Eric Zencey
Encyclopedia
Eric Zencey is an American
author of two books.
Panama is an historical novel set in Paris in 1893, in which the American historian Henry Adams becomes entangled in the Panama scandals
, the scandals and political crisis that befell France as a consequence of the bankruptcy of the French Panama Canal Company a decade earlier. Briefly a best seller, Panama was widely and favorably reviewed as a literary thriller. The hardback edition was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. A mass market edition followed, published by Berkeley, who also brought out a trade edition a few years later. The novel was published in a dozen foreign editions, including versions in German, French, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, Hebrew, Portuguese, Spanish, and Danish.
Virgin Forest is a collection of twelve related essays about how we think about and treat nature. The collection was published by the University of Georgia Press
, and is loosely tied together by a theme: the importance of history to an ecological understanding. "If we are out of place in nature, we are also out of place in time, and the two kinds of exile are related.". It includes an essay, "The Rootless Professors," first published in The Chronicle of Higher Education
in 1985, which argues that one root of modern culture's ecological problem is the fact that post-secondary education is, without exception, performed by a transient class of intellectuals who owe no allegiance to place. That this is no longer true is in part due to the influence of his work; his call for a new class of educators, one "equally at home in the cosmopolitan world of ideas and the very particular world of watersheds and growing seasons" helped inspire the current movement for "place based education"
and education for ecological literacy.
In two other essays in that collection ("Some Brief Speculations on the Popularity of Entropy as Metaphor" and "Zeno's Mall") Zencey discusses the application of thermodynamic ideas to economics—an application that has since been extended by the nascent field of Ecological Economics. (By ignoring the thermodynamic foundation of economic activity, mainstream economic maintains what Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen called its "no deposit, no return" attitude toward the environment; the laws of thermodynamics describe why and how an economy is rooted in natural systems. For mainstream economics, environmental values are a subset of economic values; for the emergent, thermodynamically enlightened discipline of ecological economics, economic activity is a subset of social activity, which in turn is a subset of activity in nature.) The thematic connection is found in the fact that, according to Zencey, mainstream economics offers "an ahistorical science of dynamics," while the Law of Entropy is "time's arrow"--the only physical law of universal content that is time-invariant, and hence descriptive of the process that gives us our sense of time.
Zencey's effort to use the form of the personal essay to deal with substantial intellectual content drew praise from Bill McKibben ("infinitely wise and unflinching") and places the book within the tradition of environmental wisdom literature, works like A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold and Walden by Henry David Thoreau. In recent work Zencey has abandoned the personal essay in favor of a more didactic approach to similar material; see "Is Industrial Civilization a Pyramid Scheme?" and "Mr. Soddy's Ecological Economy."
Zencey is contributing editor for the North American Review
, and has been a fellow of the Guggenheim
, Rockefeller
, and Bogliasco Foundations. Some of his work is available online, as at the History News Network
, Stranded Wind, and The European Tribune.
Zencey currently teaches for Empire State College
in Prague
and New York State. Domestically, he teaches in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) program, which offers students an independently designed program after they take a few core courses (one of which Zencey teaches). The college lists him on an "experts" page at http://www.esc.edu/esconline/across_esc/experts.nsf/expertslist/EricZencey.html.
Since the recession, Zencey's ideas are receiving mainstream attention. On Aug 10, The New York Times
published on page A17 an 1,800-word essay entitled "G.D.P. R.I.P.," in which Zencey argues that the G.D.P. is a flawed measure of societal and economic progress and should be abandoned as a primary benchmark. Zencey had a story in April in The New York Times about chemist-turned-economist Frederick Soddy
, whose ideas were largely ignored when he was writing in the 1920s and 1930s but are now a foundation of ecological economics
. Zencey's Ph.D. dissertation, Entropy as Root Metaphor, published at Claremont Graduate University in 1985, included a chapter calling for the development of a thermodynamically enlightened economics. He recycled some of the material there into some of the essays appearing in Virgin Forest.
In Adbuster's September/October 2009 issue, Zencey's New York Times op-ed on Soddy is reprinted, and many similar ideas are discussed.
Zencey lives in Montpelier, Vermont
, with his wife, the novelist Kathryn Davis
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author of two books.
Panama is an historical novel set in Paris in 1893, in which the American historian Henry Adams becomes entangled in the Panama scandals
Panama scandals
The Panama scandals was a corruption affair that broke out in the French Third Republic in 1892, linked to the building of the Panama Canal...
, the scandals and political crisis that befell France as a consequence of the bankruptcy of the French Panama Canal Company a decade earlier. Briefly a best seller, Panama was widely and favorably reviewed as a literary thriller. The hardback edition was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. A mass market edition followed, published by Berkeley, who also brought out a trade edition a few years later. The novel was published in a dozen foreign editions, including versions in German, French, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, Hebrew, Portuguese, Spanish, and Danish.
Virgin Forest is a collection of twelve related essays about how we think about and treat nature. The collection was published by the University of Georgia Press
University of Georgia Press
The University of Georgia Press or UGA Press is a publishing house and is a member of the Association of American University Presses.Founded in 1938, the UGA Press is a division of the University of Georgia and is located on the campus in Athens, Georgia, USA...
, and is loosely tied together by a theme: the importance of history to an ecological understanding. "If we are out of place in nature, we are also out of place in time, and the two kinds of exile are related.". It includes an essay, "The Rootless Professors," first published in The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty, staff members and administrators....
in 1985, which argues that one root of modern culture's ecological problem is the fact that post-secondary education is, without exception, performed by a transient class of intellectuals who owe no allegiance to place. That this is no longer true is in part due to the influence of his work; his call for a new class of educators, one "equally at home in the cosmopolitan world of ideas and the very particular world of watersheds and growing seasons" helped inspire the current movement for "place based education"
and education for ecological literacy.
In two other essays in that collection ("Some Brief Speculations on the Popularity of Entropy as Metaphor" and "Zeno's Mall") Zencey discusses the application of thermodynamic ideas to economics—an application that has since been extended by the nascent field of Ecological Economics. (By ignoring the thermodynamic foundation of economic activity, mainstream economic maintains what Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen called its "no deposit, no return" attitude toward the environment; the laws of thermodynamics describe why and how an economy is rooted in natural systems. For mainstream economics, environmental values are a subset of economic values; for the emergent, thermodynamically enlightened discipline of ecological economics, economic activity is a subset of social activity, which in turn is a subset of activity in nature.) The thematic connection is found in the fact that, according to Zencey, mainstream economics offers "an ahistorical science of dynamics," while the Law of Entropy is "time's arrow"--the only physical law of universal content that is time-invariant, and hence descriptive of the process that gives us our sense of time.
Zencey's effort to use the form of the personal essay to deal with substantial intellectual content drew praise from Bill McKibben ("infinitely wise and unflinching") and places the book within the tradition of environmental wisdom literature, works like A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold and Walden by Henry David Thoreau. In recent work Zencey has abandoned the personal essay in favor of a more didactic approach to similar material; see "Is Industrial Civilization a Pyramid Scheme?" and "Mr. Soddy's Ecological Economy."
Zencey is contributing editor for the North American Review
North American Review
The North American Review was the first literary magazine in the United States. Founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others, it was published continuously until 1940, when publication was suspended due to J. H. Smyth, who had purchased the magazine, being unmasked as a Japanese...
, and has been a fellow of the Guggenheim
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...
, Rockefeller
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
, and Bogliasco Foundations. Some of his work is available online, as at the History News Network
History News Network
History News Network is a project of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Although the HNN resides on GMU's server, it operates independently of the university as a non-profit corporation registered in Washington State...
, Stranded Wind, and The European Tribune.
Zencey currently teaches for Empire State College
Empire State College
Empire State College, one of the thirteen arts and science colleges of the State University of New York, is a multi-site institution offering associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees. It is primarily oriented towards the adult learner...
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
and New York State. Domestically, he teaches in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) program, which offers students an independently designed program after they take a few core courses (one of which Zencey teaches). The college lists him on an "experts" page at http://www.esc.edu/esconline/across_esc/experts.nsf/expertslist/EricZencey.html.
Since the recession, Zencey's ideas are receiving mainstream attention. On Aug 10, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
published on page A17 an 1,800-word essay entitled "G.D.P. R.I.P.," in which Zencey argues that the G.D.P. is a flawed measure of societal and economic progress and should be abandoned as a primary benchmark. Zencey had a story in April in The New York Times about chemist-turned-economist Frederick Soddy
Frederick Soddy
Frederick Soddy was an English radiochemist who explained, with Ernest Rutherford, that radioactivity is due to the transmutation of elements, now known to involve nuclear reactions. He also proved the existence of isotopes of certain radioactive elements...
, whose ideas were largely ignored when he was writing in the 1920s and 1930s but are now a foundation of ecological economics
Ecological economics
Image:Sustainable development.svg|right|The three pillars of sustainability. Clickable.|275px|thumbpoly 138 194 148 219 164 240 182 257 219 277 263 291 261 311 264 331 272 351 283 366 300 383 316 394 287 408 261 417 224 424 182 426 154 423 119 415 87 403 58 385 40 368 24 347 17 328 13 309 16 286 26...
. Zencey's Ph.D. dissertation, Entropy as Root Metaphor, published at Claremont Graduate University in 1985, included a chapter calling for the development of a thermodynamically enlightened economics. He recycled some of the material there into some of the essays appearing in Virgin Forest.
In Adbuster's September/October 2009 issue, Zencey's New York Times op-ed on Soddy is reprinted, and many similar ideas are discussed.
Zencey lives in Montpelier, Vermont
Montpelier, Vermont
Montpelier is a city in the U.S. state of Vermont that serves as the state capital and the shire town of Washington County. As the capital of Vermont, Montpelier is the site of the Vermont State House, seat of the legislative branch of Vermont government. The population was 7,855 at the 2010...
, with his wife, the novelist Kathryn Davis
Kathryn Davis
Kathryn Davis is an award-winning American novelist.Davis has taught at Skidmore College, and is now senior fiction writer in the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St...
.
Essays
- Virgin Forest: Meditations on History, Ecology, and Culture ISBN 978-0820322001 (1998)
Work Anthologized
- "Fixing Locke: Civil Liberties on a Finite Planet," in Peter Goggin, ed., Rhetorics, Literacies, and Narratives of Sustainability, Routledge (2009).
- "Delaware: The First State," in These United States, John Leonard, ed. Nationbooks (2003).
- "The Rootless Professors," in William Vitek and Wes Jackson, eds., Home Territories: Essays on Community and the Land, Yale University Press (1996).
- "Entropy as Root Metaphor," in Joseph Slade and Judith Yaross Lee, eds., Beyond the Two Cultures: Essays on Science, Literature, and Technology, Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa (1990).