We mistake the lightness of electrons and the vaporous nature of the information that rides on them for the lightness of the entire economy behind them. Every person who works in the so-called information sector of the economy must be housed, clothed, schooled, provided transportation, provisioned with household goods, given opportunities for entertainment and recreation, supplied with a wide array of public services, and…well, you get the idea. And, much of the manufacturing economy which previously provided employment in the United States and other industrialized nations has simply shifted to China and other low-cost locales. As it turns out, one of the main tasks of the information economy is to direct and manage the resulting global logistical system, a system that continues to bear down with its ever increasing weight on the landscape and the environment.

The above is from a thoughtful and important mini-essay by Kurt Cobb, based on the insights of biophysical economics.

He concludes:

“What we are lacking is the widespread understanding of how to live within the limits prescribed by the planet. Putting to rest the idea that so-called information-based industries somehow have a negligible impact on the biosphere might be a good first step in focusing us on the kind of information that we will need to become partners with nature rather than its adversaries.”

To have an idea of what such partnering with nature may mean in practice, please do read Robert Paterson’s piece on the New Renaissance based on permaculture.

He shows the contrast between a domination-based form of agriculture (see the 2 pictures of the artificial field and swimming pool), with a forest garden that works with natural abundance (see the picture also of the natural swimming pool).