ENVIRONMENT
ELITE, A PIONEER IN THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Yes, because if done properly, growth and consumption could be non-pol luting and even de-polluting. As circular economy theorists say, “ nature has no bins ” ,
Luc Ferry, your latest book is good: it talks about ecology, but without making the consumer in each of us feel guilty!
Elite is often cited as an example of a Swiss company committed to the environment through the circular economy. François Pugliese, its director, was able to implement a new business model in 2010 to cope with the Euro crisis and the strong Swiss franc. Smart Lease enabled hoteliers to have immediate access to high quality mattresses or full beds and to pay only on the basis of the occupancy of each bed. "With this leasing principle, it is up to us as manufacturers to design very high quality mattresses and beds that will last as long as possible; otherwise we will lose out financially. Unlike programmed obsolescence - which the public is all too often subjected to - I want Elite to be part of the change in consumption patterns that is currently taking place. ”
everything is recycled in nature. Industrial products should now be designed on this model, so that they go from “ cradle to cradle ” and not “ cradle to grave ” . The circular economy offers an allegory that I like, that of the “ generous cherry tree ” : it gives away many more cherries than it needs to reproduce, thus feeding animals and humans. Its overripe fruits will enrich the soil... Nothing to do with degrowth models!
As Nobel Prize winner William Nordhaus, one of the founders of the eco-modernist movement, explains, infinite growth is entirely possible in a finite world, provided
Growth is the engine (or at least one of the engines) of our society. But how can you be an entrepreneur and an environmentalist?
that companies finally implement some truly innovative ideas. Those of the circular economy, for example, but also the decoupling of the quest for progress and the destruction of the environment through the negative impact that human activities generate. Decoupling and recycling are the two pillars of a non-punitive ecology.
Wind turbines are turning our mountains, countryside and coastline into industrial landscapes. They spoil and distort them. This alone should be enough for environmentalists to reject them. But there is more: they are very far from producing
To consume, you need energy; which source should you rely on? Because, as you point out, the energies that seem to be the cleanest, such as wind turbines, are far from being as clean as we imagine...
No, not at all, because we must break away from the disastrous linear logic of the first industrial revolutions. The o l d cur rents of political ecology, whether revolutionary or reformist, are all rooted in the logic of
We regularly hear that all we need to do to get out of the rut we’re in is to apply common sense - consume less, opt for regional products... Will that be enough?
perfectly decarbonised energy. Indeed, as with electric cars, their overall environmental cost must be taken into account, i.e. their entire life cycle, from manufacture to dismantling. A study by the University of Melbourne in 2014 demonstrated that their cost, in terms of CO2 emissions per kilowatt hour, is ten times higher than that of nuclear power, which is currently by far the best truly decarbonised energy.
punishment. “Sustainable development” is too often a soft form of degrowth: short flights are banned, certain advertisements are banned, fuel prices are increased, certain cars are penalised, but in the end, these “common sense” measures do not have the necessary impact in terms of global warming.
Luc Ferry is a philosopher and former French minister. According to him, “to speak of ecology in the singular today makes little sense, as the movements claiming to be ecological are so numerous and opposed to each other”. In his book, he analyses the ideas, convictions and proposals that drive them and proposes an eco-modernist alternative to punitive ecology. His vision of the world outlines a great and inspiring project for a humanity that is reconciled with itself and with its planet.
It all depends on the products we are talking about. Without even taking the example of works of art or jewellery, there are objects to which we are legitimately attached. For others, such as cars, the
Is a shift to a society where we sell services rather than goods the way forward? This would at least solve the problem of programmed obsolescence, for example.
emphasis should be on use rather than ownership, and the possibility of disassembly for complete recycling should be designed upstream of industrial production.
Les sept écologies: Pour une alternative au catastrophisme antimoderne, by Luc Ferry, l'Observatoire editions, April 2021, 273 p.
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