Transcript Take a position: Pointers for sustainability

• Students for Sustainable Communities
– Nate Fleming
– Kevin Hite
– Joe Kottwitz
– etc.
• College of Natural Resources
• TWS, Stevens Point Student Chapter
Which city in the world has
the most CASSE signatories?
• an increase in the production and
consumption of goods and services
• typically expressed in terms of GDP
• facilitated by increasing:
–population
–per capita consumption
Business
Household
Business
Household
Natural
Natural
Capital
Capital
Pollutants
Heat
Natural
Natural
Capital
Capital
Pollutants
Heat
GDP
K
Natural capital
allocated to
biodiversity
Natural capital
allocated to
human economy
Time
Czech, B. 2000. Wildlife Society Bulletin 28(1):4-14.
Causes of Species Endangerment
as a “Who’s Who”
of the Economy
•
•
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•
•
•
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Agricultural and extractive sectors
Manufacturing sectors
Service sectors
Economic infrastructure
Economic byproducts (pollution)
Urbanization
International trade
Czech et al. 2000. Bioscience 50(7):593-601.
K
To conserve
biodiversity ...
...maintain steady state
economy sufficiently
below K.
Time
• Vernacular: invention, innovation
• Technical: increasing productive
efficiency resulting from invention
and innovation
• Fixed amount of energy,
matter (E =
• Entropy
2
mc )
R&D
Czech, B. 2008. Conservation Biology 22:1389-1398.
R&D
Profits
Czech, B. 2008. Conservation Biology 22:1389-1398.
R&D
Profits
Economies of scale
Czech, B. 2008. Conservation Biology 22:1389-1398.
Environmental Threat
K
TP3
TP2
TP1
GDP-TP
The “Information Economy”
• What is the information used for?
• How does one come to afford the
information?
€
€
=
€
=
€
€
• Stable production and consumption of
goods and services
• Indicated by stable GDP
• Stabilized:
– population
– per capita consumption
– “throughput”
“Some people just don’t get it. There is
no conflict between growing the economy
and protecting the environment!”
1) Classical economics
2) Combination of political and economic
systems, especially at the national scale
3) Politics of economic activity
4) Politics of any activity (economic focus)
1) Classical economics
2) Combination of political and economic
systems, especially at the national scale
3) Politics of economic activity
4) Politics of any activity (economic focus)
• Prominent corporate community
• Campaign financing favors “big money”
• Neoclassical economics
• Economic growth a primary, perennial,
bipartisan goal
• Special interest group
• Supportive political faction
• “Captured” profession, society, or
agency
“The corporate consensus rises above the
competitive advantage of particular
corporations, and is larger than any
industry…Corporate power is dependent on
legal, economic, and political mechanisms,
structures, and processes…”
Public Information Network, www.endgame.org
• Selected by or beholden to large
donors (i.e., corporations)
• Heavily invested in corporations
• Advised by neoclassical economists
• University departments endowed by
corporations
• Research funded by corporations
• Hired by corporations
• Appointed by politicians
• Academia
• Non-governmental organizations
• Public
• Politicians, political parties
• Government
• Academia
• Non-governmental organizations
• Public
• Politicians, political parties
• Government
• Professional, scientific societies that…
– study issues.
– develop policy positions or resolutions.
• Other non-profit organizations that…
– educate publics and policy makers.
– advance issues.
– induce political action.
• Professional, scientific societies that…
– study issues.
– develop policy positions or resolutions.
• Other non-profit organizations that…
– educate publics and policy makers.
– advance issues.
– induce political action.
• U.S. Society for Ecological Economics (2003)
• The Wildlife Society (2004)
• Society for Conservation Biology – North
America Section (2004)
• American Society of Mammalogists (2007)
• British Columbia Field Ornithologists (2007)
• Ecological Society of America
• International Society for Ecological
Economics
• Society for Conservation Biology
• American Fisheries Society
• Society for Range Management
• Society for Marine Mammalogy
• American Sociological Association
Wendell Berry
Joan Martinez-Alier
Herman Daly
Bill McKibben
Richard Douthwaite
David Orr
Paul Ehrlich
Vandana Shiva
Helen Ingram
Gus Speth
Wes Jackson
David Suzuki
National Center for Conservation Science and Policy
Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences
The Land Institute
La Fundación Neotropica
Institute for Children's Environmental Health
Center for Food Safety
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions
Pender Islands Women's Institute
International Society for Ecology and Culture
Portfolio 21 Investments
Evidence of Humanity
• The individuals (along with nearly
3,000 others) have signed the
CASSE position on economic
growth.
• The organizations (and 65 others)
have endorsed the same position.
Whereas…
1) Economic growth, as defined in standard economics
textbooks, is an increase in the production and
consumption of goods and services, and;
2) Economic growth occurs when there is an increase in
the multiplied product of population and per capita
consumption, and;
3) The global economy grows as an integrated whole
consisting of agricultural, extractive, manufacturing,
and services sectors that require physical inputs and
produce wastes, and;
Whereas (cont.)…
4) Economic growth is often and generally indicated by
increasing real gross domestic product (GDP) or real
gross national product (GNP), and;
5) Economic growth has been a primary, perennial goal
of many societies and most governments, and;
6) Based upon established principles of physics and
ecology, there is a limit to economic growth, and;
7) There is increasing evidence that global economic growth
is having negative effects on long-term ecological and
economic welfare…
Therefore…
1) There is a fundamental conflict between economic
growth and environmental protection (for example,
biodiversity conservation, clean air and water,
atmospheric stability), and;
2) There is a fundamental conflict between economic
growth and the ecological services underpinning the
human economy (for example, pollination,
decomposition, climate regulation), and;
Therefore (cont.)…
3) Technological progress has had many positive and
negative ecological and economic effects and may
not be depended on to reconcile the conflict between
economic growth and long-term ecological and
economic welfare, and;
4) Economic growth, as gauged by increasing GDP, is
an increasingly dangerous and anachronistic goal,
especially in wealthy nations with widespread
affluence, and;
Therefore (cont.)…
5) A steady state economy (that is, an economy with a
relatively stable, mildly fluctuating product of
population and per capita consumption) is a viable
alternative to a growing economy and has become a
more appropriate goal in large, wealthy economies,
and;
6) The long-run sustainability of a steady state economy
requires its establishment at a size small enough to avoid
the breaching of reduced ecological and economic
capacity during expected or unexpected supply shocks
such as droughts and energy shortages, and;
Therefore (cont.)…
7) A steady state economy does not preclude economic
development, a dynamic, qualitative process in which
different technologies may be employed and the relative
prominence of economic sectors may evolve, and;
8) Upon establishing a steady state economy, it would be
advisable for wealthy nations to assist other nations in
moving from the goal of economic growth to the goal of a
steady state economy, beginning with those nations
currently enjoying high levels of per capita consumption,
and;
Therefore (cont.)…
9) For many nations with widespread poverty, increasing per
capita consumption (or, alternatively, more equitable
distributions of wealth) remains an appropriate goal.
• Academia
• Non-governmental organizations
• Public
• Politicians, political parties
• Government