ABSTRACT
In 1980, a bet between two economists, Doomster ecologist Paul R. Ehrlich and Boomster economist Julian L. Simon, predicted two distinct models of the future of the planet. Through the anecdote of this bet—and its longer lasting consequences—Heisel unpacks the economics that underlie the world’s material economies. As materials are depleted or become costlier to mine, values increase, and open up potentials for recycling economies. For these relatively new markets to prosper, however, “raw” materials in the form of postconsumer goods must be available, and the consequence of that is the rethinking of the fabrication of the original product, whether it be a shoe or a building. After a detailed foray into the global economics of the waste industry, Heisel describes his own experiment (along with Werner Sobek and Dirk E. Hebel) to build a 100% recyclable house on the Empa campus in Switzerland, and the complexities of innovating the prevailing linear material logic of construction.
