinan, 2009).
38 Solar energy, the source of all life, is by far the most abundant energy
source on earth. It is estimated that one year’s worth of solar energy reaching
the Earth’s surface equals twice the amount of energy derived from all non-
renewables (Maelhum, 2013). In a socioeconomic system wherein concerns
regarding economic viability are nonexistent, attention could be fully
diverted towards developing and maximizing the harnessing capacity of this
immensely powerful source.

34
industrial plants, and other infrastructure systems in order to reintroduce
energy efficiency, sustainability and longevity on a meaningful scale. A
human civilization fully powered by renewables would, in addition to
eradicating the precariousness and instability of a dependence on finite fuel
sources, substantially reduce waste and pollution through increased energy
efficiency, thus dramatically improving environmental quality and helping to
stem ecological threats such as climate change (United States Environmental
Protection Agency).
“The main purpose of their (Utopia’s) economy is to give each
person as much free time from physical drudgery as the needs of the
community will allow, so that he can cultivate his mind- which they
regard as the secret of a happy life” (More, 1965, pg. 79).
Technology in a resource-based economy would accomplish far more
than merely guide societies along ecologically sustainable trajectories. As
Fresco states, the use of technology in a resource-based economy would not
be utilized to “advance the interests of transnational corporations”, as is
often the case within modern capitalism wherein machines are largely
utilized in order increase production value by eliminating wage expenses
through worker displacement (Proudhon, 1847). Rather, technology would
“enable the highest conceivable standard of living with practically no labor,
freeing people for the first time from a highly structured and outwardly
imposed routine of repetitive day-by-day activities” (2002, pg. 53), while

35
offering more leisure time for creative and intellectual pursuits39. Fresco
envisions that as automation and cybernation gradually replace mundane,
industrial productive work40, “interlinked cyber-centers will coordinate
service industries, transportation systems, public health care, and education”
(2002, pg. 55) to form a global governance system with astonishing
organizational and data-processing capacity for the coordination of an
advanced socio-technological society.
“The coming wave of automation, currently stalled because our social
infrastructure cannot bear the consequences, will hugely diminish the
amount of work needed – not just to subsist but to provide a decent life
for all” (Mason, The Guardian, 2015).
Below is an image depicting Fresco’s self-sustaining circular city
design, the core of which contains such key features as the cybernated
system, educational facilities, networking systems, health and child care
facilities. The buildings encircling the central dome would house cultural
39 “The most valuable untapped resource today is human ingenuity. With the
elimination of debt, fear of losing one’s job will no longer be a threat.
This…could reduce mental and physical stress, leaving us free to explore and
develop our abilities” (Fresco, 2002, pg. 43).
40 Indeed, the phenomenon of ‘technological unemployment’ is not new and
has been occurring since the industrial revolution. It essentially entails
“reductions in the numbers of people working in manufacturing and service
industries as computerised technology provides a cheaper, faster service”
(Pettifer, 1993). In light of such changes, one crucial question remains: what
is to be done with the growing numbers of dispossessed workers who
increasingly lack purchasing power to access basic necessities? One potential
solution is offered by the Venus Project, which aims to eradicate the use of
money altogether so that people can gain access to what they need
regardless of purchasing power.

36
activity centers such as theatres, art exhibitions, and other forms of
entertainment, which would in turn be surrounded by the city’s design,
development and research complexes and adjacent dining amenities. The
residential districts come in an array of ecologically sustainable designs
amenable to the occupants’ particular needs and aesthetic preferences, and
surrounded by lush gardens and landscaping. Lastly, the outermost
perimeters would include renewable energy generating centers, agricultural
belts for growing organic fruits and vegetables, a circular waterway for
irrigation and filtration, and recreational areas for activities such as biking
and hiking.
(Circular city design; www.thevenusproject.com)
On Interpersonal Interactions in a Resource-Based Economy
“’How do you expect people to work when there is no reward (monetary)
of labour, and especially how you get them to work strenuously?’

