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This article considers capitalism as a dissipative system, developing at the expense of exporting disorder into two sorts of ‘environment’: the physical ecosystem; and a subordinate area of society which serves to nourish mainstream order without experiencing its benefits. Particularly significant is the relationship between the two forms of dissipation. The paper begins by assessing the dangers of translating systems theory into social relations, concluding that the project is nevertheless worthwhile, provided that exploitation and struggle are constantly borne in mind. Exploring the concepts of ‘core’ and ‘periphery,’ the paper highlights the contradictory nature of an attribute of chaos which is both ascribed to the out-group, and also really exported to it. If the core’s growth merely destroyed peripheral order, the entropy of capitalism would be starkly exposed in the form of an exhaustion of future room for maneuver. This problem can be kept at bay by maintaining a self-reproducing ‘low’ order within the subordinate social system; however the fundamental entropy is still there, and will sooner or later manifest itself in the shape of threats to the sustainability of that subordinate system. At the level of the international political economy (IPE), this dialectic unfolds against the background of a ‘lumpy’ development whereby (following structural crises) order can be reconstituted, but at a cost which must be absorbed somewhere. In the case of the post-World War II reordering, this cost was massively exported to the physical environment. Since a high level of ecological depletion now appears permanently embedded within the capitalist IPE, future major efforts of order-building cannot rely on this dimension to the same degree, and must instead access some new forms of dissipative relationship with the social environment. The paper argues that this is the fundamental significance of the ‘sustainable development’ discourse: it brings together the physical and social environments into a single approach, where substitution between one and the other can be experimented. To some extent, the social environment can be treated as ‘fuel,’ and contemporary management sys-tems are noteworthy for exploring the access to an added value through the self-exploitation of small producers, realized through emergent process such as production chains. But ultimately, the ‘fuel’ definition cannot be separated from the other definition of dissipa-tion, the export of disorder; and this must be managed somehow. The dominant interests respond by means of social engineering in the periphery, for example by pushing the sustainability notion in the direction of social development theories like ‘sustainable livelihoods.’ Most immediately the problem appears in the form of purely negative phenomena: namely unmanageable levels of poverty and conflict. But there is another issue, even more threatening to the capitalist order, but hopeful for those critical of it: the increasing likelihood of unco-opted forms of emergent social order.

Abstract:We outline a future where society re-energises itself, in the sense both of recapturing creative dynamism, and of applying creativity to meeting physical energy needs. Both require us to embrace self-organising properties, whether in nature or society. We critically appraise backcasting as a methodology for visioning, arguing that backcasting's potential for radical, outside-the-box thinking is restricted unless it contemplates a break with class society, connects with existing grassroots struggles (notably over land) and dialogues with utopian socialist tradition. We develop a case study of food, starting from the physical parameters of combatting the entropy expressed in the loss of soil structure, and apply this to urban food-growing. Drawing upon 'real utopias' of existing practice, the paper proposes a threefold categorisation: subsistence plots, an urban forest, and an ultra-high productivity sector. We emphasise the emergent properties of such a complex system characterised by the 'free energy' of societal self-organisation. Barling et al, 2008), backcasting, in contrast, begins from a desired outcome and then assesses the steps by which it may be reached. The methodology has particular relevance to the theme of this special issue because backcasting has, since its origins, had a special focus on energy. Any visioned future must make clear where its energy will come from, and backcasting arose as a response to Lovins' emphasis on the centrality of 'soft' energies, which include not just renewables but the advantages of small scale (Lovins, 1976); the essential point is that, since such a future will be radically different from what we have now, it cannot adequately be forecast from the present (Robinson, 1982). Compared to other methodologies, backcasting thus opens up a stronger understanding of sustainability (Mulder and Biesiot, 1998).I will argue that, underlying energy inputs is a deeper issue of flows and the management of entropy. Energy is conserved, and what flows into any system is what flows out. But, following the Second Law of thermodynamics, it is degraded in the sense that it loses the order which makes it useful (De Rosnay, 1979). At the most basic level, even the solar transition can be seen in this way: since the earth is not a closed system, its own entropy is offset by importing low entropy in the form of solar energy (Georgescu-Roegen, 1975); although conventionally we think we absorb energy from the sun, in reality the energy dissipated by the earth is equivalent to that entering it, the point being that the incoming energy has lower entropy (Penrose, 2010: 78-9). If we moreover remove the artificial distinction between energy and matter, the useable (ordered) input can be termed exergy (negative entropy) (Dincer, 2002). In a future solar economy entropy will be dissipated safely, in contrast to today's flows, where scarce exergy sources (whose extraction moreover degrades local ecosystems) are transformed into pollution and greenhouse gas emission and degrade the wider ea...

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Caritas gehört neben der Liturgie und der Wortverkündigung zu den wesentlichen Aufgaben der Kirche. Dies gilt auch für die katholische Kirche in Polen, wo die Wohltätigkeit eine reiche Tradition hat. Bereits im Jahre 1915 entstand in Krakau das Bischöfliche Komitee für die Kriegsopfer und 7 Jahre später -im Jahr 1922 -der Caritas-Verein. Die Kirche in Polen galt vor dem Zweiten Weltkrieg als bedeutsamer Wohltätigkeitsträger. Ein besonderes Kapitel in der Geschichte der kirchlichen karitativen Tätigkeit in Polen schrieb der Zweite Weltkrieg. Am 23. Juli 1940 wurden alle Strukturen der Caritas durch die deutsche Besatzungsmacht aufgelöst. Als Ersatz wurden im Jahre 1940 "RGO" (Hauptfürsorgerat) und "PolKo" (Polnisches Fürsorgekomitee) als Organisationen ins Leben gerufen, die die karitative Hilfe leisten konnten. Unmittelbar nach Ende des Krieges schuf die Polnische Bischofskonferenz im Juni 1945 die Landeszentrale der Caritas, die sogleich ihre offizielle Tätigkeit wieder aufnahm. Kurz nach der Machtübernahme starteten die Kommunisten Angriffe auf die institutionelle Arbeit der Caritas. Die schwierige Zeit der kommunistischen Verfolgung bedeutete immer mehr eine Behinderung der karitativen Tätigkeit der Kirche, die sich auch in verschiedenen Formen der karitativen Seelsorge auswirkte. Infolgedessen wurde die Caritas mit ihren Einrichtungen bereits im Jahre 1950 unter die Zwangsaufsicht des Staates gestellt. Die Landeszentrale "Caritas" musste aufgelöst werden und ihr Eigentum wurde von den Staatsbehörden beschlagnahmt. Nach der Auflösung der Landeszentrale der Caritas im Jahre 1950 wurde anstelle der kirchlichen Organisation die neue "Vereinigung der Katholiken -Caritas" gegründet, die der kommunistischen Regierung unterstellt war. Als Reaktion darauf gründete die Polnische Bischofskonferenz das Landessekretariat für Barmherzigkeit. Die Einführung des Kriegszustandes (1981) forderte auch die Kirche zur verstärkten karitativen Aktivität heraus. In den 80er Jahren kam es zum bedeutenden Aufschwung institutioneller Caritasarbeit in Polen, als während der sich verschärfenden Wirtschaftskrise die gesellschaftliche Rolle der Kirche stark zunahm. Im Januar