A propos des relations écologie et société

Ecology and economics, apart from their common root, seem to be fundamentally opposed. The ecological crisis is often presented as an inevitable consequence of all technological process. This rejection of the development of productive forces enables the fierceness of social struggles to be underestimated, the idea of austerity to be considered as unavoidable and science and scientists to be held responsible for this state of affairs. The development of mathematical models whose forecasts are catastrophic, guarantees objectivity. But all models are built on hypotheses that are coloured by the ideology of the individuals or groups that build them. The close analysis of two fundamental concepts used in these models — natural resources and consumption — shows that these concepts are not clear and that their use is strongly conditioned by the dominant ideology. The consideration of the use of natural resources shows that the present dominant strategies lead to possibilities being wasted, to waste products, — apparently resources that have been thrown away, — being accumulated, and to possible technological choices being limited. All this goes against the widening of knowledge and of technological possibilities which enable solutions to be increasingly suited to the heterogenous possibilities of nature. The control of productive forces would not be enough if it were not accompanied by a revision of intervention strategies inherited from a pre -ecological era. It is in this sense that ecology acquires its true dimension in the economic field.