37
‘No reward of labour?’ said Hammond, gravely. ‘The reward of labour is
life. Is that not enough?” (Morris, 1890, pg. 82)
The overall structure and nature of a resource-based economy and its
attendant man-man/man-nature interactions would undoubtedly be vastly
different from that which we are accustomed to today, particularly in light of
Fresco’s seemingly radical proposition to eradicate the monetary-based
systems which so fundamentally shape virtually all aspects of modern
existence. A staunch adherent of the notion that it is context-dependent
environmental conditions (culture, political-economic conditions, etc.) that
shape human values and behaviors41, Fresco stresses that under the right
conditions, different incentives and attitudes towards work and
interpersonal interactions could arise wherein cooperation rather than
competition becomes the desired norm. Furthermore, citing the widespread
conviction that the competitive nature of free-market capitalism generates
incentive, Fresco points out that such a system also “creates greed,
embezzlement, corruption, crime, stress, economic hardship, and insecurity”
(2002, pg. 43)42. Alternatively, in a resource-based economy wherein
41 In contrast, the traditional biological deterministic paradigm that often
underpins free market ideology would maintain, for instance, that humans
are biologically and evolutionarily predisposed towards greed, violence,
ruthless competition and exclusive self-preservation (Allen, 1984). However,
such a viewpoint fails to account for why many engage in altruistic activities
which sometimes benefit others more than themselves, such as volunteer
work, or even risking one’s life for others such as assisting in a dangerous
rescue mission (Bénabou & Tirole, 2006).
42 “The new era of Robber Baron capitalism in which financial capital reigns
virtually unrestrained will continue to cause financial crises that destroy the
livelihoods of billions who live in developing economies, and increase the
economic insecurity of the majority who live in developed

38
individuals are no longer burdened by the harrowing necessity to work
merely to generate enough income in order to survive, “motivation and
incentive will be encouraged through recognition of, and concern for, the
needs of individuals. This means providing the environment, educational
facilities, good nutrition, health care, warmth, love, and security that people
require” (2002, pg. 45).
Writer Eduardo Galeano poignantly muses on the notion that human
thoughts and actions can be, and often are, motivated by concerns other than
the desire for financial gain. Remarking on some of the social-psychological
benefits of socialist societies, Galeano notes that, “in contrast to capitalist
societies, workers’ actions are neither governed by the fear of losing their
jobs nor by avarice. Other motives- solidarity, collective responsibility, an
awareness of the rights and necessities that propel men beyond greed and
selfishness- should take precedence” (Galeano, 1971). Indeed, in a recent
CommonDreams article titled, ‘Are Some Cultures Better Than Others at
Cultivating Empathy?’, Dr. Gary Olsen muses on Cuba’s remarkable
healthcare system whose ‘medical internationalization’ has seen the
deployment of thousands of its doctors to over 30 different countries in
order to offer free medical attention to some of the world’s poorest
inhabitants. Such a feat, denotes Dr. Olsen, “contradicts the common-sense,
economies…dooms most to struggle harder than their parents to meet their
economic needs, while a tiny, privileged minority accumulates fabulous
wealth at an accelerating rate” (Hahnel, Economic Pluralism, 2009).

39
bleak view of human nature, the dominant narrative of hyper individualism
and the profit motive”, while demonstrating that, “some cultures are
compatible with the lived expression of empathy while other cultures
suppress it” (Olson, 2015).
In a resource-based economy wherein technological innovation would
be harnessed to physically free humanity from the drudgery and monotony
of unfulfilling labor, the conditions for a new societal ethic and new socio-
ecological interactions could be created amidst the newfound freedom for
the virtually unhampered pursuit of social, artistic, and intellectual
endeavors43. Consequently, education in a resource-based economy would
become infused by a ‘holistic systems approach’ with a strongly
interdisciplinary focus, wherein students would be “made aware of the
symbiotic relationships between people, technology, and the environment” in
order to instill an awareness of the socio-ecological dangers of
overexploitation (2002, pg. 101). The conditions for the creation of a new
society would gradually be cultivated, based fundamentally on solidarity and
cooperation, those often and conveniently ignored elements of Darwinian
evolutionary theory that play an equally crucial role in interactions between
organisms (Pepper, 1996), while distorted and deleterious laissez-faire
43 “The insubstantial environment of what Teilhard de Chardin called the
noosphere (the sphere of the mind) is enriched by all creative people: the
good craftsman, the mystic, the philosopher-phycisist, the thoughtful mother,
the poet, the gardener. In a more leisured society a new meaning can be
given to life by increased participation in and enjoyment of the collective
inheritance” (Allsopp, 1984, pg. 90)

