Joan Martinez-Alier's guest appearances

Joan Martinez-Alier

Economia Política / Political Economy

Holberg Prize Talks

Circular Metabolism Podcast

Peter Hall

Ana Cordeiro

Robert Boyer

Boaventura Sousa Santos

João Arriscado Nunes

Phil OʼHara

José Reis

Brigitte Young

OwlTail

On Wednesday, 7 June, the 2023 Holberg Prize Laureate Joan Martinez-Alier held the lecture: "Land, Water, Air and Freedom" in the University Aula in Bergen. Mapping geographies of resistance at the frontiers of commodity extraction and waste disposal in a world counter-movement for environmental justice.As the industrial economy grows, there is also growth and changes in the Social Metabolism. The economy is not circular, it is entropic. There are thousands of “ecological distribution conflicts” at the frontiers of commodity extractions and waste disposal. Their protagonists display many different valuation languages and repertoires of action. “Land, Water, Air and Freedom” seems a good slogan and also a short description of the aims of the world movements for environmental justice.Photo: Eivind Senneset / The Holberg Prize

On Wednesday, 7 June, the 2023 Holberg Prize Laureate Joan Martinez-Alier held the lecture: "Land, Water, Air and Freedom" in the University Aula in Bergen. Mapping geographies of resistance at the frontiers of commodity extraction and waste disposal in a world counter-movement for environmental justice. As the industrial economy grows, there is also growth and changes in the Social Metabolism. The economy is not circular, it is entropic. There are thousands of “ecological distribution conflicts” at the frontiers of commodity extractions and waste disposal. Their protagonists display many different valuation languages and repertoires of action. “Land, Water, Air and Freedom” seems a good slogan and also a short description of the aims of the world movements for environmental justice. Photo: Eivind Senneset / The Holberg Prize

Joan Martinez-Alier: "Land, Water and Freedom"

The flows of energy and materials in the world economy have never been so large as today. This article argues that this increased social metabolism is causing more and more conflicts on resource extraction and waste disposal. This gives rise to a movement for environmental justice around the world. The words "environmental justice" were first used in the United States in the early 1980s for local complaints against "environmental racism", i.e. the disproportionate pollution burdens in areas primarily inhabited by disadvantaged ethic groups but the term is now applied to spontaneous movements and EJOs anywhere in the world (and to the networks or coalitions they form across borders) resisting extractive industries and complaining against pollution and climate change... See separate PDF for full abstract.

7. Environmental justice and economic degrowth: an alliance between two movements, by Joan Martinez-Alier (University of Barcelona)