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Today the economy, the portrait, with Jeremy Rifkin, American economist and sociologist. He just posted a new essay Age of Resilience – Earth Going Wild Again, we have to reimagine ourselves published by Les liens qui liberante. He accuses our lifestyles based on progress and efficiency of destroying the planet. Ariane Gaffuri spoke with him.
« When my father was born, it was in 1908, 85% of the land was still wild. It is only 25% today. The rest is occupied by the man. And in 20, 30 or 40 years, it will be worse. Efficiency must therefore be rethought. And we’re starting to move a little bit towards adaptability and resilience. In other words, to learn to adapt to nature, instead of making nature adapt to us. »
Fighting climate change has been a long-standing fight for Jeremy Rifkin, 76, through numerous books, conferences and widely followed actions around the world. This specialist in foresight comes from a Russian Jewish family who immigrated to Texas, but he grew up in the southwest of Chicago.
« I grew up in a working class neighborhood. The men in our neighborhood worked in the stockyards, the steel mills. They were people attached to the unions. I went to a public high school. Then I had the chance to go to Ben Franklin University in Pennsylvania. Benjamin Franklin founded our school, the oldest university in America. Then I went to Wharton School which is the first business school in the world. Then I got caught up in the civil rights movement and against the Vietnam War. »
Jeremy Rifkin also studies international law and diplomacy, without ceasing to be an activist.
« I was self-taught in a way after my studies… At that time, most of us were activists, we didn’t have a career. However, I taught management at the Wharton School later for 15 years. We bring in business leaders from all over the world. And I liked talking about economics, of course, but also about its relationship with other disciplines, such as sociology, science… Crossing borders. If I had become an academic, I would have been stuck in one area and would know less and less about that discipline. »
In 1973, Jeremy Rifkin organized a demonstration against the oil companies in Boston, in reaction to the rise in the price of hydrocarbons due to the oil embargo on the part of OPEC. It was this event that triggered his unwavering commitment to the climate.
« It was the very first global mobilization against the oil companies and I am very proud of it. We didn’t know if anyone would come, especially since the day of the demonstration there was a terrible snowstorm and I couldn’t see a cat in the street near the meeting place. But around the corner I saw tens of thousands of people, whole families, young, old, 20 000 in all. They had placards in their hands. They have come to join us in speaking out against global oil companies. It was an amazing experience. »
An incredible experience that will give birth a few years later to the Foundation for Economic Trends, which studies environmental, social, economic and ethical issues.
In 1988, Jeremy Rifkin brought together climate scientists and environmental activists from 35 countries in Washington for the first global meeting on greenhouse effects. Often presented as the main theoretician of the Third Industrial Revolution, marked by the development of information and communication technologies, he is also one of the architects of the European Union’s Green Plan. Even his free time he devotes to nature.
« My wife is heavily involved in animal rights as a journalist and activist. We started a foundation many years ago, and we have a place in the United States that we’ve put into conservation easement, so the wildlife can thrive there. You can’t develop anything there. We have foxes, bears, very beautiful birds. My wife takes care of it for the most part, and we like to be in the midst of this nature, and bring our very small part to make sure that this little area there remains wild. »
Among the latest projects of this motley researcher, advancing the cause of hydrogen from renewable sources on the political scene.