40
emphases on ruthless competition and hyper-individualism would become
mere relics of the past.
Analysis & Discussion:
The Venus Project: Retaining the Essential Human Element in a
Technological World
“But education at the level of the ‘head’ alone is not enough. The head is
very good at making decisions. But it is the passion of the heart that
pumps blood both to the head and to the hand that puts action into effect”
(McIntosh, 2008, pg. 240).
The type of global society envisioned by Fresco would require
sweeping changes in modes of subsistence, thought patterns, and social
interaction that would produce radically different forms of social
organization from those we have been accustomed to. However, some
aspects of Fresco’s revolutionary aims and proposals may be somewhat
problematic and thus warrant further exploration, such as his often
decidedly positivistic and hyper-rational approach to social interactions.
Fresco emphasizes the need to apply technological precision and “the
methods of science” to human social systems (2007, pg. 71), noting that, “If
we apply the same methods used in the physical sciences to…the
humanities,44 a lot of unnecessary conflict could be resolved. In engineering,
mathematics, chemistry, and other technical fields, we have the nearest thing
44 Schumacher admonishes that, “Great damage to human dignity has
resulted from the misguided attempt of the social sciences to adopt and
imitate the methods of the natural sciences” (1973, Pg. 200).

41
to a universal descriptive language that requires little in the way of
individual interpretation”45 (2007, pg. 12) Apart from concerns regarding the
feasibility of ridding human language and interaction of emotion and
variability is the question of desirability. Such an approach is undoubtedly
valuable in designing bridges and conducting scientific experiments, but does
it have a place in the social world which is inherently complex, subjective and
infinitely variable? Human fallibility may be a hindrance in the technical
realm, but we cannot entirely rid human societies of such characteristics as
they are essential components of the human condition.
Fresco purports that the intelligent and conscientious utilization of
science and technology can create a more peaceful, equitable, and
environmentally benign human civilization, and to a large extent he is
correct. However, scientific and technological precision constitute merely
one facet of reality, one route for accessing knowledge and understanding
which is incomplete if relied upon exclusively46, severed from the plurality of
human interpretations that are essential for adequately addressing complex
45 David Goddard, in contrast, stresses that, “No science is value-free, for all
scientific activity (because it is an activity, a human activity) presupposes
some framework of meanings or values in terms of which it is judged
meaningful, worthwhile, or useful” (1973, pg. 1).
46 “What I saw electrified me instantly (a yellow brimstone); it was the
thrilling sign of the turning year…and the brilliance of its color seemed to
proclaim the magnitude of the change it was signaling…and I realized that
science, which has now given us so much knowledge about such organisms,
did not have any way to convey its meaning at that moment…” (McCarthy,
2015, pg. 136).

42
social, ecological, and political-economic challenges. Rather, the empirical
and rationalistic modes of thought so emphasized by Fresco, hallmark
characteristics of the left hemisphere of the brain, must be tempered by and
synthesized with the equally valuable intuitive, imaginative, and artistic
inclinations of right-hemispheric thought (Henderson, 1980). It is crucial that
we draw on inputs from the techno-scientific realm as well as the arts, on the
space-specific knowledge held by local communities and the findings of
professional bodies (Benessia et al, 2012), and on the quantitative as well as
qualitative; because, while scientists may be able to identify pressing
biophysical issues, it is the underlying values of society that ultimately
dictate how, when and why they are addressed (Henderson, 1980).
“We must create an open-ended dialogue between different kinds of
knowledge…The idea is to move from a predictive and controlling mode,
with its emphasis on determining the future through the power of techno-
science, to a diagnostic mode, with a commitment to the present by
reclaiming our agency through a plurality of knowledges and life
experiences” (Benessia et al, 2012).
The Venus Project enthusiastically heralds the prospects of a new
socio-technological era and the incredible capabilities of modern and
prospective technologies- machines which far surpass a number of human
capacities in terms of speed, strength, physical endurance, precision47, and
47 Cars and modern computers, while increasingly commonplace, are
nonetheless

43
perhaps more controversially, cognition with the development of Artificial
Intelligence. Indeed, the Venus Project Magazine elaborates on such
incredible extensions of human power, while musing on the looming
prospects of ‘human-like’ machines that can think, sense and even experience
emotions. However, it is crucial that amidst the frenzied excitement over
such marvels we do not lose sight of the all-important human element, of the
fact that ‘human-like’ will only ever be an approximation, and that
technology is merely a tool intended for, and irrevocably dependent on, the
human societies that mold and direct its use. Future socio-technological
societies must continue to nurture their indispensible ‘humanness’ – the arts
and the myriad non-technical, non-quantifiable elements that make up the
social world- so as to not lose sight of technological progress and its social
and environmental implications.
Transition Towns: Islands Amid the Mainstream
Barrey & Quilley (2009) shed light on some intriguing characteristics
of the Transition Towns Network from a social movement perspective,
noting that the initiatives more closely resemble a string of grassroots,
solution-oriented, and practical approaches to sustainable community
development than a protest movement due to their resolutely non-
astonishing examples of the transformative powers of technological
innovation.

