The miner and the activist: an Australian parable for our carbon constrained world

Arvanitakis, James; Boydell, Spike

doi:10.2458/v17i1.21699

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…As noted, despite rhetoric that appropriate private property rights are required to promote research, the opposite often occurs (Westphal 2002;Arvanitakis and Boydell 2012). We are not saying that knowledge should not be attributed to the authors, researchers or artists, but rather that clearly defined property rights around 'intellect' limits the free and open exchange of knowledge and again, the benefits are concentrated in the hands of the very few -a conclusion well supported by much academic research over the last decade Boyle 1996Boyle , 2008Coombes 1998;Drahos 1997;Drahos and Braithwaite 2002;Gillespie 2007;Halbert 2005;Hemmungs Wirtén 2004;Lessig 1999Lessig , 2008McLeod 2001; Vaidyanathan 2004).…”

Section: The Social and Cultural Commonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are not some universal truth-despite the denial of the Devil. This is highlighted in everything from the Open Source Software movement (Lessig 2008) to the cultural and spiritual association to "land" by Indigenous peoples across Australia, the United States, the Pacific and Scandinavia (Arvanitakis and Boydell 2012;Coq 2014). Property rights, as such, are continuously contested because of this tension: the myth of the universal truth comes into direct conflict with our lived reality and the way that they are constantly grounded within the socio-cultural context in which they operate.…”

Section: Property Rights Piracy and Disruptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While this was meant to create an environment to inspire researchers as it offered to safeguard their "discoveries", the unintended consequence was that it created a crisis of "scarcity" where once abundance existed (Westphal 2002). Such scarcity emerges because those who now own patents can demand payment if others use their intellect -often causing research- ers to turn away from research areas where they fear they may breach established patents (ibid).As noted, despite rhetoric that appropriate private property rights are required to promote research, the opposite often occurs (Westphal 2002;Arvanitakis and Boydell 2012). We are not saying that knowledge should not be attributed to the authors, researchers or artists, but rather that clearly defined property rights around 'intellect' limits the free and open exchange of knowledge and again, the benefits are concentrated in the hands of the very few -a conclusion well supported by much academic research over the last decade Boyle 1996Boyle , 2008Coombes 1998;Drahos 1997;Drahos and Braithwaite 2002;Gillespie 2007;Halbert 2005;Hemmungs Wirtén 2004;Lessig 1999Lessig , 2008McLeod 2001; Vaidyanathan 2004).…”

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Roos¹,

Kostakis²,

Giotitsas³

2016

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Today, two great signs of change are occurring. On the one hand, the capitalist world economy is putting tremendous pressure on the earth's biosphere and bringing an onslaught of destruction to immediate environments and vulnerable people worldwide. On the other hand, the rise of new and progressive social-economic foundations is the result of an unprecedented increase of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Therefore it is arguably more crucial than ever to understand how social, economic and ecological foundations of the internet and ICT infrastructures are interwoven. What are we-as scholars, activists and citizens-to make of ICTs that seem to emerge from an economic and social system based upon ecological destruction and social oppression, while at the same time engaging millions of people in the proliferation of information, knowledge and active democratic collaboration? This special issue investigates how we can begin to understand this problem, and how we can hope to balance the perils and promises of ICTs in order to make way for a just and sustainable paradigm.Keywords: Commons based peer production, peer-to-peer, political ecology, ICTs, materiality, immateriality, transition, sustainability, digital commons.Recent studies by Christian Fuchs have examined the complex web of production relations and the new division of digital labour that makes possible the vast and cheap ICT infrastructure as we know it (Fuchs 2013;. The analysis partly reveals that ICT products and infrastructure embody slave-like conditions that perpetually force mine and assembly workers into positions of dependency. Expanding this argument, the WWF has reported (Reed and Miranda 2007) that mining in the Congo basin poses considerable threats to the local environment in the form of pollution, loss of biodiversity, and an increased presence of businessas-usual made possible by roads and railways. This research highlights that ICTs are inherently material, as opposed to purely cognitive or code based, because the ICT infrastructure under the given economic structure embodies slave-like working conditions, various class relations and undesirable ecological consequences (see also Humphrey 2001). Thus, the position that views the emerging digital economy as purely immaterial is challenged.At the same time, the emerging digital commons provide a new and promising platform for social developments, arguably enabled by the progressive dynamics of ICT development. These are predominantly manifested within commons-based peer production, i.e., a new mode of collaborative, social production ; and grassroots desktop manufacturing or community-driven makerspaces, i.e. forms of bottom-up, distributed manufacturing. The most well-known examples of commons-based peer production are the free/open source software projects and the free encyclopaedia Wikipedia. While these novel forms of social organisation are immanent in capitalism, they also present the potential to challenge the dominant capitalist system of production and ev...

