Economics for Rebels

Ecological economics has a long tradition of disputing the mainstream economic view that people’s concern for the environment scales with income, and that it’s a luxury good. The main counterargument is the widespread evidence on environmental justice conflicts, encapsulated by what Joan Martinez-Alier called the ‘environmentalism of the poor’. Today, we focus on the role and importance of people working on the front lines of environmental degradation – biosphere defenders. Our guest today is Dr Claudia Ituarte-Lima. Hosted by Sophus zu Ermgassen. Edited by Aidan Knox.

When we say, “Money cannot buy conscience”, in today’s economy, we could not be further from the truth. Our current economy can turn absolutely anything into financial assets. Even irresponsible behaviour. A company that is incapable of reducing its carbon emission can just buy carbon credits and continue business-as-usual. Another that is about to ruin a habitat can offset its wrongdoing by paying money to someone else to save another habitat somewhere else. While these solutions may make bad behaviour slightly more costly, they do not stop them. Moreover, they contribute significantly to neocolonialism. Today’s guest, Frederic Hache explains us how these nature markets work and how they turn environmental policies into gambling casinos.

Andrew Fanning and Jason Hickel discuss climate reparation payments and inequalities in carbon emissions. They explore quantifying compensation for decarbonization, philosophical aspects of climate debt, overpopulation and overconsumption debate, and rebellion against current economic views. The podcast challenges traditional economic perspectives for just and sustainable transformations in the climate crisis.

The myth of green growth surrounds us wherever we look. Eco-modernisation’s promise that technological fixes will provide us with the efficiency we need to decouple environmental burdens from economic growth suggests that business-as-usual can continue. Today’s guest Timothée Parrique is the best to explain why this is not happening and why relying solely on technological solutions is like betting on green zero in roulette. Hosted by Alexandra Köves. Edited by Aidan Knox.

Rosie Collington discusses the decline of state ambition in addressing sustainability challenges. She explores the impact of consulting firms on government functions, emphasizing the need to rebuild state capacity for green transitions. The episode also touches on academia's role in demystifying ideas for sustainability solutions.

The world as we know it now is built on a history of colonisation and even today massive parts of the world are being economically and culturally colonised. Our guest today, Roland Nkwain Ngam believes that hegemonic capitalism is both the creator and consequence of the brutal exploitation of black, brown and white bodies, women’s backs, nature and all the commons that we were all meant to enjoy equally. As the ecological crisis we are witnessing today is a direct consequence of hegemonic capitalism, we need ways to overcome it in a manner that it repairs rather than deepens these injustices. But can it be done? And if yes, how? Hosted by Alexandra Köves. Edited by Aidan Knox.

Currently markets determine most of what happens around us. But markets have no morals: everything is up for grabs. If you have the money, you can turn wetlands, forests, or any other biodiversity rich areas into mono-cultural agricultural lands, human habitats, or mines in the name of development. But can we and should we compensate this by making the developers pay for biodiversity conservation somewhere else? This is the central question around biodiversity offsetting and in his research, Sophus zu Ermgassen has been keen to understand if it is possible to design nature markets in a way that satisfies both ecological and financial objectives, and if not, what the alternative is. Sophus co-hosted Season 2 of Economics for Rebels and has asked his guests many exciting questions. In this opening episode to Season 3 we get to hear Sophus also as a guest. Edited by Aidan Knox.

Corinne Baulcomb, a Senior Lecturer at SRUC/University of Edinburgh, dives into the transformative joy of teaching ecological economics. She discusses her innovative approach in educating students to think ecologically and interdisciplinary. Topics range from creating impactful problem-based projects to balancing diverse economic views while fostering teamwork. Corinne emphasizes the importance of 'aha' moments in learning and the necessity of making ecological economics accessible to encourage meaningful change in students' lives and communities.

Various global initiatives have emerged to try to address the degradation of the living world, but despite decades of implementation we’ve had limited success at changing that trajectory. Why? Dr Niak Koh is a sustainability scientist based at the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University. In some of her recent work, Niak has focused on what biodiversity agreements can learn from the implementation of international human rights agreements, which have historically been more successful. So, what are the secrets behind better international agreements? Hosted by Sophus zu Ermgassen. Edited by Aidan Knox.

It is now well-established that contemporary society has finite ecological constraints, and massive inequality in wealth, wellbeing and carbon consumption. But how is the consumption of our shared ecological space distributed across society, and what’s the ecological efficiency through which today’s economy generates improvements in wellbeing? In this episode host, Sophus zu Ermgassen welcomes Dr Marta Baltruszewicz, who has led some fascinating research empirically exploring interlinkages between energy consumption, inequality and wellbeing in the UK.