S03E32 - Jacob Blumenfeld on Climate Barbarism and Managing Decline

Future Histories

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