A study on the environmental issue from historical, anthropological, social, psychological, philosophical, economic, political and juridical perspectives

1. 205
such ideology has reached his climax: we are products of consumption [...] used
without ever reaching a real well being. Food eats us, and [...] we lose every
possibility of being active”2
.
The Stockholm International Water Institute claims that in 40 years we will all
become vegetarian. Not for a free choice but for a real need: otherwise there will not
be enough food to feed the increasing world population. Fruit and vegetables instead
of stakes and hams. According to the Institute this will be our sons’ and grandsons’
diet, if we will want to be able to feed the entire planet3
.
Currently 20 per cent of the proteins needed for our food requirement comes from
products derived from animals, either meat or dairy products; but this percentage are
to decrease to five per cent or maybe even less within 2050, if famine and conflicts
caused by food shortage will have to be avoided. The starting point and main
problem seems to be water. Already today it does not seem enough and in many
regions is a good more precious that oil for the survival of our species, but in 40
years it might not be sufficient to produce enough food for nine billions of people.
This is why future wars for food or water instead of those for oil or natural gas can
be foreseen. The food coming from animals consumes from five to 10 times that
required for a vegetarian diet. To change diet would probably allow a smaller
consumption of water in agriculture, and not only: today a third of the arable lands
on the planet are destined to the cultivation of seeds and cultivations for feeding
husbandry animals4
.
2
Refer to http://www.slowfood.it/3/filosofia?-session=sf_soci:97135C93187d929BC4pL673850AA
3
The outlook comes from a report from prominent scientists. Global food reserves constantly
decrease, as the Stockholm International Water Institute’s report claims, while world population keeps
increasing. If humanity keeps on feeding at this current pace, and following today’s typical diet,
within 2050 catastrophic food shortages might occur. Already according to United Nations’ statistics,
900 million people are currently starving and two billions are to be considered malnourished. But in
the next four decades world population might grow from seven to nine billions, with a net increase of
two billions which will make food shortage even more dramatic. What to do then? The answer of the
Stockholm researchers seems clear: the world ought to change diet. We should all, or almost all,
become vegetarians. Refer to http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/aug/26/food-
shortages-world-vegetarianism
4
If fewer animals would be eaten, water would be saved and more availability of land for other
agricultural use would result. The Stockholm Institute report has been published at the eve of the
2012 United Nations Water World Conference in front of politicians and representatives at the United
Nations, non-governmental organisations and researchers coming from 120 countries. At the
conference even other options were discussed, such as the elimination of food wasting, better
exchanges between countries with a food surplus and those with a food deficit, investments on
hydraulic pumps and simple water technologies for Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. But the most
radical and revolutionary proposal could be at the same time the simplest one: to become all
vegetarians. Ibidem

2. 206
The state of Sikkim, a little less of 500,000 inhabitants in a mountainous region of
the north of India is trying to turn its entire agriculture 100 per cent organic by 2015.
In that area, at the foot of the Himalayas, a significant Nepalese community is
present. Nepalese is spoken and the population is Hindu and Buddhist. This is the
context in which the political decision of transforming the entire agriculture organic
was adapted, a decision taken in 2003 by the state’s governor Pawan Chamling, who
proposed to the national assembly the law of reconversion to organic5
.
Ecoservices
Renewable resources (vegetal and animal food, forests, water, biodiversity, air,
vegetal and animal biomasses) are able to regenerate and self-organise because they
utilise metabolic energy and internal resources, each following an autonomous life
project. In nature and biology, development is never a process guided from the
outwards, and this seem to be one of the pillar of ecologic sustainability.
In economics instead, all living systems, and in particular societies and
civilisations, are dependent on energy and other external inputs, and seem therefore
highly complex but at the same time fragile, because dependent.
Ricoveri argues that the capability of natural entities, which are the basis of
common goods, to self organise increases their value. They not only are located on
fundamental resources for the creation of life on the planet, but favour the formation
of a culture of autonomy where all species play a crucial role within the cycle of life;
where local communities can decide on what they believe to be their real
development since real development only exists when the people can exercise their
5
Since then 8,000 hectares of land have been reconverted and already in 2003 a ban on the use of
pesticides and fertilisers was put into effect. In exchange however the practice of using organic
fertilisers has been adopted as well as the implementation of 24,536 units for the production of
compost and 14,487 one for that of vermicompost. In Sikkim, according to recent statistics, the
following are being produced: around 80,000 millions of tons of agricultural products, among which
45,890 million tons of ginger, 3,510 of cardamom, 2,790 of curcuma, 4,100 of buckwheat, 3.210 of
black beans and 20,110 of mandarins. Today the project foresees to arrive to 14,000 hectares
reconverted into organic agriculture in the four districts of the state, involving 14,000 peasants. Not
only: a prize for those families that will produce well from organic agriculture is provided for and
organic agritourism in 50,000 families is going to be promoted. Refer to
http://www.italiafruit.net/DettaglioNews.aspx?IdNews=18533

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rights, Ricoveri argues. Cultures based on ecologic sustainability perceive the earth
like Gaia, Terra Mater, the Pachamama of the Indio people, while those based on
the market seem to believe in a colonialist conception of the earth, seen as a passive
element and res nullius, thus obscuring the importance of its regenerative processes
and denying the role and rights of native and indigenous populations, the author
continues6
.
In this sense, one of the most common example in literature might be the one
concerned with woods and forests, the types of ecosystems from which the poor have
always taken the means to survive in all historical epochs and that have always been
providing a significant number of ecoservices7
.
The value of the services provided by natural ecosystems is immeasurable, and
American scholars who tried to measure it claim that it is greater than global gross
domestic product. Natural common-pool goods thus seem to represent a second or
parallel economy, which works in silence and for free to the service of the common
wealth, differently to the market which sometimes seems to make a lot of noise and
produce money: this could be another positive aspect which might enforce the
contribution of common-pool goods for the benefit of society, according to
Ricoveri8
.
6
Another element which seems fundamental for such local common-goods is the ecosystemic nature
of natural resources linked by interconnections and complementarity among natural elements that
together define the set of natural and social processes of reproduction of a society. The eco-systemic
nature of resources and common goods might not even be longer perceived in current mainstream
culture, which considers nature for granted and under control, so that it does not take it into
consideration anymore. It seems that such phenomenon can be grasped in its significance only by
analysing the effective functioning of single ecosystems. Refer to Ricoveri, Giovanna (2010) Nature
For Sale: Commons Versus Commodities Pluto Press / Beni Comuni vs. Merci Jaka Book, p. 40-41
7
Humankind seems to benefit from a multitude of resources and processes that are supplied by
ecosystems. Ecological goods and services might be considered benefits deriving from the ecological
functions of healthy ecosystems. Such benefits seem to accrue to all living organisms, including
animals and plants, rather than to humans alone.
8
Refer to Ricoveri, Giovanna (2010) Nature For Sale: Commons Versus Commodities Pluto Press /
Beni Comuni vs. Merci Jaka Book, p. 41-42

