Marina Fischer-Kowalski, Institute of Social Ecology (SEC), Vienna
1. Social metabolism is a novel paradigm conceiving of social systems (nation states, cities, local communities) in terms of their material and energy exchange relations with the environment, as well as with other social systems. Material (and energy) flow analysis is a comprehensive set of methods to measure these exchange processes that meanwhile is applied annually by the European Union and Japan for monitoring countries’ resource use. This paradigm and these methods will be briefly described.
2. A number of empirical applications from this research strategy on macro, meso and micro levels will be presented. Such applications include an analysis of the extent and composition of global material and energy use for the past century and its drivers, a demonstration of international differences in resource use in relation to demographic and economic variables, and the analysis of “decoupling” of resource use and environmental impacts from economic growth. On a meso level examples for the metabolism of cities in dependence on city infrastructures will be shown, as well as – on a micro level – metabolic transitions of local communities in the course of modernization.
3. What can this methodology contribute to measuring sustainability? This will be discussed for three examples. One is the use of biomass resources, in relation to yields and land use change, to arrive at scenarios for sustainably feeding the world population, in dependence on diets. Two is the relation between the use of fossil fuel resources and CO2 emissions in relation to the issue of climate change, and three is a glimpse on the dynamics in the use of metal ores, recycling and security of supply.
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