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Building a Sustainable and Desirable Economy-in-Society-in-Nature

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Green Economy Reader

Part of the book series: Studies in Ecological Economics ((SEEC,volume 6))

Abstract

In this chapter we describe what an “ecological economy” could look like and how we could get there. We believe that this future can provide full employment and a high quality of life for everyone into the indefinite future while staying within the safe environmental operating space for humanity on earth. Developed countries have a special responsibility for achieving those goals. To get there, we need to stabilize population; more equitably share resources, income, and work; invest in the natural and social capital commons; reform the financial system to better reflect real assets and liabilities; create better measures of progress; reform tax systems to tax “bads” rather than goods; promote technological innovations that support well-being rather than growth; establish “strong democracy,” and create a culture of well-being rather than consumption. In other words, a complete makeover. Several lines of evidence show that these policies are mutually supportive and the resulting system is feasible. The substantial challenge is making the transition to this better world in a peaceful and positive way. There is no way to predict the exact path this transition might take, but we hope that painting this picture of a possible end-point and some milestones along the way will help make this choice and this journey a more viable option.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Economically efficient” simply means that increasing marginal costs and diminishing marginal benefits from an activity are in balance. Marginal costs and benefits should be measured in terms of contributions to the sustainable welfare of humans and other species. Precise measurement of these contributions is not currently possible. Conventional economists emphasize purely monetary costs and benefits, which are determined by willingness to pay, and hence fail to reflect costs and benefits for those with limited purchasing power . Under these conditions, an efficient allocation is one that maximizes monetary value. While measurements may be fairly precise, this narrow goal is inappropriate.

  2. 2.

    Much of this section is taken from reference 19. Costanza et al. (2007a, b, c) Quality of life: An approach integrating opportunities, human needs, and subjective well-being . Ecological Economics 61: 267–276.

  3. 3.

    This vision is adapted from one created at a workshop held at Oberlin College in January 2001.

  4. 4.

    CO2e is short for CO2 equivalent. It is measured by converting all greenhouse gases into their CO2 equivalent in terms of greenhouse effect.

  5. 5.

    Much of this section was take from reference 70. Jackson (2009) Prosperity without growth : Economics for a finite planet: Earthscan/James & James.

  6. 6.

    This section relies heavily on Costanza et al. 2007a.

  7. 7.

    This and the following section are adapted from [164. Costanza, Leemans, Boumans, and Gaddis (2007c) Integrated global models. In: Costanza R, Graumlich L, Steffen W, editors. Sustainability or collapse? An integrated history and future of people on earth. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. pp. 417–446.

  8. 8.

    Adapted from 173. Victor (2008) Managing without growth : Slower by design, not disaster. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

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Acknowledgements

This study is part of the Sustainable Development in the twenty-first Century (SD21) project. The project is implemented by the Division for Sustainable Development of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, contract number 20465. Support from the European Commission is gratefully acknowledged.

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.

We thank David Le Blanc, project officer, for guidance and extremely useful feedback on earlier versions of this report. We also thank Ron Coleman and Thomas Prugh for editorial assistance. The ideas in this report have been published elsewhere by the authors and several sections are taken almost verbatim from these prior publications. The co-authors all agree on the general concepts and ideas but do not necessarily completely endorse every specific argument. This report is a synthesis and compendium.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    Robert Costanza & Ida Kubiszewski

  2. The Democracy Collaborative and Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Gar Alperovitz

  3. Emeritus, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Herman Daly

  4. Department of Community Development and Applied Economics, and Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA

    Joshua Farley

  5. Woods Hole Research Centre, Falmouth, MA, USA

    Carol Franco

  6. Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Tim Jackson

  7. Department of Sociology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

    Juliet Schor

  8. Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada

    Peter Victor

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  1. Robert Costanza
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  2. Gar Alperovitz
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  3. Herman Daly
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  4. Joshua Farley
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  5. Carol Franco
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  6. Tim Jackson
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  7. Ida Kubiszewski
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  8. Juliet Schor
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  9. Peter Victor
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert Costanza .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Environment Europe Ltd, Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

    Stanislav Shmelev

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Costanza, R. et al. (2017). Building a Sustainable and Desirable Economy-in-Society-in-Nature. In: Shmelev, S. (eds) Green Economy Reader. Studies in Ecological Economics, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38919-6_16

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