4. 208
The Prospect-Refuge Theory
Within a landscape and artistic perspective, natural goods seem to be resources
known to man from ancient times, linked primarily to psychological and
anthropological causes. English geographer Jay Appleton proposed the so called
prospect-refuge theory of human aesthetics.
The theory states that taste in art is “an acquired preference for particular methods
of satisfying inborn desires”. The two desires are for opportunity (prospect) and
safety (refuge). Tracking down these two desires gives us a means of understanding
successful and enduring aesthetics, and the ability to predict the same. The theory
predicts that humans are attracted to nature, art and circumstances that have: broad,
unoccluded vistas; visible places for easy refuge (a copse of trees, caves), water,
plants and a smattering of prey species9
.
It further predicted that we should like spaces when we are at the edge, such that
our back is protected (rather than the middle where we are most exposed) and when
we are covered, rather than open to the sky. In short, we should like everything that
is optimal for survival and reproduction in the savannah. The theory holds that we
respond to such impulses in art subconsciously, and that individuals attracted to such
circumstances would have stood a better chance of survival by choosing to spend
time in such places. Art that puts the viewer in between prospect-dominant and
refuge-dominant areas will, according to Appleton, be most appealing10
.
Can the theory be substantiated? Some parallel theories do seem to obliquely
support it. With their work American psychologists Steven and Rachel Kaplan came
to prospect-refuge conclusions in the field of environmental psychology and working
spaces11
.
9
http://www.refugeandprospect.com/2012/04/26/an-introduction-to-refuge-and-prospect
10
Ibidem
11
Refer to Kaplan, Rachel and Steven (1989) The Experience of Landscape – A Psychological
Perspective Cambridge University

5. 209
References:
- Bocci, Riccardo e Ricoveri Giovanna (2006) Agri-Cultura, Terre, Lavoro,
Ecosistemi EMI
- Organic Agriculture
http://www.italiafruit.net/DettaglioNews.aspx?IdNews=18533
- Refuge and Prospect Theory
http://www.refugeandprospect.com/2012/04/26/an-introduction-to-refuge-
and-prospect
- Ricoveri, Giovanna (2010) Nature For Sale: Commons Versus Commodities
Pluto Press / Beni Comuni vs. Merci Jaka Book
- Slow Food
http://www.slowfood.it/3/filosofia?-
session=sf_soci:97135C93187d929BC4pL673850AA
- Sustainable Diet
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/aug/26/food-
shortages-world-vegetarianism

6. 210

7. 211
13. THE LIMITS OF DEVELOPEMENT
The earth possesses sufficient resources to provide for the needs of everyone,
but not for the greed of some
Mahatma Gandhi
Market, Nature and Subsistence Economy
At the beginning of the 1970s the Club of Rome report The Limits to Growth seemed
to have represented a fundamental landmark of the realisation that the model of
development adopted by (part) of the countries of the international community
corresponded with the systematic deterioration of environmental, social and
economic conditions of the entire humanity. It may seem, however, that such
collection of data analysed the problem of development of industrial civilisation not
from a deep ecological point of view, not enquiring the need to conceive a model of
development different to the one proposed by the same industrial civilisation.
If before the industrial civilisation the economic systems of any other one were
closed (a quantity of products which were produced and consumed equalled the
amount of disposable resources present within a specific area in which a community
lived) the industrial revolution proposed an open model, in which a production and

8. 212
consumption conception which did not take into account the quantity of available
resources within the area where a particular community lives prevails.
Shiva enquiries why the dominating economic model is not able to satisfy the
needs of so many populations and communities. The author investigates how it
might be possible that development, measured in terms of economic growth, also
provokes the increase of poverty, hunger and thirst? Ecological catastrophes and the
number of deployed, destitute and abandoned individuals is increasing, together with
economic growth, for two main reasons, Shiva claims. First of all because the
dominating economy confers visibility only to the market and great capitals. In the
second place, because as a consequence, the legal rights of international corporations
multiply to the detriment of single individuals’ and communities’ ones. The
dominating economy, the author argues, only concentrates on the trend of the market,
neglecting the nature and subsistence economies, as Shiva calls them, from which it
also depends on. Its distorted vision, according to the scholar, seems to make
financial speculation stand out and hide much more relevant negative consequences
such as the depletion of natural resources and the impoverishment of populations1
.
Shiva argues that the exchange of goods and services has always characterised
human societies, but the assumption that markets are the dominating organisational
principle of our civilisation induces to neglect the other two fundamental dimensions
of the economy. If the attention is exclusively placed on the growth of the market,
the scholar claims, the ecological equilibrium and subsistence conditions become
invisible and irrelevant factors. Market economy does not, according to Shiva, seem
able to recognise the needs of nature and to satisfy them, because they are not
supported by an adequate purchasing power. For the same reasons even the harm
provoked by the market’s growth tends to be occulted. The logic of the market tends
to oppose the terms ecology and economics, separating the sphere of nature to the
social one, when the two on the contrary derive by the same Greek word which refers
to the dimension of the house. Nature is defined as such when is uninhabitated; by
the way its protection often is reduced to the conservation of wild green areas, Shiva
argues. On the contrary, the economy of nature seem to be, according to the author,
1
Refer to Shiva, Vandana (2011) Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace Zed Books /
Il Bene Comune della Terra Feltrinelli, p. 22

