BEYOND MATERIALISM - A COEVOLUTIONARY REINTERPRETATION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS

Materialism, both as a vision of the good life and as a cosmological b asis underlying epistemology and modern science, drives humanity's env ironmental crisis. The dominant thrust of the environmental movement h as been simply to shift to a longer slower materialism. Understanding how materialism creates our environmental problems and limits our visi on of the good life is a necessary step toward creating a different fu ture. Understanding development as a process of coevolution between kn owledge, technology, social organization, values, and nature provides an alternative cosmological and epistemological framing which both giv es us perspective on materialism and suggests an alternative vision fo r the future.