Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
2003 onward, economy was the dominant section for the publication
of the articles. These results point to the fact that classes “research”
and “science, technology, and society” discussed transgenics by present-
ing their history, processes, and possible social and environmental risks
and impacts upon society. Classes “Bio-Safety Law 1” and “Landless
Workers Movement - MST” show the beginning of a civil movement
against this new technology. All these four classes are typical of the years
2000, 2001, and 2002. It seems that from 2003 on - with the inception of
the Lula administration, which coincided with the political shift from a
preventive to a promotional policy, as discussed in Part II - that this
kind of critical discussion lost space in the media to the debate about
the economic gains this technology might bring. It is also important to
remember that in 2003 the Brazilian media gave much more space to this
topic.
IV. Conclusion
The complexity of the environmental crisis requires a complex commu-
nication solution that should originate from the different languages of
Ecology, Economics, Science, and Politics.
39
A “system,” such as Economics, Politics, or Science is emergent, in
that it comes into existence as soon as a border can be drawn between a
set of communications and the system's environment. A system is always
less complex than its environment - if a system does not reduce the com-
plexity in its environment, then it cannot perform any function. A sys-
tem effectively defines itself by creating a binary language to maintain a
border between itself and the environment. For instance, Economics is
related to “having” or “not having” money, Politics to “being in power”
or “not being in power,” Science to a theory “being” or “not being” true.
39
LUHMANN, Niklas.
Ecological communication
. Translation of John Bednarz Jr.
(Chicago: University of Chicago, 1989), 51-105.