9. 213
the first and fundamental factor of subsistence on which any model of development
is based on2
.
The third of the economies theorised by Shiva, the subsistence one, is an economy
in which the activities of individuals are aimed at directly procuring the needed
means for subsistence. This is the economy which makes the reproduction and
development of other human activities possible. This economy employs two thirds
of the world’s population: small artisans, fishermen, peasants, indigenous
populations and so on. Any productive activity which does not alter the ecological
equilibrium and provides for subsistence through forms of cooperation and mutual
exchange could, according to the author, be reconducted to the sphere of the
economy of subsistence. Shiva argues that an economy based on subsistence could
exist also regardless of market economy. The scholar believes that on the contrary,
market economy seem necessarily to derive from a subsistence economy which it
later often destroys, because it might bring it to the commercial paradigm3
.
2
Nature produces goods and services, the so called ecoservices, like for example water which is
recycled and distributed through the water cycle, microorganisms which make the land fertile,
pollination for the reproduction of plants. Shiva argues that the genius and productive capabilities of
human beings might seem insignificant when compared to the economy of nature. The dominating
economy seems so short-sighted, the author argues, that it endangers the whole natural resource
system, with severe losses also in terms of productivity. Shiva argues that the logic of the market
tends in fact to excessively exploit natural resources and to alter their productive mechanisms. The
catastrophic consequences of a plan of development do not always unravel themselves in the short
run. Shiva argues that in many cases, the immediate benefits seem absolutely irrelevant compared to
the relevant damage in the long run. Paradoxically, the author states, even economic growth might
therefore become a source for underdevelopment. The ecologic menace and uncontrolled exploitation
of natural resources for profit might be symptomatic factors of a way of producing wealth which
opposes market economy to that of nature. Ibidem, p. 23-24
3
Shiva argues that profits and the accumulation of capital might moreover be translated into an
increase in social unease. According to the author, structural adjustments imposed by globalisation
may jeopardise life-related practices of the involved communities. By privatising water, patenting
seeds and biodiversity, allowing corporations to control the agricultural industry, globalisation might
accelerate and develop this practice of emptying the economies of subsistence. The economic models
of modernity, often based on the concepts of development and progress and more recently on the
paradigm of globalisation, might only belong to a small part of history of human economic
production. Thanks to the economies of subsistence, men have always learnt to get directly from
nature the resources needed to ensure their survival. In an economy of subsistence, natural resources
are utilised to satisfy primal needs and ensure a sustainable development in the long run. On the
contrary, Shiva concludes, market economy tends to indiscriminately exploit natural resources to
increase profits and accumulation of capital. Ibidem p. 25-26

10. 214
Figure 13. 1 Elaboration of Shiva’s Three Economies Model – Shiva believes that simultaneously
at work are always three different economies, namely, market economy, economy of nature and
economy of subsistence. They respectively have three diverse goals: economic growth, ecological
balance and subsistence.
An economy based on criteria of stability ought to recognise the fundamental
importance of the economy of nature. Because it supplies the basis for the economy
of subsistence and market one, it seems that its access to natural resources should be
overriding. On the contrary, the current Western model of development seems to
confer priority to market economy and to relegate the other two to a marginal and
secondary role. The accumulation of capital produces financial growth, but often
seems to deplete basic natural resources for each of the three economies. From this,
a high level of ecological instability may derive, as the recent ecological crises
caused by deforestation for commercial reasons, irrigation of monocultures and
intensive fishing seems to show. One way to solve such ecological upsetting could
be to bring the three economies to their respective original functions, inserting them
in a stable context of a restored nature.
MARKET
ECONOMY
ECONOMY OF
NATURE
Economic
Growth
Ecological
Balance
Subsistence
ECONOMY OF
SUBSISTENCE

11. 215
Numerous seem by now the reportages from countries of the South of the world
which showed how entire communities live by recovering waters from dumps and
even live in them or by their side. But what seems a peculiarity of those countries
had long been a current practice even in Europe, where entire social classes, at the
beginning of the industrial revolution, and even after that, made living near wastes a
source of subsistence and of organisation of their lives4
.
Economics For Individuals or Society?
Shiva argues that American jurist Richard Epstein might be considered as one of the
most prominent scholars and supporters of the privatisation of rampant capitalism of
the 20th
century, along with American judges Clarence Thomas and Antonio Scalia,
both of whom recalled the Epsteinian thought to attack laws regarding the protection
of water and endangered species in the United States. The problem with Epstein,
Shiva argues, as with Locke, seem to be that their analysis defends the sacred
character of individual property without taking into account the expropriation which
gave origin to it, from the enclosures of common territories to the raids of colonisers,
from cow-boys to international corporations. Shiva claims that, according to
Epstein, any attempt to protect public heritage ought to be considered an improper
expropriation, to be compensated by refunding those privates who have supported
the damage. Since the government of the United States has put into effect laws for
the protection of rivers, it should also, according to Epstein, “refund the individuals
who have been victims from it, with a refund which is at least as much as the damage
inflicted by the coercion”. If this principle would be applied all the way, Shiva
argues, native Americans could receive a refund as big as the value of the entire
national territory5
.
4
Refer to Viale, Guido (2010) La Civiltà del Riuso – Riparare, Riutilizzare, Ridurre Laterza, p. 50-
51
5
Shiva claims that Epstein’s followers do not seem to take into account the rights of local
communities, and limit themselves to attack the governmental policy of environmental protection. So,
in the 1987 litigation Nollan vs. California Coastal Communities, in which the state of California
defended public access to coasts, judge Scalia ruled that the situation was to be considered an
unjustifiable expropriation. Scalia sentenced an analogous verdict even in the Lucas litigation and in

12. 216
This new league for privatisation, Shiva claims, aims at accomplishing further
expropriations. The legal covers which support it with rulings that recall Epstein’s
thought seem, according to the scholar, often based on three types of falsifications.
In the first place, the robberies of colonisation are often deleted. In the second place,
governmental intervention inspired by the public trust doctrine are confused with the
expropriations connected to the principle of eminent domain, according to which the
state has the right to indiscriminately expropriate private goods. Public trust doctrine
acknowledges the fundamental importance of collective rights on property, goods
and common-pool resources, and delegates to the government the task of protecting
such public heritage. On the contrary, the principle of eminent domain does not
recognise the sovereignty of local communities and authorises operations even if in
contrast with public and common heritage6
.
Shiva believes that governments which protect forests, coasts, rivers and the
atmosphere considering them public goods follow the doctrine of the public trust.
Governments which privatise common lands to build dams, freeways or shopping
centres, forcing the inhabitants to migrate, sacrifice instead public heritage in favour
of private interests, regardless of their specious recalls to public utility. Finally,
Shiva argues, the third deliberated falsification consists of substituting individual
interests to any form of public interest. The definition of public is not only
concerned with the sphere of governmental intervention, but also with that of
collective and community organisations’ ones. Wild capitalism often seems to
instead reduce instead societies as a set of individuals which ignore the existence of
communities, the author believes. British Prime Minister Margareth Thatcher
claimed that society did not exist, only individuals did. So, according to Russian
writer, philosopher and scriptwriter Ayn Rand, the public does not possess a specific
identity because it is composed by a mere aggregation of individual identities7
.
Shiva claims that economic systems which are not democratic and centralise the
control of the decisions and resources often subtract to populations productive
occupations and means of subsistence thus creating a culture of insecurity.
Moreover, the destruction of the right to resources and the erosion of democratic
the Dolan one as well. The judge declared illegal the state’s attempt to control building development
to prevent flooding. Refer to Shiva, Vandana (2011) Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and
Peace Zed Books / Il Bene Comune della Terra Feltrinelli, p. 55-56
6
Ibidem, p. 56-57
7
Ibidem, p. 57

