Ecology and social energetics : the Podolynsky-Vernadsky connection
Martínez Alier, Joan (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Chertkovskaya, Ekaterina (Lund University. Department of Technology and Society)
Franco, Marco Paulo Vianna (University of London)

Date:	2026
Description:	33 pàg.
Abstract:	In 1880 Serhiy A. Podolynsky (1850-1891) described the human economy as a metabolic flow of energy and was later praised for it by ecologist Vladimir Vernadsky, whereas his work encountered strong criticism by Friedrich Engels. However, the notes taken by Karl Marx were rather neutral in tone. In this article, we use primary sources in Ukrainian and Russian, including Vernadsky's diaries and correspondence, to shed light on the ecological aspects of Podolynsky's accounting of energy flows in agriculture and, more broadly, on the economic implications of his social energetics. In addition to a contribution to European intellectual history of the environment and the history of Ukrainian radical political movements in the 1870s, we provide arguments for the continued relevance of Podolynsky's work for today's planetary ecologists, ecological economists, political ecologists and eco-Marxists.
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2024-001506-M
Rights:	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.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Agricultural energetics ; Ecosocialism ; Energy accounting ; History of economic thought ; Social metabolism
Published in:	Dialectical Anthropology, Vol. 50, Num. 1 (March 2026) , p. 261-293, ISSN 1573-0786

DOI: 10.1007/s10624-025-09800-z

33 p, 1.2 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles