Ecocivilization and Our Discontents: Jeremy Lent on Why TINA Is Wrong

About this episode

Jeremy Lent discusses the concept of ecocivilization and critiques the neoliberal idea that there is no alternative to capitalism.

“When you’re in a world that is careening out of control, where we’ve broken through seven of the nine safe dimensions of safe operating space that scientists have discovered, it’s unrealistic in my view to focus on those little things and think that will lead to a real better outcome. What’s realistic is backcasting.” — Jeremy Lent There Is An Alternative. That is the central argument of Jeremy Lent ’s new book, Ecocivilization: Making a World That Works for All . Margaret Thatcher’s historically materialist TINA — THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE — was both the most seductive and disempowering message the neoliberal establishment ever produced. As long as everyone believes in the inevitability of free market capitalism, nothing will ever really change. Anti-agency is the name of agency. We just push for slightly higher carbon taxes and slightly fewer fossil fuel subsidies and give it the euphemism of “progress.” For Lent, however, this is environmental capitulation. Jeremy Lent imagines a genuinely sustainable world — one where humans have a long-term relationship with the living Earth. From that vantage point, the steps that look realistic to the incrementalists seem timid or…

People in this episode

Host: Andrew Keen

Guest: Jeremy Lent

Topics covered

• ecocivilization
• sustainability
• neoliberalism
• environmentalism
• capitalism

Keywords

• TINA
• free market
• incrementalism
• environmental capitulation
• safe operating space

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