13. 217
control on natural goods, economy and the means of production, the author goes on,
might undermine cultural identity. If identity is no longer formed through the
positive experience of being a peasant, artisan, teacher or nurse, culture might be
reduced to a negative case8
.
Shiva believes that while more and more wars arise, although colonial expansion
and slavery (only to cite some of the causes) have always provoked destruction and
sufferance, never before today actions undertaken by one part of humanity have
menaced the existence of the entire human race. The scholar argues that we face
today a triple convergence of crisis, each of which menaces our survival. Climate
(global warming endangers our very survival as a species), energy (peak oil
represents the end of cheap oil which fed industrialisation of production and
consumerism globalisation) and food (the food crisis is a consequence of the
convergence of climate change, peak oil and the impact of globalisation on the right
for food and subsistence of the poorest). Shiva claims that some actions could and
ought to be undertaken, in a creative fashion, toward this triple crisis and to
overcome, at the same time, dehumanisation, economic inequality and ecological
catastrophe9
.
8
Shiva believes that centralised economic systems also erode the democratic fundamentals of politics.
In a democracy, the author claims, the economic agenda coincides with the political one. When the
World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation take possession of
the first, democracy is often decimated. The only arguments which remain in the hands of politicians
willing to gather votes not rarely, according to the author, are those of race, religion and etnie, which
often yield fundamentalism as natural consequence. And fundamentalism, Shiva argues, effectively
fills up the emptiness left by a dismantling democracy. Economic globalisation often seems to be
feeding economic insecurity, by eroding diversity, cultural identity and by attacking citizens’ political
liberties. Instead of integrating populations, globalisation seems to be tearing apart communities, the
author concludes. Refer to Shiva, Vandana (2004) Water Wars: Privatisation, Pollution and Profit
South End / Le Guerre dell'Acqua Feltrinelli, p. 11-12
9
Refer to Shiva, Vandana (2009) Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice In a Time of Climate Crisis
South End / Ritorno alla Terra – La Fine dell'Ecoimperialismo Fazi, p. 5-6

14. 218
Figure 13. 2 Elaboration of Shiva’s Three Main Global Current Crises – Shiva argues that we are
currently facing three global crises, which are somehow interconnected, namely climate change, the
energetic and food crisis. The author believes that climate change’s maim cause is represented by
pollution (which derived from the industrial revolution); the energetic crisis which is mainly caused
by the industrial revolution but also by consumerism globalisation and finally the food crisis, which is
derived from pollution and the impact of globalisation.
POLLUTION INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION
GLOBALISATION
CLIMATE
CHANGE
ENERGY
CRISIS
FOOD
CRISIS

15. 219
References:
- Shiva, Vandana
(2011) Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace Zed Books / Il
Bene Comune della Terra Feltrinelli
(2009) Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice In a Time of Climate Crisis South
End / Ritorno alla Terra – La Fine dell'Ecoimperialismo Fazi
(2004) Water Wars: Privatisation, Pollution and Profit South End / Le
Guerre dell'Acqua Feltrinelli
- Viale, Guido (2010) La Civiltà del Riuso – Riparare,
Riutilizzare, Ridurre Laterza

16. 220

17. 221
14. DEGROWTH
If we could really think a way of production less destructive for the environment we will really
manage to make “a jump backwards” which is really desirable. Because, in reality, what for us
would be a return backwards, represents a great advantage for the populations of the third world.
We would simply argue about the comfort of life of a small part of the world’s population which lived
so far in a totally abnormal way.
Francois Partant
Man’s Homeostasis Within the Environment
Georgescu-Roegen claims that any science which studies the future of mankind, like
the economic one, ought to take into account the unavoidability of the laws of
physics, and in particular the second principle of thermodynamics which holds that at
the end of any process the quality of energy (namely the possibility that energy can
again be used by someone else) is always worse than it was at the beginning. Any
economic process which produces material goods diminishes the availability of
energy in the future thus the future possibility of producing other goods and material
things1
.
1
http://www.georgescuroegen.org/index.php/Un_profilo

18. 222
Moreover, the scholar argues, in the economic process even matter degrades
(“matter does matter too”), in the sense that it tends to decrease its possibility of
being used in future economic activities: once they are wasted in the environment,
raw materials previously concentrated in underground deposits, can be reused in the
economic cycle only in a much lesser quantity and with a high depletion of energy.
Matter and energy, thus, enter the economic process with relatively low a degree of
entropy and exit with a higher one. From this the need of radically rethink the
economic science may arise, making it capable of incorporating the principle of
entropy and in general ecological constraints. The theory of bioeconomics has been
translated into the economic system of degrowth by the same Georgescu-Roegen2
.
It seems the current crisis is making us understand that the economic model we
adopted, characterised by an increasing consumerism, might perhaps not last
indefinitely. A redistribution of material and immaterial goods among generations
might be needed. How has intra-familiar solidarity changed in the last decades in the
West? It seems that with the economic crisis which attacked even welfare, which
had hardly been built, families have now the ungrateful duty of resuming the
intergenerational solidarity which characterised past times. One could think about
the needed help for young couples from parents or parents in law for the purchase a
first house. For many, without such gift, a purchase would be nowadays impossible.
Italian philosopher Remo Bodei enquires at what age today one becomes adult.
He argues that “the revolutionary changes of society (often introduced by new
technologies) have deeply changed the rituals and periods which had remained
unaltered for centuries”. Bodei took as a model the three Aristotelian time
categories. He argues: “The phases of life have been modified. Today childhood
and old age have widened to the detriment of the adult age. Not only in quantity”,
the scholar explains, “but also in quality: let us think to the current tragic irony of
saying that the young are those who have more hope for the future!”. Bodei
discusses about welfare, starting from its origins. He states that “not everyone knows
that its inventor in the 19th
century was German Prime Minister Otto Von Bismarck
2
Bioeconomics or thermoeconomics is a school of heterodox economics that applies the laws of
thermodynamics to economic theory. Thermoeconomics can be thought as the statistical physics of
economic value. Ibidem

19. 223
who created old age and disability pensions and that their introduction in Italy was
accomplished by Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti in 1900”3
.
But from a welfare which functions we get to current days. Bodei argues that “the
drastic reshaping which we are currently living has put a century and a half of union
and economic conquests in crisis, by obliging us to give more importance to
immaterial values such as friendship, sport: those which are not included in gross
domestic product statistics”. Not only, because the crisis has also demolished,
according to the philosopher, the intergenerational relation son-father-grandfather,
“the so called family solidarity has now become actual again, both in affective and
economic terms”.A passage among generations which is not concerned only with
people but also with things: objects, inheritances, live twice or three times or more,
and through generations. This culture of circular generosity, according to Bodei,
becomes fundamental in times of crisis4
.
Etymologically the term degrowth may sound a bet and at the same time a
provocation, regardless of the general awareness of the incompatibility of an infinite
growth in a planet with limited resources. Latouche’s aim is centred on the need of a
radical change in man’s culture. The voluntary choice in favour of a society which
degrows is a bet which seems to be worth a try in order to avoid brutal and dramatic
collateral effects. According to the scholar, the social model ought to be rethought
and one based on a diverse logic be invented. At this point the most difficult
question seems to arise: how to build a sustainable society? To do this the values
and concepts ought to be radically changed, structures modified, economy and lives
of everyone reallocated and finally the way in which goods are used rethought. We
could also, the author believes, positively answer to the challenge placed by the
countries of the South of the world. Finally, Latouche claims, we ought to guarantee
through appropriate measures the transition from a model centred on growth to one
based on degrowth5
.
3
http://www.regioni.it/it/show-
dal_welfare_alla_vecchia_cara_solidarieta_familiare/news.php?id=255956
4
Ibidem
5
Latouche argues that it may appear that the cause of most of the problems which the biosphere and
humanity are facing might be caused by Western lifestyles based on an unlimited economic growth.
According to the author to talk about degrowth means to provoke: within our imagination, the author
claims, which is dominated by the religion of growth and economics, to believe that there is need for
degrowth simply seems blasphemous and who supports similar positions is considered at least weird,
but the reality is, Latouche concludes, that we are simply living in an absolutely schizophrenic
condition. Refer to Latouche, Serge (2007) Farewell To Growth Polity / La Scommessa della
Decrescita Feltrinelli, p. 8

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It seems that it is maybe the concept which founds economic theory which might
be radically modified, if one wants to think of a new economic system that could be
respectful of the biosphere and support a development of civilisation which does not
harm the other organisms which inhabit the planet.
The definition of economics in any text book is that this science is made for
choosing how to utilise the environment’s limited resources trying to satisfy in the
most optimal way man’s unlimited needs6
.
By observing the two propositions one might find out that it seems impossible to
satisfy unlimited needs with limited resources. Thus it might seem necessary, as well
as desirable, to limit the quantity of human needs according to the biosphere’s
resources.
Lemmings are small rodents of Northern Europe and Asia. In determined periods
they abandon the Scandinavian Alps in very numerous groups, as guided by an
innate impulse, and direct toward the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia. Along this
journey, they are object of attacks by carnivorous animals or birds of prey which
destroy them by the thousands. Nevertheless, they continue their journey, and, once
the destination is reached, they throw themselves into the sea and drawn. More the
lemmings are far from their starting point, more they become excited. Nothing can
stop them: in front of an obstacle they hiss and gnash their teeth. Even our
civilisation seems like the community of lemmings, running toward collective
suicidal. It may seem that we are so detached to the deep and vital relation which
binds us to nature that by now we might only see progress and materialism as
important goals to be reached in our lives7
.
6
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/178548/economics
7
It seems very reductive, for instance, to think that the destruction of the Amazon rainforest or
Siberian taiga is caused by corporations or the Brazilian or Russian governments. Instead, according
to Dalla Casa, the reality of the phenomenon might be that the main cause is represented by the
continuation of that process by which the industrial civilisation has been devouring the ecosystem and
destroying traditional civilisations for centuries. Human beings could be thought of as a group of cells
which form a greater organism. Such holistic vision is that typical of traditional civilisations, as well
as of deep ecology and ecobiopsychology. The concept of sustainable development seems for Dalla
Casa absurd. One, according to the author, could refer to sustainable, that is a civilisation which
strictly consumes the resources needed to survive and above all which does not consume more
resources than those available. A sustainable civilisation instead develops trying to continue to have,
in quantitative terms, the same available resources, which are enough to live without anxiety. If a tree
strictly consumes the resources needed to survive and above all does not consume more resources than
those available. A sustainable civilisation develops instead trying to continue to have, in quantitative
terms, the same available resources, which are enough to live without anxiety. If a tree is cut to get
wood out of it one has to wait that another tree would grow, basically. It seems not possible to cut a
certain number of trees only according to how much wood is needed for presumed community’s

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To let freedom and autonomy to all communities so that they can choose the
model of development more adapt for their needs, historical, anthropological,
geographical and philosophical characteristics may seem fundamental. Dogmas and
certain models have for years been promoted by several national and international
institutions. A standard model, a standard society, in a planet which ought to have in
biodiversity one of its most important values seems perhaps nonsense. It might be
reasonable to argue that the destruction of a geographical environment often precedes
the destruction of the relations which a population undertakes with the same habitat,
and might place the basis for the destruction of the same civilisation in psychical,
anthropological and social terms.
Illich claims that cultures were born out of a geographical multiplicity which is
today endangered but that today, even the social and psychical environments risk
destruction. Everyone, the author believes, develops his own social existence on
different scales, different concentric environments: oneself, his family, town, country
and eventually the biosphere. According to the author each of these environments
has its own space and time, levels of population and energetic resources.
Dysfunction in the system may arise in one of these environments when space, time
and energy required by the group of subjects exceed the natural corresponding scale.
In this sense one could refer to homeostasis of man in his environment, Illich argues.
The author claims that the need of deciding determined thresholds (in terms of space,
time and energy) and not exceeding the so defined limits is equal for all civilisations.
The fixing of such limits seems to be depending from the desired lifestyle and level
of freedom in each community8
.
needs. Dalla Casa concludes that one should always take into account the environment he lives in,
looking for a harmonious and respectful development. Refer to Dalla Casa, Guido (2011) Ecologia
Profonda – Lineamenti Per una Nuova Visione del Mondo Mimesis, p. 29-33
8
Refer to Illich, Ivan (1993) Tools For Conviviality Harper / La Convivialità Red, p. 105-106

22. 226
FREEDOM
BIOSPHERE
COUNTRY
TOWN
FAMILY
ONESELF
Figure 14. 1 Elaboration of Illich’s Space, Time and Technology Model – Illich claims that
everyone develops his own social existence on different scales (oneself, family, town, country and the
biosphere). Each of these environment possess their own space, time and energy level, which are
mainly dependent on one lifestyle and freedom.
A Degrowth-Based Economy
When one speaks about degrowth, often one of the main objections which usually
arise are constituted by the idea that a return to the stone age is welcomed. French
writer and theologian Francois Brune claims: “Those who are called terrorists of
modernity are accused of conducting a retrograde battle. It is true, we conduct a
retrograde battle, but paradoxically this battle is a battle for the future. Because
when an army finds itself in a dead end, it must get back and then the rearguard will
become vanguard!”. The retrograde ones become eventually the real progressive...
LIFESTYLE

23. 227
It is often progressive to be late on the wrong direction. This is what the idea of
moderate degrowth implies9
.
The Papous Kapaku of New Guinea, French politician Yves Cochet argues,
dedicate only two hours a day to work for a subsistence agriculture. The same is for
the Kuikuru people of the Amazon Basin, in Brazil, and the Russian peasants before
the 1917 October Revolution. The administrators of colonies remained astonished
from a similar institutionalised underproduction, as these populations preferred to
increase the production of arts, discussions and rest10
.
After having noticed the harm provoked by development, one could aim at a
better quality of life and not at an unlimited growth of gross domestic product. One
might demand the progress of the beauty of towns and landscapes, pureness of
aquifers which provide us drinking water, having clear rivers and oceans, improving
of the quality of air we breathe and the food we eat. It might be evident that we
could think of a series of measures to fight against the invasion of noise, increase
green areas, protect wild fauna and flora, save the natural and cultural heritage of
humanity, not to speak about the needed progresses to be accomplished in terms of
democracy.
9
Refer to Latouche, Serge (2007) Farewell To Growth Polity / La Scommessa della Decrescita
Feltrinelli, p. 60
10
Latouche argues that the accomplishment of such programme of regression would suppose the
projecting of sophisticated solutions, many of which are still to be invented. It seems unfair to define
the supporters of degrowth as technophobes and reactionary simply because they demand to have
something to say in regard to progress and technology (a minimal demand for the exercise of
citizenship). The accomplishment of new convivial tools and easily controllable and reproducible
lean technologies seems, according to the author, desirable to recuperate a minimum level of
autonomy. Ibidem, p. 63

24. 228
References:
- Bioeconomics
http://www.georgescuroegen.org/index.php/Un_profilo
- Dalla Casa, Guido (2011) Ecologia Profonda – Lineamenti Per una Nuova
Visione del Mondo Mimesis
- Economics
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/178548/eco
nomics
- Illich, Ivan (1993) Tools For Conviviality Harper / La Convivialità Red
- Inter-Generational Solidarity
http://www.regioni.it/it/show-
dal_welfare_alla_vecchia_cara_solidarieta_familiare/news.php?id=255956
- Latouche, Serge (2007) Farewell To Growth Polity / La Scommessa della
Decrescita Feltrinelli

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15. LOCALISATION
If, for example, we in Benares,
would stop thinking that we are at the centre of the world
and that you are in the outskirts,
this would represent for us suicidal
Raimon Panikkar
Effects of a Localisation-Based Paradigm
It may be argued that localisation allows for the ensuring of justice and
sustainability. It seems that this does not mean that each decision could be taken at
the local level. It may seem that each decision and development plan decided at the
national or international level could be also locally discussed, determined and
approved. The authority of the governmental vertexes could come from delegation,
according to the principle of subsidiarity. The best decisions might arise to be those
taken where their effect can be more clearly perceived1
.
1
Subsidiarity is an organisational principle, starting that a matter ought to be handled by the smallest,
lowest, or least centralised authority capable of addressing that matter effectively. The idea is that
central authority should enhance a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be

26. 230
It might seem that more importance to the principle of subsidiarity could be
attributed, even because of the effects and relations which are likely to be created at
the psychological level between territory and individuals.
Rachel and Stephen Kaplan are renowned in the field of environmental
psychology. Professors of psychology at the University of Michigan in the United
States, the Kaplans are known for their research on the effect of nature on people’s
relationships and health. Their work on restorative environments and attention
restoration theory has impacted how landscape and design professionals and others
view humanity's relationship with nature2
.
By conjugating an attentive focus toward the environment in which one lives and
the necessity that this is going to be suitable for creating a relation with its
inhabitants, ideas from some theoretical models which are based on an ecologic and
sustainable dimension and on small and people-oriented size might be annotated.
Bioregionalism is an ecologist theory, based on the individuation and study of
areas naturally defined called bioregions or ecoregions, formulated for the first time
by American writer Peter Berg and American biologist Raymond Dasman at the
beginning of the 1970s. It is a cultural phenomenon with political, economic,
environmental implications. Bioregionalism is an ethical, political, ideological
approach, linked to the territory one inhabits. The territory is considered as a
homogeneous set from the point of view of morphology and living beings that
inhabit it. It may represent in a certain way the intersection among different cultural
views belonging to the environmentalist movement: the traditional (eminently in
folkloristic and environmental terms) and the localist ones. The term bioregion
comes from the Greek word bios (life) and the Latin one regere (to govern).
effectively performer at a more immediate or local level. Refer to
http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/subsidiarity_en.htm
2
The Kaplans got involved in studying the effects of nature on people back in the 1970s with a United
States Forest Service grant to evaluate a challenge program in Michigan’s wilderness. This
introduction went on to influence generations of environmental psychologists and designers. The
Kaplans have found that too much focused attention on anything can lead to mental fatigue and such
fatigue's remedy might be found in exposure to nature. In order for nature to best work its relaxing
effect it seems preferable for a place to have a high fascination value. An environment that
automatically pulls the viewer into it is most beneficial. The Kaplans’ research has found that office
workers with a view of nature were happier and healthier at work. Exposure to natural environments
of the most mundane sort has proven to lift people’s moods and enhance their ability to mentally
focus. Research of the Kaplans has also shown that exercisers who walk outside in pleasant
environments tend to walk longer than those who walk inside or around their neighbourhoods. Refer
to Kaplan, Rachel and Steven (1989) The Experience of Landscape – A Psychological Perspective
Cambridge University

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Basically one should consider a homogeneous geographical territory in which the
rules of nature and not those that man artificially defined should be predominant3
.
American writer Kirckpatrick Sale has defined the deepest meaning of
bioregionalism as “the government of nature”. The bioregion is a territorial unit,
with homogeneous physical and ecological characteristics. A standard dimension
does not exist: it can be represented by a river valley or mountain chain, it can
comprehend several ecosystems. Even if bioregions are all interrelated, each of us
lives within a specific and determined one and the effort to be made seems that of
recognising all its natural, social and cultural potentials and resources, to look for a
sustainable and local lifestyle in harmony with the laws of nature and all living
beings. Peter Berg, one of the founding fathers of bioregionalism, has defined the
bioregion as “as much geographical territory as the conscience’s one”. According to
American writer Thomas Rebb, bioregionalism is that “form of decentralised human
organisation which, by proposing to maintain the integrity of biological processes,
life and specific geographical formations of the bioregion, helps the material and
spiritual development of the human communities which inhabit it”4
.
It seems in fact that once one’s bioregion is recognised, the inhabitants of the
place (urban, rural, wild) ought to live it thoroughly, think in a bioregional way,
which is not the adhesion to a new static ideology but to the discovery, daily practice,
of a new personal and ecological living in harmony with nature (what American poet
Gary Snyder refers to as real work). The elaboration of such a concept belongs to
Canadian intellectual Alan Van Newkirk. The author, by studying human
geography, got to the conclusion that the communities of living beings, interact
among themselves and with their physical environment, according to the organisation
in sets which exhibit continuity between physical and ecological characteristics. The
year of birth of bioregionalism, firstly as a precise cultural elaboration (and then also
as an organised social and political movement) is 1971. In that year from the
collaboration between Van Newkirk and Berg the precise definition of bioregion
arose, as a territory which possesses characteristics of cultural and biophysical
homogeneity5
.
3
http://sustainability-now.org/bioregionalism.htm
4
Ibidem
5
Ibidem

28. 232
Factually, the bioregionalist perspective, in all its meanings, sees in the nation-
state an historically recent institution and, simultaneously, already obsolete, which
imposed itself after a fight against local autonomies, transforming the inhabitants
from active agents who participate to decisions (as they were in a communitarian
context, as for example is still present in the Swiss cantons) to passive recipients of
goods and services in exchange of their anonymous citizenship. In countertrend,
bioregionalism seems to propose an overall restructuration of territorial organisation,
for the good of not only human beings, but of all biosphere, by rediscussing the
arbitrary country boundaries of late modernity, starting from the principle of self-
determination, expressing natural autonomies and interconnections based on cultural
identities. From the simpler (local community) to the most complex (planet Earth:
the mythical Gaia)6
.
Eco-communalism is an environmental philosophy based on ideals of simple
living, self-sufficiency, sustainability and local economies. Ecocommunalists
envision a future in which the economic system of capitalism is replaced with a
global web of economically interdependent and interconnected small local
communities. Decentralised government, a focus on agriculture, biodiversity, ethnic
diversity and green economics are all tenets of eco-communalism. The term eco-
communalism was first coined by the Global Scenario Group, which was convened
in 1995 by American physicist Paul Raskin, president of the Tellus Institute. The
Global Scenario Group's analysis resulted in a series of reports. Eco-communalism
took shape in 2002 as one of six possible future scenarios put forth in the Global
Scenario Group’s 99-page essay entitled Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of
the Times Ahead. This founding document describes eco-communalism as a “vision
of a better life” which turns to “non-material dimensions of fulfilment: the quality of
life, the quality of human solidarity and the quality of the earth”. The
ecocommunalist vision is only part of the Global Scenario Group's analysis in the
Great Transition essay which is organised into three categories. The first,
Conventional Worlds, sees capitalist values maintained and only market forces and
incremental policy reform trying to curb environmental degradation. The second,
Barbarization, is one in which environmental collapse leads to an overall societal
collapse. The third, Great Transition, is a pathway that includes the “social
6
Ibidem

29. 233
revolution of eco-communalism” which finds humanity changing its relationship
with the environment7
.
It may be argued that eco-communalists would be actors in a broader global
citizens’ movement. In most discussions, the global citizens’ movement appears a
socio-political process rather than a political organisation or party structure. The
term is often used synonymously with the anti-globalisation movement or the global
justice movement. Colloquially the term is also used in this imprecise manner. The
global citizens’ movement has been used by activists to refer to a number of
organised and overlapping citizens’ groups who seek to influence public policy often
with the hope of establishing global solidarity on an issue. Such efforts include
advocacy on ecological sustainability, corporate responsibility, social justice and
similar progressive issues. In theoretical discussions of social movements, global
citizens movement refers to a complex and unprecedented phenomenon made
possible by the unique subjective and objective conditions of the planetary phase of
civilization. The term is used to distinguish the latent potential for a profound shift
in values among an aware and engaged citizenry from existing transnational citizens
movements which tend to focus on specific issues (such as the antiwar movement)8
.
Eco-communalism has taken root all over the globe on different levels. Real and
artificial towns such as Auroville (India), Nimbin (Australia) and the Federation of
Damanhur (Italy) attempt to provide an environmentally low impact way of life.
Larger groups such as the Scottish association Findhorn Foundation provide
education to help new communities form. In addition, all of these groups and more
are collaborators in the Global Ecovillage Network; which strives to support eco-
communalism worldwide. The Global Ecovillage Network is a global association of
people and communities (ecovillages) dedicated to living sustainable plus lives by
restoring land and adding more to the environment than is taken. Network members
share ideas and information, transfer technologies and develop cultural and
educational exchanges. Hildur and Ross Jackson (Danish jurist and Canadian
economist) established the Gaia Trust, a Danish charitable foundation, in 1991.
Gaia funded a study by Robert and Diane Gilman (American astrophysicist and
painter, potter and writer) of sustainable communities around the world. The report,
Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities, was released in 1991. The report found
7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-communalism
8
Ibidem

