Page 169 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

principles of neoclassical economics to address environmental
Resources challenges, and thereby attain sustainability within our current
Population economic systems.
Food Environmental economists were the first to develop
Quantity Industrial output methods to tackle the problems of external costs and dis-
counting. In doing so, they blazed a trail. Ecological econo-
Pollution
mists go further, proposing that sustainability requires more
far-reaching changes.

Ecological economists propose
1900 1950 2000 2050 2100 a steady-state economy
Year
(a) Projection based on status quo policies Ecological economics applies principles of ecology and sys-
tems science (Chapters 3–5) to the analysis of economic
systems. In nature, every population has a carrying capacity
(pp. 85–86), and systems generally operate in self-renewing
cycles, not in a linear or progressive manner. Ecological
economists maintain that human societies, like natural pop-
ulations, cannot permanently surpass their environmental
Quantity limitations and that we should not expect endless economic
growth. Many of these economists advocate economies that
neither grow nor shrink, but rather are stable. Such steady-
state economies are intended to mirror natural ecological
systems.
To achieve a steady-state economy, proponents such
1900 1950 2000 2050 2100 as economist Herman Daly believe we will need to rethink
Year our assumptions and fundamentally change the way we
conduct economic transactions. Critics of a steady-state
(b) Projection based on policies for sustainability
economy assert that halting growth will dampen our qual-
FIguRE 6.13 Environmental scientists have used data to pro- ity of life. Ecological economists respond that technologi-
ject future trends in human population, resource availability, cal advances will continue, behavioral changes (such as
food production, industrial output, and pollution. Shown in greater use of recycling) will enhance sustainability, and
(a) is a projection for a world in which society pursues policies typi- wealth and happiness can continue to rise after economic
cal of the 20th century, but allowing for twice as many resources to growth has leveled off.
be discovered and extracted as are now accessible. In this projec- Attaining sustainability will certainly require the reforms
tion, population and production rise until declining resources cause pioneered by environmental economists and may require the
them to fall suddenly while pollution continues to rise. In contrast,
(b) shows a scenario with policies aimed at sustainability. In this fundamental shifts in thinking, values, and behavior advo-
projection, population levels off below 8 billion, production and cated by ecological economists. These economists are actively
resource availability stabilize at medium-high levels, and pollution developing strategies for sustainability, and we will now survey
declines to low levels. Data from Meadows, D., et al., 2004. Limits to growth: a few that they offer.
The 30-year update. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing. Used
by permission.
We can assign monetary value
Suppose the researchers showed you a third projection,
one that simulated a world in which we used resources to ecosystem goods and services
even faster and more intensively than we do today. Draw a
graph showing how you predict each of the five trend lines in As Costa Ricans know, ecosystems provide us essential
part (a) would change. resources and life-support services, including arable soil,
waste treatment, clean water, and clean air. Yet we often
abuse the very ecological systems that sustain us. Why is this?
From the economist’s perspective, people overexploit natu-
Environmental economists devise strategies ral resources and systems largely because the market assigns
for sustainability these entities no quantitative monetary value, or assigns values
that underestimate their true worth.
The Cornucopian view has held considerable sway over Ecosystem services are said to have nonmarket val-
mainstream economists, but economists in the newer field ues, values not usually included in the price of a good or
of environmental economics maintain that economic growth service (FIguRE 6.14). For example, the aesthetic and recrea-
may be unsustainable if we do not reduce our demand for tional pleasure we obtain from natural landscapes is some-
resources and make resource use far more efficient. Most envi- thing of real value. Yet because we do not generally pay
168 ronmental economists feel that, with effort, we can modify the money for this, its value is hard to quantify and appears

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