Capitalism’s shift from renewable to mineral energy degraded forests at scale.

Evidence

Whereas the medieval economy had been based on organic and renewable energy sources—wood, water, and wind—the emerging capitalist economy taking shape over most of western Europe was based not only on the nonrenewable energy source—coal—but on an inorganic economic core—metals: iron, copper, silver, gold, tin, and mercury—the refining and processing of which ultimately depended on and further depleted the forests. Over the course of the sixteenth century, mining operations quadrupled as the trading of metals expanded. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 323

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the polyad course thread on energy transitions and extractive economies; also to Merchant’s core thesis that the inorganic/mineral worldview displaces the living organic one. — connects to: Capitalist profit control of resources harmed environmental quality versus peasant subsistence control. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 254; Utopian use of nature for community need contrasted with capitalist profit-driven exploitation — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 403; Capitalism’s growth fetish inherently opposes ecological sustainability — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 41 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Capitalism’s growth fetish inherently opposes ecological sustainability #expands (0.78) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 41
• Utopian use of nature for community need contrasted with capitalist profit-driven exploitation #complicates (0.72) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 403