Two commonly held views about the nature of Nature lead to a systematic misunderstanding and mismeasurment of natural processes. The “economistic” view conceives of the natural environment as a repository of resources, available for human exploitation, and “services” provided by mechanistic ecological processes. The economistic perspective leads to a failure to properly recognize the sharp distinctions between ecological and economic processes, by positing that environmental-sustainability issues can be successfully addressed by “economizing ecology and ecologizing the economy.” The deep ecology view conceives of nature in an idealized manner as a harmonious system in eternal balance unless disturbed by humans. This perspective fails to appreciate the material basis of nature and society and views changes in value systems as the key to achieving ecological sustainability. The authors advocate an alternative conception—one developed by Marxist scholars in the natural sciences that eschews both mechanistic and idealized conceptions of nature in favor of a dialectical, historical, and materialist view of natural processes. This approach allows us to better understand natural history and the dynamic processes of human interaction with the environment.
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