Has (even Marxist) political ecology really transcended the metabolic rift?

Napoletano, Brian M.; Torres, Pedro Sergio Urquijo; Paneque-Gálvez, Jaime; Clark, Brett; York, Richard; Franch-Pardo, Iván; Méndez–Lemus, Yadira; Vieyra, António

doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.04.008

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Thus, concepts such as the capitalist notion of value or celebration of the absolute domination of nature are falsely imputed to Marx (and Engels), who were in fact highly critical of these ideas [41,42]. Similarly, failures to understand how dialectics entail a combination of identity and distinction in unity has led scholars to inaccurately characterize Marx's approach as either dualistic or monistic [43,44], when it is in truth neither [45,46].…”

Section: Lefebvre and The Metabolic Riftmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability and Metabolic Revolution in the Works of Henri Lefebvre

Napoletano

Clark

Foster

et al. 2020

World

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Humanity’s present social–ecological metabolic configuration is not sustainable, and the need for a radical transformation of society to address its metabolic rifts with the rest of nature is increasingly apparent. The work of French Marxist Henri Lefebvre, one of the few thinkers to recognize the significance of Karl Marx’s theory of metabolic rift prior to its rediscovery at the end of the twentieth century, offers valuable insight into contemporary issues of sustainability. His concepts of the urban revolution, autogestion, the critique of everyday life, and total (or metabolic) revolution all relate directly to the key concerns of sustainability. Lefebvre’s work embodies a vision of radical social–ecological transformation aimed at sustainable human development, in which the human metabolic interchange with the rest of nature is to be placed under substantively rational and cooperative control by all its members, enriching everyday life. Other critical aspects of Lefebvre’s work, such as his famous concept of the production of space, his temporal rhythmanalysis, and his notion of the right to the city, all point to the existence of an open-ended research program directed at the core issues of sustainability in the twenty-first century.

show abstract

Section: Lefebvre and The Metabolic Riftmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability and Metabolic Revolution in the Works of Henri Lefebvre

Napoletano

Clark

Foster

et al. 2020

World

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Marx coined the term "metabolic rift," illustrating how industrialization disrupts the centuries-old metabolism between society and nature, creating a gap [3]. Although the metabolic rift has Marxist connotations, it can contribute to the understanding and guidance of social metabolism [4]. Thus, decoupling in the economy is needed towards an inclusive and circular approach [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Industrial Metabolism: A Multilevel Characterization for Designing Sustainable Manufacturing Systems

Martín-Gómez,

Ávila-Gutiérrez,

Lama-Ruiz

et al. 2023

Machines

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The development of industrial manufacturing systems has significant implications for society and the environment, often resulting in substantial waste generation. To address this issue and promote sustainable growth, the concept of industrial metabolism offers a promising approach. Industrial metabolism facilitates the circularity of energy and material flows within the industrial environment, contributing to the establishment of more sustainable manufacturing systems. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of industrial metabolism, highlighting its analogy with natural systems and categorizing models based on their application at different levels: macro (national or regional), meso (eco-industrial park), and micro (manufacturing plant or line). The analysis emphasizes the importance of considering the trophic network and evaluating the efficiency, cyclicality, toxicity, and resilience of industrial metabolic pathways. The proposed characterization of bioinspired industrial metabolism is positioned within the industrial environment. This positioning facilitates the design of manufacturing systems that emphasize circularity, drawing on frameworks applied at different levels within industrial metabolism.

show abstract

“… 4. Castree (2000) denied that Smith succumbed fully to monism, despite his tendency to see nature completely subsumed by society, while conversely accusing Engels of dualism because he treated nature, in the sense of external nature, as non-identical and relatively autonomous from society. This raises the question of what constitutes monism and dualism for Castree (see Napoletano et al, 2018; Napoletano et al, 2019), and whether there is any room for dialectical or ontological distinctions.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Antinomies of space and nature or an open totality? Neil Smith and Henri Lefebvre on nature and society

2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The work of Henri Lefebvre has played a pivotal role in human geography in recent decades. At the same time, it has frequently been subject to partial and fragmented appropriations that isolate his insights on the production of space from his broader corpus, leading to confusion and misunderstanding regarding his handling of the dialectical relationships between space, time, society, and nature. In particular, Neil Smith's claim that Lefebvre's conceptualization of nature was both deficient and inconsistent with his dynamic conceptualization of space has tended to dominate geographical engagements with Lefebvre in this area. Following Smith, researchers generally reconstruct the production of space as an epiphenomenon of the production of nature. We critically assess and respond to Smith's criticisms of Lefebvre. Specifically, we contrast Lefebvre's material–dialectical approach to Smith's production-of-nature thesis. While Smith's thesis is helpful in understanding how capital attempts to subsume all of nature under commodity production, Lefebvre's dialectical conceptualization of nature–society as an oppositional unity points both to the impossibility of capital subsuming all of nature and the dangers that its attempts to do so pose to human civilization (even survival). Lefebvre's observations, regarding the growing rupture between natural processes and spatial dynamics, which he incorporates into his own elaboration of Karl Marx's theory of metabolic rift, make his work indispensable to the development of an ecospatial critique within geography and the social sciences more generally.

show abstract

Has (even Marxist) political ecology really transcended the metabolic rift?

Cited by 9 publications

References 23 publications

Sustainability and Metabolic Revolution in the Works of Henri Lefebvre

Sustainability and Metabolic Revolution in the Works of Henri Lefebvre

Industrial Metabolism: A Multilevel Characterization for Designing Sustainable Manufacturing Systems

Antinomies of space and nature or an open totality? Neil Smith and Henri Lefebvre on nature and society

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About