Biodiversity Archives – Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

Tucker County: “Yellowstone of the East” or Appalachia’s “Cancer Valley”?

August 21, 2025/9 Comments/in Biodiversity, Conservation, Corruption, Energy, Fossil Fuels, Governance, KEEP Our Counties Great, Pollution, Steady State Herald, Technology /by Alix Underwood

by Amelia Jaycen

In Tucker County, West Virginia, two towns with populations of about 600 each are nestled next to the largest high-elevation wetland valley east of the Mississippi. After a long history of coal mining and logging, these tiny mountain towns found a way to reinvent themselves by creating a thriving arts district and promoting the stunning local natural landscape.

Now, the area is at risk of backtracking into heavy pollution,

Corporate Conservation Funding: A Contradictory Conundrum

June 5, 2025/2 Comments/in Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Corporate Reform, Economic Growth, Environment, Kali Young, Materials use, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Alix Underwood

by Kali Young

Apple, Cargill, Walmart, United Airlines, Chevron, BlackRock, Starbucks, Ford Motor Company, Amazon, McDonald’s, Sotheby’s…What do they all have in common? They are among many megacorporations that fund Conservation International, one of the most prominent conservation foundations in the world. World Wildlife Fund and the Conservation Fund, also conservation powerhouses, have similar though less expansive funder profiles.

Walmart and BlackRock are two of the world’s top deforestation perpetrators.

Energy and Wildlife Conservation: A Two-Pronged Approach

February 20, 2025/10 Comments/in Alix Underwood, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Consumption, Endangered Species, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Steady State Herald /by Alix Underwood

by Alix Underwood

At the 2024 conference of The Wildlife Society (TWS) in Baltimore, I was struck by the prevalence of one topic: low-carbon energy development. There were eight sessions with “renewable energy,” “solar,” or “wind” in their titles, and issues related to these energy sources permeated many other sessions. At a policy priorities meeting, low-carbon energy dominated the discussion, with professionals and academics from across the country sharing their unique concerns.

A Primer on Economic Growth and Biodiversity for COP16

October 17, 2024/12 Comments/in Biodiversity, Brian Czech, Conservation, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Governance, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Trophic Theory of Money /by Alix Underwood

by Brian Czech

With the core meetings of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16) starting next week, it’s time for a primer on the relationship between economic growth and biodiversity conservation. The last thing we want is a COP16 devoid of discussion about the conflict between growing the economy and conserving biodiversity. In fact, the “800-pound gorilla”—GDP growth—ought to be front and center.

Devoted Herald readers may feel a tinge of déjà vu,

Service Providers in the Trophic Theory of Money

August 22, 2024/5 Comments/in Biodiversity, Brian Czech, Consumption, Fossil Fuels, Steady State Herald, Trophic Theory of Money /by Alix Underwood

by Brian Czech

Steady State Herald readers are familiar with the theory that money originates from an agricultural surplus that frees hands for the division of labor—and thenceforth the exchanging of money. This trophic theory of money (TTOM) helps us understand not only the historical origins of money, such as in Mesopotamia (the “Cradle of Cash”), but also the annual origins of “warranted money” in the grain belts of the world.

We Asked for Science. We Got Sustain-a-Babble.

May 2, 2024/11 Comments/in Biodiversity, Climate Change, Economic Growth, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

Editor’s Note

CASSE encourages members and readers to hold their government agencies to account on the conflict between economic growth and environmental protection. Last week, Brian Czech presented Gag-Ordered No More to the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome, concluding with recommendations for engaging agency directors. We follow up this week with a letter from the Qualicum Institute (British Columbia) to Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change,

The Imperative—and Peril—of Density

November 9, 2023/5 Comments/in Biodiversity, Dave Rollo, Environment, Governance, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

By Dave Rollo

The transition to a steady state economy—in which humans, their operations, and their artifacts are nested harmoniously within the economy of nature—is fundamentally about reconciling human needs with the needs of nature. Leaving space for habitat and the functioning of natural systems is critical to our survival and the survival of myriad other organisms.

Natural and traditional agricultural ecosystems are autotrophic (‘self-feeding’), meaning they are capable of regenerating resources and assimilating wastes.

Tons, Hectares, or Dollars? Measuring the Pressure Exerted by the Economy on the Biosphere

June 15, 2023/4 Comments/in Biodiversity, Endangered Species, Materials use, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Gregory M. Mikkelson

Like a doctor measuring a patient’s vital signs, environmental scientists use various indicators to assess the health of the global ecosystem. These planetary vital signs are reckoned in a variety of units, such as tons of greenhouse gas emitted or hectares of land deforested. Meanwhile, conventional economists try to measure everything in terms of dollars (or other currencies). For example, they assign monetary values to the “ecosystem services”

COP15: The Good, the Bad, and the Smugly

January 19, 2023/5 Comments/in Animal Welfare, Biodiversity, Brian Czech, Climate Change, Economic Policy, Environment, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech

On a scale of one to ten, COP15—the UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal last month—was a solid five. That may not sound like a ringing endorsement, but it represents significant progress from prior COPs, which dabbled along in the one or two range for the better part of three decades. The progress was evident from the start, when UN Secretary General António Guterres kicked off the conference by noting,

A Primer on Economic Growth and Biodiversity Conservation for COP15

December 1, 2022/4 Comments/in Animal Welfare, Biodiversity, Brian Czech, Economic Growth, Endangered Species, Environment, Governance, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech

With COP15 coming up, it’s time to don the old conservation biologist hat and proffer a primer on the relationship between economic growth and biodiversity conservation. The last thing we want is a COP15 devoid of discussion about the fundamental conflict between growing the economy and conserving biodiversity. In fact, the 800-pound gorilla—GDP growth—ought to be front and center.

For the uninitiated, COP15 is the UN Biodiversity Conference,