From elite folk science to the policy legend of the circular economy
Giampietro, Mario (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Funtowicz, Silvio O. (University of Bergen)

Data:	2020
Resum:	This paper explores the implications of the widespread success of the term circular economy in the institutional and public debate. The concept of circular economy in itself implies a logical contradiction: on the one hand, the concept acknowledges the dependence of the economy on biophysical flows; on the other hand, the proposed solution-a business model guaranteeing a full decoupling of the economy from natural resources-seemingly ignores that biophysical processes are subject to thermodynamic constraints. A biophysical view of the sustainability predicament-the flows exchanged between the technosphere and the biosphere - is depicted to show that the idea of a full decoupling is simply due to ignorance of the knowledge generated in (inter)disciplinary scientific fields other than the dominant economic one. The success of economics as an 'elite folk science' is explained by the need of the establishment to ignore uncomfortable knowledge that would destabilize existing institutions. The success of the term circular economy can be seen as an example of socially constructed ignorance in which folk tales are used to depoliticize the sustainability debate and to colonize the future through the endorsement of implausible socio-technical imaginaries. A strategy that can lead to an irresponsible management of expectation: implausible master narratives are impossible to govern. Rather than continuing to impose technocratic plans, as if we knew the optimal thing to do, Post-Normal Science suggests that it is much more effective and responsible to adopt a flexible management approach, exploring the ability of self-organization of social-ecological systems.
Ajuts:	European Commission 689669 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MDM-2015-0552
Nota:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Circular economy ; Decoupling ; Life-support system ; Policy legend ; Post-Normal science ; Uncomfortable knowledge
Publicat a:	Environmental science & policy, Vol. 109 (July 2020) , p. 64-72, ISSN 1873-6416

DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.04.012

9 p, 588.6 KB

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