44
confrontational principles and strategies48. As Barrey & Quiley explicate,
“while supporting national and multilateral efforts to reduce emissions and
develop new energy technologies and infrastructures, TTN operates at a
tangent to mainstream climate politics or more well-established
environmental organizations” by leaving “climate change protest to
environmental campaign groups49, NGOs and activists oriented towards a
global civil society” (2009, pg. 2). Rather, as previously intimated and
exemplified by TTN’s 9th step, ‘build a bridge to local government’, a core
tenet of theirs is to emphasize cooperation so as to foster widespread
enthusiasm and thus ensure success in developing and spreading
sustainability initiatives. Yet, while cooperation and engagement with
numerous actors and sectors of society is essential for building momentum, a
cooperative relationship with neo-liberal actors and other representatives of
the ‘status quo’ that lacks a sufficiently critical edge could risk co-option and
a gradual disintegration of the initiatives’ original aims and ideals50 (Smith,
2011).
48 Rob Hopkins (2008) describes the Transition approach as proactive rather
than reactive.
49 One spectacular recent example is the ‘People’s Climate March’ on
September 21st, 2014, referred to as the largest climate march in history,
which saw mass demonstrations in over 150 different countries in order to
protest climate change inactivity and to encourage urgent political action
before the critical UN Summit on climate change. Nearly 400,000 gathered on
the streets of New York City alone (peoplesclimate.org).
50 This is a critique that has frequently been aimed at large, transnational
environmental NGOS such as Greenpeace which, although occasionally
engaging in direct action, have nonetheless been described as increasingly
moderate and professional organizations almost exclusively concerned with

45
The real-world examples of socio-ecological resilience offered by the
Transition Towns Network are undoubtedly vital and indispensible
components of the grand social change narrative. However, their distinctly a-
political stance and reluctance to actively confront the underlying causes of
the socio-environmental crises that they aim to overcome, such as the
endless-growth imperatives of oligarchic capitalism, presents a potential
stumbling block on their path towards a more sustainable future. As Barrey
& Quiley note, “Rather than campaigning against globalization or in favor of a
‘globalization from below’, the TT project is premised on the end of
globalization and the inevitability of environmentally induced environmental
and sociopolitical disorder” (2009, pg. 2). However, as demonstrated by the
People’s Climate March, the Ogoni anti-Shell protests51, the Seattle
‘Kayaktivists’ recent protests against upcoming Arctic oil drilling expeditions
by Shell, and countless other manifestations, sometimes it is not enough
merely to present an alternative. The present structurally entrenched
socioeconomic paradigm and operations responsible for our dwindling
ecological, social, economic, and political conditions wield overwhelming
power and influence. Likewise, they will require equally formidable
“empire-building” and “gaining credibility among law-makers” (Lee, 1995,
pg. 9).
51 Klein gives an inspiring account of Nigeria’s Ogoni people who, on January
4th, 1993, staged a massive non-violent protest of 300,000 against Shell’s
‘ecological wars’ of oil extraction in their region. The immense social
pressure forced Shell to pull out of the territory, dealing a devastating blow
to oil production in Ogoniland (pg. 306).

46
opposition forces that refuse to continue participating in the present system
while forcefully and clearly identifying the main divers behind social and
environmental decay.
Enter Blockadia: The Global Resurgence of Social & Environmental
Direct Action
“A new antiestablishment movement has broken with Washington’s
embedded elites and has energized a new generation to stand in front of
the bulldozers and coal trucks…and it has taken extractive industries, so
accustomed to calling the shots, entirely by surprise” (Klein, 2014, pg.
296)
The above excerpt captures the essence of an emerging social
movement that Klein describes as ‘Blockadia’, characterized by ‘transnational
waves of contention’ (Sotirakopoulos & Rootes, 2014) originating from local
struggles against the “common ecological crisis caused by predatory
capitalism and its resource and energy profligacy” (Klein, 2014, pg. 303).
Blockadia is imbued with a fervent sense of urgency and unrelenting resolve
whose oppositional direct action tactics such as equipment lockdowns, as
employed by the countless indigenous tribes and communities around the
world who are resisting rapacious extractivist projects on their lands by
profit-seeking corporations52, can be traced back to the ideologies and tactics
52 In July of 2013, following government inaction, Kayapo warriors (an
Amazonian indigenous tribe) intercepted operations at illegal mining camps
in the Amazon forest by destroying mining equipment and capturing miners,
pressuring the government to collect the captured miners by helicopter
(Zimmerman, National Geographic, 2013). It is activities such as these that

