Below, I summarize Luhmann's 1985 book 'Ecological Communiaction', chapter by chapter.

Sociological Abstinence and Environmental Awareness
Since the late 1960s, society has increasingly recognized the severe ecological issues arising from human activities, such as resource depletion, pollution, and overpopulation. Sociology, traditionally focused on internal societal dynamics, was not equipped to address these ecological concerns, leading to a disconnect between societal systems and environmental issues. A paradigm shift is needed in sociology to better understand and address these ecological challenges by viewing society as a system of communication rather than just a collection of individuals.

Causes and Responsibilities in Ecological Problems
Traditional approaches to ecological issues focus on identifying causes and assigning responsibility within society. This perspective is insufficient for complex ecological problems: Understanding and addressing these issues require examining the interactions between societal systems and their environments. Legal and policy decisions based on simplistic causal attributions often fail to capture the complexity of these issues.

Complexity and Evolution
The initial optimism about managing ecological problems through cybernetic consultation has waned. Systems must reduce the complexity of their environments to survive. Autopoietic systems, which self-reproduce and adapt to environmental changes, offer a model for understanding how societal systems can respond to ecological challenges. This approach focuses on self-reflection and careful consideration of the consequences of technological interventions.

Resonance
The term of resonance supports our understanding of complex system-environment relationships. Modern society, with its complex internal structures, only occasionally resonates with environmental factors. Societal communication systems are highly selective and closed, limiting their ability to respond to environmental changes. Addressing ecological issues requires a shift in how society's operations are observed and understood.

Observation of Observation
Second-order cybernetics deals with how systems observe and interpret their environments. Scientific knowledge often fails to resonate with societal systems. Recognizing these limitations can help society better address ecological threats by moving beyond the traditional view of an objectively given reality.

Communication as Societal Operation
Societal communication is essential for addressing environmental issues. Ecological threats must be communicated within society to initiate changes in societal structures. Individual ecological awareness does not automatically translate into societal action. Instead, communication about environmental concerns must resonate with the broader societal communication system to be effective.

Ecological Knowledge and Societal Communication
Modern society can only endanger itself through communication. Addressing ecological problems requires structuring societal communication to process environmental information effectively. Historical methods of ecological self-regulation, such as taboos and rituals, are no longer sufficient. Modern society's complexity demands new strategies for integrating environmental concerns into societal communication.

Binary Codes
Functional systems in society, such as science, law, and economy, operate using binary codes that structure their communication. These codes help resolve paradoxes within the system and facilitate transitions between opposing states. The differentiation of functional systems through binary codes supports integration and responsiveness, though it can also lead to fragmentation and challenges in addressing overarching ecological issues.

Codes, Criteria, and Programs

In systems theory, we differentiate between coding and programming. Codes are closed systems, defining binary choices (e.g., legal/illegal), while programming allows for flexibility and learning within these systems. This duality helps systems operate both as closed and open entities, crucial for managing environmental threats. Early ethical and natural law traditions couldn't separate code values from generalized behavioral formulas, which resulted in moral ambiguities. Modern economic and scientific systems emerged with the invisible hand and progress, which replaced complex transcendental theories with an optimistic view of progress. This transition opened new theoretical possibilities but also left unresolved semantic consequences and a lack of societal reflection on environmental issues.

Implications of Functional Differentiation

Functional differentiation in modern society, especially concerning ecological problems, requires new reflection theories. The separation of coding and programming in various systems, such as law and politics, leads to unique challenges. For example, legal authority shifted from justice to the factual authority of offices, linking the legal system to politics. Addressing ecological challenges relies on the interplay of function systems (e.g., politics, economics, science) rather than moral considerations. Functional differentiation reduces redundancy but increases interdependencies, which dissolves multifunctional institutions and morals. Modern society's function systems are mutually dependent, particularly in solving ecological problems, which are best analyzed through the differentiation of function systems and their internal codes and programs. These interdependencies often detach from original environmental triggers, necessitating control and monitoring. Ecological issues are addressed through the specific workings and interactions of function systems, each governed by its codes and programs.

Economy

The economy encompasses all monetary transactions, differing from earlier monetary systems with limited purchasing capabilities. Modern economies, differentiated from religion and politics, are autonomous, closed systems focusing on monetary integration and production while marginalizing traditional household activities. This restriction, while expanding the economy, has detrimental environmental consequences. Ownership, particularly of land, became more refined with money, enabling full functional differentiation. The economy is a closed, self-referential system relying on payments, with the fundamental economic decision being whether to pay or not. This decision separates code (having or not having money) from programs (motivating internal operations, setting prices). Prices simplify economic calculations but don't fully address ecological threats. The economy's response to environmental issues relies on integrating these factors into economic operations, influencing prices, and internalizing ecological considerations through cost-benefit calculations. This integration is constrained by the economy's internal logic and profit pursuit. External regulations may be necessary to guide production and consumption decisions toward ecological benefits. The scarcity paradox illustrates the challenges of balancing economic growth with environmental sustainability. Input/output models and price mechanisms help address environmental issues, but the economic system's internal dynamics may not align with societal or environmental timelines.

Law

Legal responses to environmental problems often involve shifting from market-based mechanisms to normative regulations. This approach can overburden the political system and lead to superficial solutions. The legal system, operating on its logic of right and wrong, struggles with environmental issues. Applying existing legal frameworks involves subjective elements, making it challenging to address environmental concerns effectively. Legal decisions increasingly involve subjective judgments and vague formulations, creating an illusion of action without clear solutions. Traditional decision-making principles, like maximizing expected utility, are problematic in the context of environmental risks due to uncertainty and varying risk attitudes. The legal system's response to environmental risks often involves compensating exposed individuals, but this is difficult to implement universally. Private efforts and negotiated solutions can collide with regulatory frameworks, complicating enforcement and adaptation to environmental challenges.

