Against environmental protection?

ecological modernization as "technician ecology"

Isabelle Lamaud

pp. 83-96

in: Helena Mateus Jerónimo, José L. García, Carl Mitcham (eds), Jacques Ellul and the technological society in the 21st century, Berlin, Springer, 2013

Abstract

Jacques Ellul is often considered a forerunner of ecological thought, since as early as the 1930s numerous related themes began to appear in his thought: critique of the State and technician-dominated bureaucracy; the limitations of industrial society, technoscientific expansion, and capitalist organization of labor; and praise for an ascetic lifestyle and fight against the destruction of nature (Troude-Chastenet 1998). Several texts can be found specifically dealing with environmental issues (Ellul 1972, 1973) in his work, and many of his writings revolve around what would now be seen as ecological issues (notably his books on La Technique, Ellul 1990 [1954], 2004 [1977], 1988). He often refers to the writings of his friend and fellow thinker Bernard Charbonneau, who influenced him to take nature into account (see, for example, Charbonneau 2002 [1969], 2009 [1980]; Cérézuelle 2006), and his personal commitments found an ideal breeding ground in ecologists' struggles (in particular, the fight against the development of the Aquitaine Coast).

Cited authors

Ellul Jacques