47
initially employed by direct action environmental organizations such as
Earth First! (Klein, 2014). They constitute zealous manifestations of a
burgeoning ‘global imaginary’ (Patomäki & Steger, 2010), a new social
identity predicated on a powerful collective consciousness (Staggenborg,
2011) that transcends traditional national, racial, cultural, ethnic and even
species divisions, as do the crises and threats they are fighting against. Most
importantly, Blockadia-style direct action generates the vital socio-political
tension and turmoil that serves to temporarily slow and in many cases halt
the tides of destruction53.
“(Social movements) have coalesced around the many dis-economies, dis-
services, and dis-amenities we see industrialized societies are now
producing. Such citizen movements…represent an inevitable and vital
social feedback mechanism to correct the course of our society”
(Henderson, 1980, pg. 330).
Reitan & Gibson (2012) summarize the surging multifaceted and
increasingly integrated tide of transnational contention as a new variant of
former environmental movements, namely, the fourth-wave
can make considerable strides in halting environmental degradation, making
them crucial compliments to alternative movements such as TTN.
53 In 2011, the radical ecologist organization, Sea Shepherd, sent activists out
on inflatable rafts in order to intercept the Yushin Maru 3, a Japanese
harpoon vessel out whale hunting on the southern ocean under the guise of
scientific research. After days of direct action activities by the activists, the
Japanese government was forced to officially call off the hunt, effectively
accomplishing what “decades of sustained political pressure from other
governments, international organizations, and mainstream environmental
groups had failed to accomplish” (Eilstrup-Sangiovanni & Bondaroff, 2014,
pg. 348).

48
environmentalism of radical ecologism which emerged in the 1970s, and its
key philosophical underpinnings of diversity, decentralization and
egalitarianism. The new 5th wave of environmentalism, spurred by growing
concerns over the “myriad threats posed by climate change” (Reitan &
Gibson, 2012, pg. 397) and related socio-ecological crises of a heretofore
unprecedented magnitude and severity, is bolstered by a growing consensus
over their systemic underpinnings, and concerns over environmental justice
regarding indigenous groups and others who are particularly vulnerable to
the effects of environmental degradation. While exhibited by Blockadia and
groups such as Climate Justice Action (CJA)54 in their most reactive and
radical forms, initiatives such as TTN and TVP can similarly be described as
manifestations of this new global wave of environmentalism in that they
share similar concerns and convictions, and are advocating fundamental
structural change, albeit through different means (technological and practical
rather than confrontational approaches).
Perhaps for the time being it is sufficient for the Transition Towns
Network to ‘leave the climate change protesting’ and similar adversarial
tactics to other social groups while focusing on the ‘prefigurative’ aspects of
54 A collaborative, anti-hierarchical direct-action climate justice organization
with decidedly eco-Marxist orientations who are directly critical of
capitalism, in many ways emerging in response to the ostensibly reformist
approaches of more mainstream organizations such as the Climate Action
Network (Reitan & Gibson, 2012). These movement dynamics closely mirror
those previously exhibited between more mainstream and radical
environmental groups such as Greenpeace and Earth First!.

49
societal change (Yates, 2015). Barrey & Quiley summarize TTN as “a
fascinating and deeply significant grassroots response to the converging
ecological, economic, cultural, developmental and wider geo-
political/security crises of the coming century” (2009, pg. 3). Indeed, as
Hopkins reminds us in the concluding pages of The Transition Handbook
along decidedly similar lines as Fresco, “With national indebtedness now at a
record 1.2 trillion pounds, it is clear that we are paying through the nose for
something that fails to meet our fundamental human aspirations: happiness,
security, time for relaxation, rewarding work and access to healthy food”
(2008, pg. 212). TTN has proposed a viable alternative to such a system as
well as practical steps for change through re-skilling (how to build, farm, and
subsist more sustainably); now the question remains of precisely which
political routes are to be taken in order to overcome the considerable
institutional obstacles that lie ahead55, as the continued existence of many
powerful vested interests is predicated on the ceaseless growth paradigm
(Ponting, 2007).
55 In reference to inadequate patchwork approaches to social and
environmental issues such as the heretofore woefully ineffective EU
Emissions Trading Scheme, which has actually seen GHG emissions soar
since its inception, Klein muses that, “…ours is a global economy created by,
and fully reliant upon, the burning of fossil fuels and… a dependency that
foundational cannot be changed with a few gentle market mechanisms. It
requires heavy-duty interventions: sweeping bans on polluting activities,
deep subsidies for green alternatives, pricey penalties for violations,
reversals of privatization…” (2014, pg. 39).

