Technological Encounters in a Knowledge Economy: An Epistemic X-Ray.

Area of Science:

• Planetary Health
• Systems Science
• Environmental Justice

Background:

• Climate emergency impacts human health, animal health, and ecosystems, which are interdependent.
• Current climate action relies on ineffective reforms and the same economic systems causing the crisis.
• Problem-solving within existing, flawed frameworks perpetuates issues across time and regions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the critical role of an epistemological examination of knowledge economies in addressing the climate emergency.
• To position epistemological inquiry as a tool for decolonial and social justice movements.
• To advocate for a deeper understanding of the origins and biases within scientific knowledge production.

Main Methods:

• Applying an "epistemological X-ray" to scrutinize dominant and marginalized knowledge forms.
• Questioning the construction of knowledge "archives," including funding, inclusion, and exclusion criteria.
• Analyzing the opaque epistemological choices made by knowledge creators and funders.

Main Results:

• Current approaches to the climate emergency are insufficient due to a lack of systemic and epistemological critique.
• Epistemology can uncover hidden metanarratives and biases within the knowledge economy.
• Understanding the historical, social, and political contexts of knowledge is vital.

Conclusions:

• An epistemological lens is essential for developing effective solutions to the climate emergency.
• Science and innovation must become more responsive to planetary needs by acknowledging their contextual embeddedness.
• Decolonial and social justice frameworks, informed by epistemology, are necessary for 21st-century science and technology.