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The recent global financial crisis has raised widespread concern for the sustainability of the global economy. Much has been written concerning the negative impacts of economic development on natural ecosystems and civil societies. Unfortunately, few viable alternatives to the prevailing economic paradigms have been suggested for consideration. Those that have been are typically little more than suggestions for fine tuning capitalist or socialist economies. In his new book, John Ikerd addresses the basic principles and concepts essential to economic sustainability. Some of these concepts are capitalist, some are socialistic, and others are general principles validated by philosophy or common sense. What results is a synthesis: something that is neither capitalist nor socialist but fundamentally different; it is sustainable. A special emphasis is placed on the essential, but limited, role of markets in economic sustainability, including the constraints that must be placed on markets to protect nature and society from economic exploitation. Readers of any political and ideological persuasion will find this brief book engaging, informative, optimistic and refreshing. Instead of threats and apocalyptic pronouncements, Ikerd offers possibilities and assurance. Instead of epithets hurled at opponents, Ikerd offers possibilities for reconciliation and a renewed sense of the need to work cooperatively to find solutions to the most urgent problems of our era. The Essentials of Economic Sustainability was written without references or examples to encourage readers to collaborate in the learning process by finding references and examples most appropriate to their particular situation or circumstances. References and examples relevant to the economic and political system of the United States can be found in Sustainable Capitalism, a Kumarian Press book by the same author.
'Sustainability' offers a comprehensive treatment of the relationship between business and sustainability.
Sustainable Economic Development: Resources, Environment, and Institutions presents 25 articles that lay the foundations of sustainable development in a way that facilitates effective policy design. The editors mix broad thematic papers with focused micro-papers, balancing theories with policy designs.The book begins with two sections on sustainable development principles and practice and on specific settings where sustainable development is practiced. Two more sections illuminate institutions, governance, and political economy. Additional sections cover sustainable development and agriculture, and risk and economic security, including disaster management. This rich source of information should appeal to any institution involved in development work, and to development practitioners grappling with an array of difficult on-the-ground developmental challenges. - Analyzes policies that move markets and resource use patterns towards achieving sustainability - Articles are kaleidoscopic in scope and creativity - Authors embody extraordinary diversity and qualifications
This shortform textbook provides a concise overview of the fundamentals of environmental economics. It focuses on how economic forces affect the natural environment and how economic policies and behaviors may be altered to improve environmental quality. Spanning ten chapters, the book introduces readers to the key ideas in environmental economics. Topics include environmental externalities, technological change, cost-benefit analysis, pollution charges, emissions and offset trading, climate change, and public policy. Written by an established educator and scholar, Absolute Essentials of Environmental Economics will be valuable reading for students of environmental economics, environmental policy, environmental management and related areas. People affiliated with environmental interest groups, "think tanks," and advocacy groups will also find it beneficial.
A concise and accessible examination of sustainability in a range of contemporary contexts, from economic development to government policy. The word “sustainability” has been connected to everything from a certain kind of economic development to corporate promises about improved supply sourcing. But despite the apparent ubiquity of the term, the concept of sustainability has come to mean a number of specific things. In this accessible guide to the meanings of sustainability, Kent Portney describes the evolution of the idea and examines its application in a variety of contemporary contexts—from economic growth and consumption to government policy and urban planning. Portney takes as his starting point the 1987 definition by the World Commission on Environment and Development of sustainability as economic development activity that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” At its heart, Portney explains, sustainability focuses on the use and depletion of natural resources. It is not the same as environmental protection or natural resource conservation; it is more about finding some sort of steady state so that the earth can support both human population and economic growth. Portney looks at political opposition to the promotion of sustainability, which usually questions the need for sustainability or calls its costs unacceptable; collective and individual consumption of material goods and resources and to what extent they must be curtailed to achieve sustainability; the role of the private sector, and the co-opting of sustainability by corporations; government policy on sustainability at the international, national, and subnational levels; and how cities could become models for sustainability action.