50
Navigating Troubled Waters: Building A New Society Amidst
Geopolitical, Ecological, and Social Turmoil
“The Anthropocene gives us a future that is all too real. It is no
longer ours to construct; nature is no longer merely the inert stage on
which the human drama plays out. Nature, we are learning, has its own
grand narrative, a narrative against all human narratives that says ‘you
can no longer take me for granted, as something infinitely malleable’”
(Hamilton, 2012).
Creating a new society amidst the myriad challenges presented by the
precarious and perturbation-ridden Anthropocene will be no effortless or
instantaneous feat, and initiatives such as TTN and TVP will undoubtedly
face tremendous challenges on the paths towards realizing their respective
visions. As previously elucidated, rising global temperatures due to
anthropogenic climate change are already engendering tangible global
impacts and will continue to exert ever greater pressures on social and
ecological systems. Increasingly prevalent abnormal rainfall patterns, more
frequent and intense storms, persistent droughts, rising sea levels, soil
erosion and desertification, declining biodiversity, and accelerated glacial
melting will in turn lead to greater potentialities for reduced and failed
agricultural harvests (further increasing global food insecurity) (Ainsworth
& Ort, 2010), a proliferation of climate-related diseases such as malaria, and
increased scarcity of precious resources such as potable water, leading to
greater geopolitical conflict and tensions (Ponting, 2007; Vince, 2014). These
looming threats and the socio-political upheavals they are likely to fuel are
rendered further pressing by a global population of over seven billion human

51
inhabitants and a projected peak of over nine billion by 2075 (UN, 2004), not
to mention the countless other nonhuman souls who will be forced to either
adapt or perish.
It is a tragic twist of irony that socioeconomically disadvantaged
groups have historically been disproportionately affected by environmental
calamities despite having done the least to cause them (Ponting, 2007), and
similarly they stand to bear the brunt of climate change, peak oil, and similar
socio-ecological crises 5657. The gradual encroachment of the seas onto land
will erase arbitrarily demarcated national boundaries, particularly around
coastal settlements and low-lying island states such as the Maldives,
effectively rendering such areas uninhabitable and forcing millions to flee
their homes as environmental refugees. Considerable socio-economic and
political turmoil is likely to ensue as entire cultures and ways of life are
profoundly altered by a biosphere in disarray. In light of such critical
transition points, TVP and TTN’s emphases on the significance of solidarity,
interpersonal cooperation, and practical skill building will serve as key
56 “The industrialized countries became wealthy on the back of huge
increases in energy consumption and the carbon dioxide that this
produced…The average American citizen is responsible for 997 more carbon
dioxide emissions than a citizen of Chad” (Ponting, 2007, pg. 399; 402).
57 “The effects of global warming will be felt in the highly unequal world
created in the last two centuries. The rich countries are far better able to
cope with the effects of climate change. They have the resources to build
coastal defenses and to obtain the food they need…In general they have
enough water and they have the political power to keep out the flood of
environmental refugees that is likely to arise in the next few decades”
(Ponting, 2007, pg. 392).

52
coping strategies. Klein denotes the urgent need for a fundamental shift in
societal consciousness in order to weather the worst effects of the coming
storms: “Unless our culture goes through some sort of fundamental shift in
its governing values…How do we honestly think we’ll ‘adapt’ to the people
made homeless and jobless by increasingly intense and frequent natural
disasters? How will we treat the climate refugees who arrive on our shores in
leaky boats?” (Klein, 2014, pg. 48) Perhaps the spread of the trans-boundary
‘global imaginary’ will help assuage the psychosocial effects of the turmoil.
“Our own capabilities and imaginations will be stretched by our
current crises. Millions of us are transcending our old fragmented
viewpoints and rising to new levels of human awareness” (Henderson,
1980, pg. 326).
As we proceed onwards, groups such as TVP and TTN that emerge to
guide human civilization forward must keep in mind what Truscello &
Gordon so eloquently delineate as the fundamental challenges and realities
that lie ahead:
“The material tendencies of our petromodern era ensure that whatever the
future holds, it cannot be like the past; there is no linear descent from the
peak curve into pristine conditions, no parlour trick to make centuries of
ruinous structures evaporate without a trace, no time machine capable of
reversing the Columbian Exchange, no space on earth that is exclusive of
nuclear contamination, global warming, or the toxic drift of industrial living.
Hence, even as we build technosocial assemblages appropriate for life
beyond capitalism, we cannot project their proliferation in society as a
blueprint onto a blank canvas. Any anarchist politics of technology must
contend with a world that is always already toxic and in various stages of
collapse” (Truscello & Gordon, 2013, pg. 17).