Science

Science, with its code of true/false, addresses environmental concerns through specialized disciplines and subdisciplines. The scientific pursuit of novelty generates structured complexity but struggles with complex ecological systems due to its focus on multiplying problems rather than solving them. Science's emphasis on new knowledge creates a world difficult for society to navigate. Other societal systems (economy, law, politics) sort through scientific possibilities based on their criteria. The scientific system's relentless pursuit of knowledge leads to vast possibilities but also to challenges in aligning with environmental and societal needs.

Politics

The differentiation of functional systems has expanded societal horizons but clarified resonance boundaries. Politics, traditionally central in society, now operates within its code and programs, adapting to functional differentiation rather than assuming a special leadership role. Political resonance is influenced by public opinion and electoral cycles, limiting its capacity to address long-term environmental issues. Territorial boundaries and short-term electoral focus hinder effective global environmental problem-solving. Regulations can become resistant to change, impeding adaptation to evolving challenges. The lack of international regulations and focus on national interests hinders coordinated global efforts. Despite these limitations, there is potential for political systems to prioritize environmental policies through shifting priorities and mainstreaming environmental concerns.

Religion

Theologians engage in environmental discussions but are often seen as inadequate in contributing unique religious insights. They tend to reiterate widely accepted ideas rather than providing specific theological perspectives. The resonance capacity of religion is questionable due to its reliance on predefined codes and programs. Religion's focus has shifted over time from sacred awe to moral coding, distinguishing between good and evil. This shift raises questions about the origins of evil and suffering, complicating the relationship between morality and religion. Modern religion struggles to address environmental issues distinctly, as it operates within societal problem awareness and may only respond to evident problems. Religion's role in society may be seen as parasitic, offering solutions by integrating excluded elements from other systems. However, it faces challenges in providing distinct programs for current environmental issues, often limited to responding to societal resonance and crises.

Education

The education system can significantly influence ecological awareness, especially among young people. It operates with coding (grading and evaluation) and programming (curriculum and content), emphasizing binary outputs that can create stress and affect education quality. Societal pressures, such as performance expectations and job prospects, impact the education system. Changes in curriculum and interests might not effectively address these structural challenges. While education can promote ecological communication, bridging the gap between the education system and other societal systems is challenging. Success depends on coded communication responding to participants' opinions, shaping public opinion, and influencing social movements.

Functional Differentiation

Functional differentiation results in specialized, autonomous subsystems like politics, economics, and religion, which cannot replace each other and coexist interdependently. This specialization makes it difficult to address complex societal problems. Environmental issues can only be effectively addressed within the codes and functions of these systems. Modern society's reliance on functional differentiation complicates achieving a unified approach to societal issues. Each system generates resonance based on its code, making them vulnerable to code-specific operations triggered by external information. The political system, despite its constraints, may become a focal point for addressing ecological concerns by facilitating communication and promising actions.

Too Much or Too Little Resonance

The reduction of redundancy in systems allows environmental changes to be noticed and processed. However, society might not adequately respond to ecological threats. Excessive resonance within a system can lead to internal overloads and potential breakdowns. The complexity of resonance in a differentiated system involves both external and internal boundaries. External boundaries protect communication from non-communicative complexities, while internal boundaries involve communicative interdependencies where disturbances in one system affect others. Small changes in one system can have significant consequences in another. Political rationality should consider potential repercussions on other systems to maintain balance.

New Social Movements

Modern societal self-observation faces challenges within functionally differentiated societies. Attempts to represent the entirety of a system within itself create contradictions. Traditional societies navigated these paradoxes through hierarchical differentiation and religious justification. In modern societies, any form of differentiation can be observed and described, but self-observation includes the observer. New social movements, such as ecological and anti-war movements, arise from doubts about societal systems and their intentions. These movements often lack theory, leading to simplistic goals, moral judgments, and instability. Recognizing dominant societal structures is crucial for effective critique. Modern society lacks a theoretical framework for critical self-observation, making social movements dynamic but unstable.

Fear, Morality, and Theory

Ecological concerns have shifted focus from traditional moral norms to fear and anxiety as functional equivalents for meaning. Fear communication is seen as authentic and difficult to refute, making it a durable functional equivalent. Fear communication has become widespread and socially acceptable, with a moral dimension demanding measures to address perceived dangers. Society could achieve ecological rationality by considering the consequences of its actions, but expecting comprehensive societal rationality is problematic. Each functional system focuses on its own rationality, treating the rest of society as its environment. A new approach to societal rationality is needed, focusing on differentiation rather than unity.

Environmental Ethics

Ecological communication should not be prematurely directed toward environmental ethics. Addressing ethical postulates and maxims may not be sufficient. A sociological analysis differentiating from ethics is needed. Morality involves binary coding of communication, leading to paradoxes. Ethics reflects on the unity of moral distinctions and resolves moral paradoxes by creating alternative problems. The complexity of ecological problems requires an ethical approach that acknowledges and embraces paradoxes. Without such a framework, ecological communication should maintain a distance from morality, encouraging caution in dealing with moral issues rather than replacing them.

Ref.

Luhmann, N. (1985), Ökologische Kommunikation – Kann die moderne Gesellschaft sich auf ökologische Gefährdungen einstellen?, Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.