[p2p-research] does green capitalism manufacture artificial scarcity ...

Mon Oct 6 06:10:06 CEST 2008

I follow Mute regularly, it has great articles, occasionaly marked by this
kind of fake radicalism,

Michel

On Mon, Oct 6, 2008 at 10:10 AM, Josef Davies-Coates <
josef at uniteddiversity.com> wrote:

> I have to admit that I didn't even bother reading it but it reminds me
> of people who argue against things like low energy light bulbs on the
> basis that reduces demand for energy, thus reducing prices, thus
> encouraging more fuel to be burnt, thus causing more climate change.
>
> Although from what I gather from your responses their logic isn't even
> that good.
>
> I know the main guy who started mute though, so might forward this on to
> him :)
>
> He's actually got some pretty cool ideas himself (which the mute site
> tries to enable, and which my colleague Joerg helped build), see for
> example the attached project proposal for networked distribution.
>
> Josef.
>
>
> 2008/10/5 Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>:
> > seems to belong to the hypercritical tendency in which Mute often falls
> ....
> >
> > Michel
> >
> > On Sun, Oct 5, 2008 at 1:49 AM, Chris Watkins <
> chriswaterguy at appropedia.org>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> I'm with Michel and Vinay on this one. I don't see any insights in this
> >> article.
> >>
> >> Chris
> >>
> >> On Sat, Oct 4, 2008 at 03:33, Vinay Gupta <hexayurt at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Enron-Lovins model.
> >>> Ahem.
> >>> That, right there (and I helped edit two of Lovins' books) is the most
> >>> retarded thing I've ever read.
> >>> Good find!
> >>> Vinay
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Vinay Gupta
> >>> Free Science and Engineering in the Global Public Interest
> >>> http://hexayurt.com - free/open next generation human sheltering
> >>> http://hexayurt.com/plan - the whole systems, big picture vision
> >>> Gizmo Project VOIP : (USA) 775-743-1851
> >>> Skype/Gizmo/Gtalk  : hexayurt
> >>> Icelandic Cell     : (+354) 869-4605
> >>> "If it doesn't fit, force it."
> >>> On Oct 4, 2008, at 9:56 AM, Michel Bauwens wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Dear friends:
> >>>
> >>> What to think of this:
> >>> http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2008-09-02-heartfield-en.html
> >>>
> >>> It's basically a critique of higher energy prices, I find the critique
> >>> very weird, and would appreciate any commentary,
> >>>
> >>> Not building more power plants, distributing solar and wind energy
> >>> locally, and hiking up prices is all seen as a plot to manufacture
> >>> artificial scarcity by 'green capitalists'
> >>>
> >>> I also don't see the author offering any alternative,
> >>>
> >>> Excerpt:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> The old-fashioned market incentive for energy efficiency is the savings
> >>> people make on their bills when they insulate their homes, or turn down
> the
> >>> air conditioning. Businesses, too, have every interest in keeping
> overheads
> >>> low by using the energy they pay for wisely. Normal prices would give
> >>> customers the incentive to reduce their electricity consumption.
> >>>
> >>> But amazingly the Enron-Lovins model of restricting supply is the one
> >>> that is being adopted around the world. Utility companies are rewarding
> >>> consumers for reducing their consumption from central power stations
> and
> >>> encouraging domestic-sited energy generation, through windmills and
> solar
> >>> panels. Playing on Californians' distrust of the power companies, the
> >>> Environmental Protection Agency is planning to add solar power to one
> >>> million new homes – paid for by another surcharge on utility bills.[8]
> In
> >>> Britain, the government is introducing regulations to make all new
> homes
> >>> carbon-neutral. The current goal of carbon-neutral homes reverses the
> >>> division of labour that saw specialised energy producers distribute
> >>> electricity, turning it into an eighteenth century cottage industry.
> The
> >>> simple economic lesson that mass production avoids reproduction of
> effort
> >>> has been lost. Nothing could be more wasteful, or more certain to
> create new
> >>> scarcity.
> >>>
> >>> California's "negawatt revolution" is only one of the more extreme
> >>> versions of the way that green priorities work in tandem with profiting
> by
> >>> manufacturing scarcity. South African radical Dominic Tweedie argues
> that
> >>> recent electricity blackouts there happened because of "a campaign to
> impose
> >>> artificial scarcity". The failure to build power stations to meet the
> >>> growing demand from South Africa's black townships was not recognised
> as a
> >>> problem by activists there because they bought into the green prejudice
> that
> >>> social aspirations could be met by redistribution alone, at the expense
> of
> >>> increased output. Now supply companies are hiking up prices to the
> people
> >>> who can least afford them.
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> The P2P Foundation researches, documents and promotes peer to peer
> >>> alternatives.
> >>>
> >>> Wiki and Encyclopedia, at http://p2pfoundation.net; Blog, at
> >>> http://blog.p2pfoundation.net; Newsletter, at
> >>> http://integralvisioning.org/index.php?topic=p2p
> >>>
> >>> Basic essay at http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=499; interview
> at
> >>>
> http://poynder.blogspot.com/2006/09/p2p-very-core-of-world-to-come.html
> >>> BEST VIDEO ON P2P:
> >>>
> http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=4549818267592301968&hl=en-AU
> >>>
> >>> KEEP UP TO DATE through our Delicious tags at
> http://del.icio.us/mbauwens
> >>>
> >>> The work of the P2P Foundation is supported by SHIFTN,
> >>> http://www.shiftn.com/
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Chris Watkins (a.k.a. Chriswaterguy)
> >>
> >> Appropedia.org - Sharing knowledge to build rich, sustainable lives.
> >>
> >> blogs.appropedia.org
> >>
> >> I like this: five.sentenc.es
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > The P2P Foundation researches, documents and promotes peer to peer
> > alternatives.
> >
> > Wiki and Encyclopedia, at http://p2pfoundation.net; Blog, at
> > http://blog.p2pfoundation.net; Newsletter, at
> > http://integralvisioning.org/index.php?topic=p2p
> >
> > Basic essay at http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=499; interview at
> > http://poynder.blogspot.com/2006/09/p2p-very-core-of-world-to-come.html
> > BEST VIDEO ON P2P:
> > http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=4549818267592301968&hl=en-AU
> >
> > KEEP UP TO DATE through our Delicious tags at
> http://del.icio.us/mbauwens
> >
> > The work of the P2P Foundation is supported by SHIFTN,
> > http://www.shiftn.com/
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Josef Davies-Coates
> 07974 88 88 95
> http://uniteddiversity.com
> Together We Have Everything
>

-- 
The P2P Foundation researches, documents and promotes peer to peer
alternatives.

Wiki and Encyclopedia, at http://p2pfoundation.net; Blog, at
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net; Newsletter, at
http://integralvisioning.org/index.php?topic=p2p

Basic essay at http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=499; interview at
http://poynder.blogspot.com/2006/09/p2p-very-core-of-world-to-come.html
BEST VIDEO ON P2P:
http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=4549818267592301968&hl=en-AU

KEEP UP TO DATE through our Delicious tags at http://del.icio.us/mbauwens

The work of the P2P Foundation is supported by SHIFTN,
http://www.shiftn.com/
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