53
In other words, the socio-ecological deficiencies of the ‘petromodern state’,
aptly designated because of its structurally embedded fossil-fuel-profligacy,
have given rise to new geophysical and socio-historical conditions that will
form the underlying basis of tomorrow’s future societies. Socio-
environmental precariousness and instability will likely be defining features
of life for some time and will therefore have to be embedded into designs for
the future. We cannot go back, we cannot bring back the many species
condemned to the abyss of extinction, but we can adapt, learn from past
mistakes, salvage what’s left, and turn crises into new opportunities for the
establishment of a new equilibrium.
Towards a More Ecocentric Global Community
“Put your ear to her flank and you will hear the tide of her four stomachs.
When she falls sick and lacks the will to chew her four stomachs fall silent
as a hive in winter…each year more animals depart; only pets and
carcasses remain” (Berger, 2009, pg. 77).
One topic that remains to be sufficiently explicated by both TTN and
TVP is the precise role and status of non-human life in future societies. The
founders of both groups frequently denote the need for new social systems
predicated on socio-ecological resilience and the general carrying capacity of
the earth; indeed, Fresco often evokes ‘deep ecological’58 notions such as that
58 The ‘deep ecology’ paradigm was originally put forth by Norwegian
philosopher Arne Naess (1973). It is a cosmological orientation that rejects
the traditionally dominant ‘human-centered’ view of nature wherein humans

54
humans are merely one component of the ‘chain of life’ (2002, pg. IX).
However, it is unclear whether such stances differ in any significant way
from traditional, utilitarian approaches to sustainability that emphasize the
preservation of natural resources and biodiversity primarily for the benefit
of humankind rather than for the biosphere as a whole59. Far too often,
concern for the natural world has been foundationally anthropocentric (Rull,
2011). In a world increasingly characterized by the ecological consequences
of anthropogenic hegemony, how will we treat the rapidly diminishing
remnants of our planet’s vibrant evolutionary heritage? How do we prevent
the disappearance of the ‘moth snowstorm’, a metaphor coined by author
Michael McCarthy which refers to the heart-wrenching loss of wildlife
abundance over recent decades,60 wherein moths once navigated the night
skies in such prodigious quantities that they would completely cover the
windshield of a car like snowflakes in a blizzard (McCarthy, 2015)?
“But even more than the single species, it is the loss of abundance itself
that I mourn” (McCarthy, 2015, pg. 100).
are placed in a superior position and wherein nature and non-human life are
valued insomuch as they are of instrumental use to humanity; rather, ‘deep
ecology’ proposes a more holistic view of life which ascribes inherent value
to all of nature (Devall & Sessions, 2010).
59 For instance, attempts to slow the historically and presently relentless
persecution of various species of animals for sport, food, fashion, and similar
uses have often been instituted only in order to preserve populations just
enough in order to perpetuate their continued exploitation (Ponting, 2007).
60 The particular context that informs McCarthy’s heartfelt musings on loss is
post-WWII Britain, which has since lost over half of all of its wildlife
(McCarthy, 2015).

55
A truly civilized future society will cultivate what Benessia et al refer
to as a ‘non-human, animal-inclusive’ paradigm, the AHIM (animal human-
inclusive milieu; Bradshaw, 2011), predicated on a recognition of the
fundamental cognitive, social, and physiological affinities between humans
and other animals. The AHIM suggests that, “as our neuropsychological
peers, other species qualify for what we Westerners have coveted for
ourselves: life, liberty, self-determination, and, implicitly, sustainable living”
(Benessia et al, 2012, pg. 12). As Benessia et al poignantly elaborate, present
sustainability discourses, even as articulated by considerably forward-
thinking groups such as TVP and TTN, nonetheless contain a fundamental
‘framing error’ in that they continue to exclude other Earthlings, positing
them not as equals but rather as external ‘others’ who are at best of marginal
concern. The incipient mass extinction that is the culmination of centuries of
unrestrained exploitation of the natural world (Ponting, 2007) serves as a
testament to our shortsightedness and ethical underdevelopment as a
species. Any designs for a sustainable and ethical future will require a
fundamental conceptual shift from viewing nature and animals as mere
resource providers61 to co-evolutionary kin that possess intrinsic worth
61 As intimated previously, a vivid example of the complete transformation of
non-human life into mere resources to satisfy human demand is the average
60 billion animals raised for human consumption annually (CIWF, 2009). In
addition to being incredibly resource-intensive and thus environmentally
unsustainable, such exploitation is morally unacceptable.

