WHY DEEPEN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY? ―SOME REFLECTIONS FROM LATIN AMERICA

Abstract

If the economic process is an entropic transformation of natural resources, how do we maintain an intensive economic activity in using natural resources without changing the conditions for the development of human life on Earth? Attempts to answer this usually indicate the relationship between societies and the environment. However, it is sometimes forgotten that the gears of the economic system relate the environment and societies via energy exchanges. This essay presents a stimulus to understand the importance of deepening the society-environment-energy trinomial, especially considering that we are in crises, among which the socio-ecological crisis seems to be the most decisive. The analysis focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean as critical regions for supplying raw materials that feed the economic system.