This book traces the interacting histories of the disciplines of ecology and economics, from their common origin in the ancient Greek concept of oikonomia, through their distinct encounters with energy physics, to the current obstruction of neoliberal economics to responses to the ecological and climate crisis of the so-called Anthropocene. Reconstructing their constitution as separate sciences in the era of fossil-fuelled industrial capitalism, the book offers an explanation of how the ecological sciences have moved from a position of critical collision with mainstream economics in the 1970s, to one of collusion with the project of permanent growth, in and through the thermal crisis of the biosphere.
"We live in a world of rapid, irreversible environmental change. The interplay of fire, life, atmosphere and land now constrain and propel humanity's destiny. How have we arrived at this situation? Jeremy Walker presents a fascinating, insightful argument that the answer lies in the historical tensions between ecology and economics in broader political debates about resource use and fossil fuel combustion."
-David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, Director of the Fire Centre Research Hub, University of Tasmania, Australia
"Neoliberal proposals for re-organizing the global economy rose to prominence in parallel with the emergence of a consciousness of the global economy's material limits. Jeremy Walker has written the first book devoted to the fraught relationship between neoliberal economics and ecology-an essential contribution to today's most pressing discussions."
-Quinn Slobodian, Associate Professor of History, Wellesley College, Massachusetts, USA
"Blazing a trail between photosynthesis and pyrotechnology, Walker guides us masterfully through the making of today's global thermo-industrial catastrophe."
-Nigel Clark, Professor, Chair of Social Sustainability, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, UK
This book traces the interacting histories of the disciplines of ecology and economics, from their common origin in the ancient Greek concept of oikonomia, through their distinct encounters with energy physics, to the current obstruction of neoliberal economics to responses to the ecological and climate crisis of the so-called Anthropocene. Reconstructing their constitution as separate sciences in the era of fossil-fuelled industrial capitalism, the book offers an explanation of how the ecological sciences have moved from a position of critical collision with mainstream economics in the 1970s, to one of collusion with the project of permanent growth, in and through the thermal crisis of the biosphere.
Jeremy Walker is Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Sciences and a member of the Climate Justice Research Centre at the University of Technology Sydney. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (University of New South Wales), a Bachelor of Communications (Social Inquiry, Hons, UTS) and a PhD (History and Philosophy of Science, UTS).