56
(Klein, 2014)62, lest we soon wake to the haunting and irrevocable silence of
a world devoid of the wondrous presence of our nonhuman counterparts.
However, if moralistic arguments prove ineffective in arousing
concern, it would be wise to remember the psychological, ecological, and
related essential benefits that biodiversity offers mankind. Biodiversity, itself
a fundamental component of ecosystem resilience, provides vital ecosystem
services upon which all of life depends, such as the maintenance of water
quality and soil fertility by microorganisms, the regulation of atmospheric
and oceanic chemistry by phytoplankton and other photosynthesizers, the
crucial role played by pollinators in supporting agricultural productivity, and
the key functions performed by top predators such as sharks in regulating
lower trophic levels in food webs and thus preserving ecosystem equilibrium
(FAO). Additionally, sociobiologist E.O Wilson’s intriguing biophilia
hypothesis maintains that, as a result of an extensive co-evolutionary
heritage of man-nature interactions, humans possess an innate propensity
towards interacting with nature and other living creatures, and derive
numerous benefits from doing so (Wilson, 1984). Indeed, there exists a
62 One remarkable example of steps towards dismantling the ‘human-animal’
divide is the Pan/Homo bonobo Bill of Rights, a work produced by
primatologist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and three of her bonobo collaborators.
Closely mirroring human bills of rights with declarations such as a ‘right to
live free from violence and attack’, Benessi et al note that through Pan/Homo,
“humans and bonobos have created a bicultural system of knowledge and
meaning” that dispels “the myth that language and science are the unique
property and privilege of Homo sapiens” (Benessia et al, 2012).

57
substantial body of literature in realms such as health and the social sciences
that has established a palpable link between close proximity to nature and
human psychological, social, and physiological wellbeing (Maller et al, 2005).
“There is an ancient bond with the natural world surviving deep within
us, which makes it not a luxury, not an optional extra, not even just an
enchantment, but part of our essence” McCarthy, 2015, pg. 246).
Precipitating Sweeping Social Change: Beyond the Materialist/Idealist
Divide
“The most important fight of all at this crucial stage in our
evolution is not the fight against inflation…pollution…desertification
or…corrupt governments. These are each necessary and cannot be
relaxed. However they will not be won until we have also won the fight
within ourselves…” (Russell, 1991, pg. 226; 228; 229)
In contrast to the quote above, TVP employs a combination of idealist
and materialist assumptions, positing that the path towards mass societal
change will be forged by shifts in consciousness and value norms (largely
through education), which will both be engendered by and in turn engender
changes in socio-economic arrangements (Pepper, 1996). TTN exhibits
slightly more idealistic tendencies, as exemplified through the ‘awareness
raising’ stage in their “12 Steps of Transition”, while additionally adopting
prefigurative approaches in attempting to develop workable alternatives.
While Russell firmly maintains that, “Consciousness precedes being, not the
other way around…” (1991, pg. 226), perhaps during our perturbed modern
socio-historical context it would be more beneficial to view relationships
between consciousness and the external world as iterative and dialectical,

58
the way organisms in an ecosystem influence one another through nutrient
exchanges. The steadily deteriorating conditions of our natural and social
environments are already precipitating widespread realizations- that we are
not isolated components inhabiting an infinitely expanding biosphere but
that we are fundamentally dependent on natural processes as well as our
non-human counterparts, and that the cancerous endless growth paradigm
which has fueled economic expansion while generating mass destruction in
its wake is no longer tenable. These burgeoning realizations are in turn
giving rise to new forms of social organization such as TVP and TTN, vibrant
facets of the new ‘counter-economy’ (Henderson, 1980) that will continue to
develop as the emerging social consciousness and the state of the world mold
one another.
Future Prospects
“Although feigning permanence, social imaginaries63 are temporary
constellations subject to constant change. At certain tipping points in
history, change can occur with lightning speed and tremendous ferocity”
(Patomaki & Steger, 2010, pg. 1057).
As we prepare for the changes ahead, drawing inspiration from the
work and ideas of visionary initiatives such as the Transition Towns Network
63 These are explanations of how various members of communities fit
together, “how things go on between us, the expectations we have of each
other and outsiders, and the deeper normative notions and images that
underlie those expectations”, while providing the “ethical standards and
material ‘evidence’ of what passes as the right and obvious way of being-in-
the-world” (Patomaki & Steger, 2010).

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