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* Addresses the philosophical and scientific roots of sustainability * Examines neglected ethical and moral aspects of capitalist economic theory * Advocates a new sustainable paradigm for all living organizations, businesses, economics, and societies Over the past half-century, capitalist economics has deviated from its original social purpose into an amoral quest for economic growth at any cost. A relentless pursuit of profits and the "bottom line" poses a constant threat to the earth and the life upon it. Ikerd, who spent the first half of his thirty-year academic career as a traditional free-market, neoclassical economist, came to see the inherently extractive and exploitative nature of his own field and began to develop an alternative vision for capitalism, which he lays out in this book. In order to foster a new economics of sustainability, social and ethical values must be reintegrated into capitalist economics, thus restoring a sense of balance into the economic system that ensures that communities the world over will thrive. Rather than calling for the overthrow of capitalism, Ikerd suggests how capitalism can become a vehicle for these ends. Both a penetrating critique of capitalism and an exploration of its vast and untapped potential for maximizing human welfare, Sustainable Capitalism: A Matter of Common Senseis written for those concerned with the future of our planet and the continued viability of global capitalism.
This powerful book sets out arguments and an agenda of policy proposals for achieving a sustainable and prosperous, but non-growing economy, also known as a steady-state economy. The authors describe a plan for solving the major social and environmental problems which face us today on a finite planet with a rapidly growing population.
"Daly is turning economics inside out by putting the earth and its diminishing natural resources at the center of the field . . . a kind of reverse Copernican revolution in economics." --Utne Reader "Considered by most to be the dean of ecological economics, Herman E. Daly elegantly topples many shibboleths in Beyond Growth. Daly challenges the conventional notion that growth is always good, and he bucks environmentalist orthodoxy, arguing that the current focus on 'sustainable development' is misguided and that the phrase itself has become meaningless." --Mother Jones "In Beyond Growth, . . . [Daly] derides the concept of 'sustainable growth' as an oxymoron. . . . Calling Mr. Daly 'an unsung hero,' Robert Goodland, the World Bank's top environmental adviser, says, 'He has been a voice crying in the wilderness.'" --G. Pascal Zachary, The Wall Street Journal "A new book by that most far-seeing and heretical of economists, Herman Daly. For 25 years now, Daly has been thinking through a new economics that accounts for the wealth of nature, the value of community and the necessity for morality." --Donella H. Meadows, Los Angeles Times "For clarity of vision and ecological wisdom Herman Daly has no peer among contemporary economists. . . . Beyond Growth is essential reading." --David W. Orr, Oberlin College "There is no more basic ethical question than the one Herman Daly is asking." --Hal Kahn, The San Jose Mercury News "Daly's critiques of economic orthodoxy . . . deliver a powerful and much-needed jolt to conventional thinking." --Karen Pennar, Business Week Named one of a hundred "visionaries who could change your life" by the Utne Reader,Herman Daly is the recipient of many awards, including a Grawemeyer Award, the Heineken Prize for environmental science, and the "Alternative Nobel Prize," the Right Livelihood Award. He is professor at the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs, and coauthor with John Cobb, Jr., of For the Common Good.
Too often, economics disassociates humans from nature, the economy from the biosphere that contains it, and sustainability from fairness. When economists do engage with environmental issues, they typically reduce their analysis to a science of efficiency that leaves aside issues of distributional analysis and justice. The aim of this lucid textbook is to provide a framework that prioritizes human well-being within the limits of the biosphere, and to rethink economic analysis and policy in the light of not just efficiency but equity. Leading economist Éloi Laurent systematically ties together sustainability and justice issues in covering a wide range of topics, from biodiversity and ecosystems, energy and climate change, environmental health and environmental justice, to new indicators of well-being and sustainability beyond GDP and growth, social-ecological transition, and sustainable urban systems. This book equips readers with ideas and tools from various disciplines alongside economics, such as history, political science, and philosophy, and invites them to apply those insights in order to understand and eventually tackle pressing twenty-first-century challenges. It will be an invaluable resource for students of environmental economics and policy, and sustainable development.