30. 234
that although there were many interesting ecovillage projects, the full-scale ideal
ecovillage did not yet exist. Collectively, however, the various projects described a
vision of a different culture and lifestyle that could be further developed9
.
Green anarchism, or ecoanarchism, is a school of thought within anarchism which
puts a particular emphasis on environmental issues. An important early influence
seemed to be born from the thought of American philosopher Henry Thoreau. There
is a strong critique of modern technology among green anarchists, though not all
reject it entirely. The green anarchist critique focuses on the institutions of
domination that make up society, all grouped under the broad term civilisation. Such
institutions include the state, capitalism, industrialism, globalisation, domestication,
patriarchy, science, technology and/or work. These institutions, according to green
anarchists, are inherently destructive and exploitative (to humans and the
environment), therefore, they cannot be reformed into anything better. Civilisation is
taken to be the totality of institutions (described above) that are responsible for the
destruction of human freedom and the environment. Civilisation is often seen as
more of a paradigm of systems rather than a tangible thing, and one that places
human beings above and outside of the natural world. This is seen as the first step
towards, and justification for, the destruction of nature (humans included)10
.
Technology is seen as a system rather than a specific physical tool. Technology,
it is argued, requires the exploitation of the environment through the creation and
extraction of resources, and the exploitation of people through labour, work and
slavery, industrialism, specialisation and the division of labour. In place of modern
technology, green anarchists favour small-scale technology, using more sustainable
and local resources. Many green anarchists argue that small ecovillages (of no more
than a few hundred people) are a scale of human living preferable to civilisation, and
that infrastructure and political systems should be reorganised to ensure that these are
created. Green anarchists assert that social organisations must be designed to work
with natural forces, rather than against. Many green anarchists consider traditional
forms of social organisation such as the village, band or tribe to be preferred units of
human life, not for some noble savage concept of spiritual superiority, but because
these social organisations appear to work better than civilisation. Family is
considered to be more important to many green anarchists than work roles. Green
9
Ibidem
10
http://www.anarchy.no/green.html

31. 235
anarchist philosophy might be explained as an interpretation of anthropological and
biological truths, or natural laws. Many green anarchists choose to focus not on
philosophical issues for a future society, but on the defence of the biosphere and
social revolution in the present. Resisting systems in the present, and creating
alternative, sustainable ways of living are often deemed more important than
protesting11
.
Shifting From Globalisation To Localisation
Latouche claims that to close a school in a small village, a secondary train station, a
country medical clinic or a post office in a rural hamlet for the cause of development,
modernisation or rationality, independently from the critics which can be made
toward the schooling or health system or public services, means to contribute to the
death of local and to oppose the effort of who resists and fights for restoring meaning
to the reality of places. According to the author, it also means to obstruct the
founding of a civilisation based on common goods and participatory democracy.
Latouche argues that to use popular and local creativity and the different resources of
the territory to try develop it means to go somehow against history12
.
The accomplishment of concrete alternatives to exit the current situation of
Western type development occurs above all at the local level, Latouche argues. It
seems necessary, according to the author, to revitalise the local, in the North as in the
South of the world, first of all because one lives locally but above all to exit
development, economy and to fight against globalisation. Localisation for the
scholar means to locally produce the majority of the products needed to satisfy the
population’s needs and to start from local businesses which are being financed
locally. It seems that any production which could be produced in a local scale and to
satisfy local needs ought to be produced locally. Such a principle is based on
common sense, and not on economic rationality, the author argues. Latouche asks:
11
Ibidem
12
Refer to Latouche, Serge (2007) Farewell To Growth Polity / La Scommessa della Decrescita
Feltrinelli, p. 132

32. 236
“What does it mean to gain a few euros on an object when huge sums are then
needed to ensure the survival of a fraction of the population which is no longer able
to participate to the production of the object?”. According to the author, if ideas
should travel beyond borders, the transnational movements of goods and capitals
should instead be reduced to the essential13
.
According to Latouche, by accounting for the indirect costs of transport
(infrastructures, pollution, which produce greenhouse gases and climate change) one
might manage to localise many activities. If the cost per kilometre would be 10
times greater (and here it seems that governments could do a lot in terms of tax
systems) the producing firms might rediscover the value of local products and
markets. Even energy self-production might prove a central issue of localisation:
renewable energies, as solar and wind ones, the scholar argues, seem suitable to the
production and use on a local scale and allow to avoid waste and subtraction of lands
for agricultural use. For Latouche, with the end of the oil age, to produce and
consume energy within a local dimension becomes for Latouche a necessity. It
might therefore advisable to implement such energetic shift as soon as possible, the
author argues. There exist other goals for which the local dimension has a huge
meaning and many other tools to encourage it may arise, the scholar believes, such as
the use of local and time-base currencies as well as vouchers14
.
Shiva, describing the differences between local markets and market economy,
claims that markets are based on interpersonal relations, transactions conducted in
person, and represent a fact of extension of society (relational society, that in which
relations are more important than just money). Other thing, according to the author,
are modern markets, places in which society disappears to leave place to capital and
anonymous international corporations. The exchanges among real people, who sell
the fruit of their work to buy what they need, seem often to be substituted by the
abstract and invisible hand of the market, the author concludes15
.
13
Ibidem, p. 133
14
As Italian urban planner Alberto Magnaghi claims “reterritorialisation is a complex and long
process (50, a hundred years?) which concerns the founding of a new geography based on the
revitalisation of environmental systems and requalification of places characterised by a high quality of
living as generators of new settlement models able to revitalise the territory”. Magnaghi believes that
“such process cannot occur in technocratic forms; it requires new forms of democracy which develop
the self-governing of local communities, because to rehabilitate and reaccustom places means one
more time to daily taking care of them by who lives there, with new environmental knowledge, know-
how and government”. Ibidem, p. 134
15
Refer to Shiva, Vandana (2011) Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace Zed Books /
Il Bene Comune della Terra Feltrinelli, p. 26-27

33. 237
References:
- Bioregionalism
http://sustainability-now.org/bioregionalism.htm
- Eco-Communalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-communalism
- Green Anarchism
http://www.anarchy.no/green.html
- Kaplan, Rachel and Steven (1989) The Experience of Landscape – A
Psychological Perspective Cambridge University
- Latouche, Serge (2007) Farewell To Growth Polity / La Scommessa della
Decrescita Feltrinelli
- Shiva, Vandana (2011) Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace
Zed Books / Il Bene Comune della Terra Feltrinelli
- Subsidiarity
http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/subsidiarity_en.htm

34. 238