BiophysEco Goes Live!

www.BiophysEco.org

 

March 14, 2017

I am pleased to announce the launch of BiophysEco – The Biophysical Economics Policy Center.

BiophysEco is a new international think tank that aims to support the emergence and promotion of biophysical economics in the public debate and the policy conversation, worldwide. Biophysical economics is the study of the ways and means by which human societies procure and use energy and other biological and physical resources to produce, distribute, consume and exchange goods and services. Biophysical economics builds on both social sciences and natural sciences to overcome some of the most fundamental limitations and blind spots of conventional economics. At a time when policy makers worldwide increasingly struggle to find convincing answers in mainstream economic theories, biophysical economics provides the keys to fully make sense of economic history as well as of current and future economic prospects and challenges.

BiophysEco is a non-profit, independent and non-partisan organization. Its mission is to inform civil society and public policy makers by providing realistic policy analysis and advice rooted in a biophysical reading of the economic process. BiophysEco builds upon the activities of academic researchers and research organizations, and promotes their work to ensure that a biophysical reading of the economic process can be represented in the policy-making conversation. It also seeks to support their work by providing a networking, exchange and support platform, and by undertaking outreach and advocacy activities aimed at increasing public support for research in biophysical economics and related domains.

The geographical scope of BiophysEco is global – reflecting the fact that biophysical economics is founded on a biosphere-wide view of the economic process. BiophysEco nevertheless provides local knowledge and expertise through an international network of contributors.

BiophysEco’s work is steered by a high-level Scientific Advisory Board, comprising renowned scientists and economists from across the world. The Scientific Advisory Board provides advice and guidance for the activities of the think tank and helps define its strategic orientations and priorities. Members of the Scientific Advisory Board currently include Charles A.S. Hall, the father of the concept of energy return on investment (EROI), Mario Giampietro  and Kozo Mayumi, known for their pioneering work into the metabolism of complex socio-economic systems, Steven Sorell, a senior energy and climate policy specialist focusing on energy modeling, energy efficiency, emissions trading and resource depletion, and Ugo Bardi, known for his extensive work on resource depletion, system dynamics modeling, climate science and renewable energy.

Over the coming months and years, BiophysEco will strive to ensure that the voice of biophysical economics can be heard in the policy arena. To do so successfully, it will rely on the support of those who understand that economics must rest on a biophysical framework that acknowledges energy and resource constraints. If you are among those and wish to support the development of BiophysEco, you are invited to visit our website at www.BiophysEco.org, to follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and to send us your comments and suggestions, so that we can improve our work and better meet your needs.

If you are a researcher in biophysical economics or a related domain, you may want to join our network of contributors to promote the outcome of your work in the policy arena, and to help us produce and disseminate high-quality and reality-based public policy analysis and advice.

If you wish, you may also consider becoming a BiophysEco patron by making a small, monthly donation on Patreon to help support startup and development expenses and ensure that BiophysEco can bring the voice of biophysical economics to the policy arena.

I hope that you will join me in celebrating the launch of BiophysEco and that we will, together, make it a valuable instrument to help societies make better informed policy decisions, based on a sophisticated understanding of their complex underlying systems and of the associated constraints and uncertainties.

François-Xavier Chevallerau, BiophysEco Founder and Director