The Philosophical and Material Underpinnings of a Sustainable Alternative: A Contribution to Ecological Economics

Abstract

Numerous social groups are explicitly rejecting their integration into proletarian organization of production as part of process of capitalist accumulation. In its place they are proposing and implementing self-directed social and political systems with their own productive and ecosystem management programs that allow them to determine terms of their interchanges with world (and regional) market economies. By framing analysis within paradigm of ecological economics, this paper contributes to a better understanding of interactions of social and natural systems in order to ameliorate the human condition while building a firmer foundation for environmental sustainability and rehabilitation. Using author's proposal for an analytical apparatus to evaluate philosophical underpinnings of actual practice by social groupings (usually alliances among communities and/or within indigenous groups), analysis applies four fundamental principles - autonomy, self-sufficiency, productive diversification, and sustainable ecosystem management - to evaluate progress made in regions attempting to implement their own alternatives to capitalist organization. The article analyzes results from two specific projects in which author is involved as well as incorporating lessons learned that are being applied in other settings, including a number of projects being implemented by social actors in other geographic, ethnic and institutional settings. The study concludes that organization of societies to build viable and attractive alternatives to capitalist models offers great scope for improving human welfare and promoting sustainable environmental management that also offers significant benefits to other segments of society living in urban-industrial context.