The Environmentalitarian Situation

This contribution outlines several modes of becoming-environmental that characterize the development thanks to which environmentality [Umweltlichkeit] has become our condition today: the becoming-environmental of media, of power, of subjectivity, of world, of capital and of thinking. The process of cybernetization initiated around 1900—and the process of computerization since 1950 in particular—culminating in the becoming-environmental of computation, is to be understood as a time of environmentalization, that forces us into the new power/knowledge complex of Environmentality [Environmentalität] and that obliges us, as a line of flight, to rethink environmentality as such beyond its restricted actual forms. Accordingly, the key challenge for a general ecology of media and technology is to advance the critique of Environmentalization by developing an analysis of its restricted forms, first of all of the environmentalitarian Capital-Form, and to break through toward a speculative thinking of the environment and a new environmental image of thought.

Modeling normativity in sustainability: a comparison of the sustainable development goals, the Paris agreement, and the papal encyclical

The idea of sustainability is intrinsically normative. Thus, understanding the role of normativity in sustainability discourses is crucial for further developing sustainability science. In this article, we analyze three important documents that aim to advance sustainability and explore how they organize norms in relation to sustainability. The three documents are: the Pope's Encyclical Laudato Si', the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. We show that understanding the role of different types of norms in the three documents can help understand normative features of both scientific and non-scientific sustainability discourses. We present the diverse system of norms in a model that interrelates three different levels: macro, meso, and micro. Our model highlights how several processes affect the normative orientation of nations and societies at the meso-level in different ways. For instance, individual ethical norms at the micro-level, such as personal responsibility, may help decelerate unsustainable consumerism at the aggregate meso-level. We also show that techno-scientific norms at the macro-level representing global indicators for sustainability may accelerate innovations. We suggest that our model can help better organize normative features of sustainability discourses and, therefore, to contribute to the further development of sustainability science.

Cyclic ovarian function in recreational athletes

In 17 female recreational athletes, ovarian function was monitored using daily hormone measurements and serial ultrasound determinations. Whereas 11 out of 13 women of a control group showed estradiol (E2) maxima beyond 470 pmol/l, progesterone (P4) maxima of 19 nmol/l or more, and a luteal phase length of 9 days or more, only 10 out of 17 athletes satisfied these criteria. Six athletes showed disturbed follicular development, and one athlete showed luteal phase disturbance. Both athletes with disturbed menstrual function (n = 7) and athletes fulfilling the above-mentioned minimal criteria (n = 10) had lower E2 concentrations in all phases of the menstrual cycle (P less than 0.05). P4 concentrations were significantly decreased in the group with disturbed menstrual function (P less than 0.05). Maximal aerobic capacity in the two athlete groups was similar. Neither athlete group showed the expected increase in caloric intake compared with the sedentary controls. It is concluded that recreational running is associated with altered ovarian function. Inadequate nutritional adaptation may be a contributing factor.