Manifesto · Becoming Planetary
The Biospheric Economy
The economy of Homo biospheris
The economy reveals what one is
From appropriation of nature to belonging to the living
The liberal economy is the metabolism of a property-owning individual, the state economy that of a political sovereign, the biospheric economy that of an actor who belongs to the living world and cares for it.
From "this belongs to me" to "I belong to"
The economy is the metabolism of those who practice it
An economy always reveals the subject it serves. The economy of the propertied individual transforms the world into exchangeable goods. The economy of the state transforms the world into administered territory. The economy of Homo biospheris will transform material flows into functions of care, circulation and regeneration.
The first two economies differ on who owns the world. The third breaks with the shared premise: humanity is no longer the owner of the living. It belongs to the living and is at its service.
Smith · Walras
Liberal economics
To own
The world belongs to the individuals who buy it. Nature is an external, infinite, silent resource, transformable at will.
Keynes · List
State economics
To master
The world belongs to the nations that govern it. Nature is a territory to secure and exploit. The difference from Smith concerns the owning actor, not ownership itself.
Homo biospheris
Biospheric economy
To belong
Humanity belongs to the living and cares for it. The entire premise changes. The biospheric economy is that of a different actor.
These four reversals change the foundations of economics, not its parameters. Together, they presuppose that Homo biospheris exists.
From owning to caring for. Nature ceases to be an external stock. It becomes the living fabric we depend on and to which we must restore functions.
From maximizing profit to regenerating life. What counts becomes what maintains the conditions of the living, not what grows a number.
From growth to circulation. Wealth ceases to be thought of as a mass to concentrate, but as a set of quantities to circulate: energy, knowledge, care, materials, capacities to act.
From competition to cooperation between functions. The organs of a body do not compete: they specialize and complement one another.
Compatible currents
Conceptual allies
- Ecological economics
- Regenerative economics
- Doughnut economics
- Bioregionalism
- Bioeconomics (Passet)
Insufficient
Steps, not destination
- Sustainable development
- Green economy
- CSR / ESG
- Carbon markets
- Green growth
To overcome
Incompatible foundations
- Fossil economy
- Linear economy
- GDP maximization
- Shareholder primacy
- Extraction without return
Full panorama
Explore dozens of alternative economic systems →
Ecological, symbiotic, care economy, bioregionalism, GNH, eco-economy…
Synthesis
A new chapter begins with Homo biospheris
The economy will only truly change in nature when its subject changes.
A production of the Planetary Lab
© 2026 Biosphere Economics · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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