S03E32 - Jacob Blumenfeld on Climate Barbarism and Managing Decline

Jacob Blumenfeld discusses the concept of “managing decline”, the subject of fossil capitalism and the implications of transitioning away from it.

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Info on Creative Construction Book Launch:

Date: March 4th, 19h
Location: aquarium am Südblock
Skalitzer Str. 6
10999 Berlin
Deutschland

About the book:

Groos, J. & Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction - Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol University Press. [for a review copy, please contact: amber.lanfranchi[at]bristol.ac.uk]

https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction

 

If you are interested in democratic economic planning, these resources might be of help:

Democratic planning – an information website

https://www.democratic-planning.com/

Sorg, C. & Groos, J. (eds.)(2025). Rethinking Economic Planning. Competition & Change Special Issue Volume 29 Issue 1.

https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccha/29/1

International Network for Democratic Economic Planning

https://www.indep.network/

Democratic Planning Research Platform:

https://www.planningresearch.net/

 

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Shownotes

The Centre for Social Critique at the Humboldt University Berlin:

https://criticaltheoryinberlin.de/

Blumenfeld, J. (2022). Climate barbarism: Adapting to a wrong world. Constellations, 30(2), 162–178.

https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12596

Blumenfeld, J. (2023) What was socialization. A look back.

https://sfb294-eigentum.de/en/blog/what-was-socialization-a-look-back/

Blumenfeld, J. (2024a). Managing Decline. Cured Quail, Vol. 3.

https://curedquail.com/Managing-Decline

Blumenfeld, J. (2024b). The Concept of Property in Kant, Fichte, and Hegel. Freedom, Right, and Recognition. Routledge.

https://www.routledge.com/The-Concept-of-Property-in-Kant-Fichte-and-Hegel-Freedom-Right-and-Recognition/Blumenfeld/p/book/9781032575186

Blumenfeld, J. (2024c). Socialising Nature.

https://www.break-down.org/post/socialising-nature

Blumenfeld, J. (2024d). Welcome to the Anderscene. Brooklyn Rail.

https://brooklynrail.org/2024/07/field-notes/Welcome-to-the-Anderscene/

Angebauer, N., Blumenfeld, J., & Wesche, T. (2025). Umkämpftes Eigentum: Eine gesellschaftstheoretische Debatte. Suhrkamp.

https://www.suhrkamp.de/buch/umkaempftes-eigentum-t-9783518300503

Jacob contributed to this soon to be published book:
Forstenhäusler, Robin, et al. (Eds.). (2025). Klima und Gesellschaftskritik. Verbrecher Verlag.

https://www.verbrecherverlag.de/shop/klimawandel-und-gesellschaftskritik/

Buck, H. J. (2021). Ending Fossil Fuels: Why Net Zero is Not Enough. Verso Books.

https://www.versobooks.com/products/2735-ending-fossil-fuels

on the productive forces turning into destructive forces see:

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01d.htm

Staab, P. (2022). Anpassung. Leitmotiv der nächsten Gesellschaft. Suhrkamp.

https://www.suhrkamp.de/buch/philipp-staab-anpassung-t-9783518127797

Felli, R. (2021). The Great Adaptation: Climate, Capitalism and Catastrophe. Verso Books.

https://www.versobooks.com/products/841-the-great-adaptation

Malm, A., & Carton, W. (2024). Overshoot: How the World Surrendered to Climate Breakdown. Verso Books.

https://www.versobooks.com/products/3131-overshoot

on the „Promethean Gap“:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promethean_gap

on Otto Neurath:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Neurath

on Freud’s concept of the “Reality Principle”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_principle

Marcuse, H. (1955) Eros and Civilization. A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud. Beacon Press.

https://archive.org/details/HerbertMarcuseErosandCivilization

on Vaclav Smil:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaclav_Smil

on the Yellow Wests Protests (also “Gilets Jaunes”):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_vests_protests

Mann, G., & Wainwright, J. (2018). Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of Our Planetary Future. Verso Books.

https://www.versobooks.com/products/520-climate-leviathan

Moore, S., & Roberts, A. (2022). The Rise of Ecofascism: Climate Change and the Far Right. Polity Books.

https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-rise-of-ecofascism-climate-change-and-the-far-right--9781509545377

on Marxist crisis theory:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_theory

Markley, S. (2023) The Deluge. Simon & Schuster.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Deluge/Stephen-Markley/9781982123109

 

Future Histories Episodes on Related Topics

S03E23 | Andreas Malm on Overshooting into Climate Breakdown

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e23-andreas-malm-on-overshooting-into-climate-breakdown/

S03E30 | Matt Huber & Kohei Saito on Growth, Progress and Left Imaginaries

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e30-matt-huber-kohei-saito-on-growth-progress-and-left-imaginaries/

S03E03 | Planning for Entropy on Sociometabolic Planning

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e03-planning-for-entropy-on-sociometabolic-planning/

S02E55 | Kohei Saito on Degrowth Communism

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s02/e55-kohei-saito-on-degrowth-communism/

S02E47 | Matt Huber on Building Socialism, Climate Change & Class War

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s02/e47-matt-huber-on-building-socialism-climate-change-class-war/

S02E27 | Nick Dyer-Witheford on Biocommunism

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s02/e27-nick-dyer-witheford-on-biocommunism/

S02E18 | Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese on Half Earth Socialism

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s02/e18-drew-pendergrass-and-troy-vettese-on-half-earth-socialism/

 

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Episode Keywords

 #JacobBlumenfeld, #Podcast, #JanGroos, #Interview, #FutureHistories, #futurehistoriesinternational, #FutureHistoriesInternational, #Degrowth, #Socialism, #Capitalism, #GreenNewDeal, #ClimateJustice, #PoliticalEconomy, #ClimateCrisis, #FossilCapitalism, #EcoSocialism, #Marx, #DemocraticEconomicPlanning, #Market, #Adaption, #Mitigation, #AndreasMalm, #Marcuse, #Freud, #DemocraticPlanning, #PostCapitalism, #ClimatePolitics, #RadicalEcology, #JustTransition, #Prometheanism