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Section: The Social and Cultural Commonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Property Rights Piracy and Disruptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Roos¹,

Kostakis²,

Giotitsas³

2016

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“…This paper adopts a political ecology approach to evaluate the likelihood of Libya being able to engage in the CDM for the purposes of reducing emissions and promoting sustainable development. Comprehensive understanding of these complex issues requires a political ecology method (Arvanitakis and Boydell 2010;Bumpus and Liverman 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engaging with carbon markets: the Libya case

Schierl

Dargusch²

2011

Journal of Political Ecology

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Climate change and the emerging carbon-constrained economy of the 21st Century present new challenges and opportunities for countries of the Middle East and North Africa. This paper discusses the potential for Libya to participate in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the main flexibility mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, which is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote sustainable development. The paper considers the interaction of Libya's history and socio-cultural characteristics with global policy dynamics and economic forces. Libya's geography presents considerable potential in terms of CDM project opportunities, yet key developments would be required before these could be exploited. The nature of Libya's political system and social structures suggest that these developments are unlikely to occur while the Qadhafi regime endures, and therefore that Libya will not be able to engage successfully with the CDM and international mitigation activities in the short term. However, the CDM represents a means to implement capacity building and technical development programs, which will be integral components of reconstruction strategy in the aftermath of the dramatic events of early 2011.Keywords: Libyan energy policy; Clean Development Mechanism; political ecology; socio-economic reform; Kyoto Protocol.

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“…Comprehensive understanding of these complex issues requires a political ecology method (Arvanitakis and Boydell 2010).…”

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Blue carbon: a study of the potential of coastal ecosystem resource management in global climate policy and carbon markets

Schierl¹

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Blue carbon refers to carbon stored or sequestered in marine and coastal ecosystems including mangrove forests, tidal salt marshes and seagrass meadows, as well as coral reefs and oceanic carbon sinks in the form of marine algae. These habitats provide important ecosystem services (spawning habitat, defence against storms, nutrient cycling, pollination) and economic resources (livelihoods, and provision of food, materials and medicines) yet are largely unregarded in international climate change mitigation and adaptation frameworks. While there is considerable enthusiasm in the scientific and policy communities over the potential of blue carbon finance to support sustainability initiatives and local development, efforts to enact blue carbon project activities are severely constrained by a range of economic and social factors. Advocates of blue carbon consistently fail to understand the importance of blue carbon as an economic commodity, focusing largely on scientific uncertainty and governance issues.In order to integrate blue carbon offset activities into global policy mechanisms, scientific methods are required to quantify the carbon storage and sequestration benefits of blue ecosystems. To facilitate the participation of communities in blue carbon project activities, critical and theoretical social science perspectives are needed to understand the constraints, opportunities, and drivers of engagement. Securing necessary financial resources and market engagement requires recognition of investment priorities and commercial imperatives. This study therefore requires the application of a transdisciplinary framework to explore the multi-dimensional nature of the emerging localinternational carbon value network. Integrating a number of journal articles as key chapters, the thesis first considers the broad political economy of carbon in global markets, and then investigates the blue carbon value chain (or network) as a case study. This value network extends from 'producers' to 'end users', and the thesis examines the roles of actors and stakeholders using the tools and theoretical perspectives of institutional and ecological economics, political ecology, systems dynamics, and development studies. Understanding the institutional systems in which ecosystem-based carbon offsets operate, and the motivations of and constraints on the actors in those systems, will help to identify policy interventions and reforms that will facilitate the development and implementation of blue carbon activities.The complex challenges of the 21 st Century imply that transition to a resilient and sustainable global society will require new understandings of wealth and economic value, and new approaches to environmental governance. Blue carbon can be considered a 'proxy' for a range of outcomesadaptation to climate change effects, support of food security and community development, and the building of social-ecological resilience in marine managed areas. As such, blue carbon is an ideal iv case study of the emerging models of local-to-...

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The miner and the activist: an Australian parable for our carbon constrained world

Cited by 6 publications

References 24 publications

Download the Entire Special Section Here

Download the Entire Special Section Here

Engaging with carbon markets: the Libya case

Blue carbon: a study of the potential of coastal ecosystem resource management in global climate policy and carbon markets

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