Keywords: Edgar Morin, Ulrich Beck, Serge Latouche, ecology of action, wager, strategy, precautionary principle, upstream action, degrowth.

Abstract: The French thinker, Edgar Morin, has coined the concept of ecology of action, made of two principles: 1) every action is made by an actor in a system whose inter-retro-actions of its elements will change and pervert the action itself; 2) the consequences of an action are less and less predictable during the passing of time. Morin comments it by warning us from inaction and dresses a scheme of action made by the wager and the strategy. I propose to enrich this scheme by adding Ulrich Beck’s discussions on the precautionary principle and the upstream action, and by doing a eulogy of inaction in the frame of the degrowth theory.

Contribution to the 3rd International Degrowth Conference for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity in Venice in 2012.