Environment Archives – Page 9 of 30 – Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

Social Solidarity Requires a Universal Basic Income

April 29, 2020/5 Comments/in Economic Growth, Environment, Monetary Policy, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

By James Magnus-Johnston

Going forward in these uncertain times, a universal basic income could be the best way to maintain social solidarity—whether referring to health, wellbeing, or public order. “Solidarity,” writes Eric Klinenberg, “motivates us to promote public health, not just our own personal security. It keeps us from hoarding medicine” and prompts us “to knock on our older neighbor’s door.” It is a structure and a mindset that breaks down the barriers of inequality and improves trust,

Happiness and the COVID-Caused Recession

April 21, 2020/2 Comments/in Animal Welfare, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Jobs and Employment, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

by Beth Allgood

Modified from the original published in Our Daily Planet (ourdailyplanet.com) on March 21, 2020.

In 2013, the United Nations designated March 20th as the International Day of Happiness to recognize the importance of happiness and wellbeing in the lives of people around the world. Last year I attended the launch of the annual UN World Happiness Report in New York. This year the UN is closed to the public,

Building a Steady State Economy in a System Evolved for Growth

April 15, 2020/7 Comments/in Animal Welfare, Biodiversity, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Brian Snyder

If you’ve been on the internet recently you’ve been exposed to Tiger King, the wildly popular Netflix series that revolves around the conflict among a bizarre set of humans feuding over the proper way to hold big cats in captivity. Watching the show is a bit like watching a train derail in slow motion, but for our purposes what is important is that it illustrates the discrepancy between the way the world is and the way the world ought to be.

The Triangular Economy: Behind the Circular Flows

April 7, 2020/6 Comments/in Biodiversity, Brian Czech, Consumption, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Energy, Environment, Monetary Policy, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

By Brian Czech

The “circular economy” is a response to the environmental problems and resource shortages that arise as the human economy expands. The focus of the circular economy literature is on efficiency which, in terms of economic production, means more output per unit of input. All else equal, increasing efficiency means higher profits, too. That’s real motivation for the corporation.

Efficiency connects to the human propensity to innovate, too. From childhood on,

Book Review: National Accounts and Environmentally Sustainable National Income by Roefie Hueting and Bart de Boer

March 31, 2020/0 Comments/in Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

By Gerry Greaves

When CASSE’s Executive Director, Brian Czech, asked me if I would like to review a book on national accounts, my first reaction was, “Why would I care?” I was familiar with the national accounting system, but my concentration in environmental advocacy typically focused on climate change and its effects on economic inequality. My interest was piqued, though, when he explained that this book was different, because the authors had developed a system to incorporate environmental sustainability in the national accounts.

The Silver Lining of the COVID-Caused Recession is Supra-Economic

March 24, 2020/21 Comments/in Biodiversity, Brian Czech, Climate Change, Economic Growth, Environment, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech

COVID-19 has done in a deadly way what steady-state economists would prescribe in a healthy way: putting the brakes on a runaway economy. In fact, the pandemic has slammed on the brakes and jammed the GDP gearstick into reverse. It has ushered us into a recession that will be pronounced and protracted. In a COVID-caused recession, it’s nature at bat, not the Fed.

In these dark times, any source of comfort is welcome.

Reply to Troy Vettese’s “Against Steady-State Economics” ¹

March 18, 2020/1 Comment/in Biodiversity, Climate Change, Consumption, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

by Herman Daly

Steady staters are used to being attacked by right-wing neoliberals. Attacks from left-wing neo-Marxists are new and require a reply. To put the matter simply, Marxists hate capitalism, and they mistakenly assume that steady-state economics is inherently capitalist. Vettese is a Marxist; ergo, Vettese hates steady-state economics.

To spell this out, let’s begin by giving Marx due credit for emphasizing the reality of class exploitation under all heretofore existing economic systems,

Normalizing Outbreaks in the Anthropocene: Growth Isn’t the Cure

March 10, 2020/4 Comments/in Corporate Reform, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

By James Magnus-Johnston

Death rates. Infection rates. Handwashing. Handwringing.

May I re-frame the coronavirus conversation? Although the world is currently stunned by the rapid spread of this virus across the globe, we must understand that these kinds of outbreaks are simply going to happen more often in our climate-altered world, and they highlight the fragility of our growth-or-bust industrial system. But there is a silver lining: This moment requires industrial societies to emphasize wellbeing over GDP and to witness the vulnerability of global,

Beating Teflon Trump Entails a New Perspective on GDP

March 4, 2020/8 Comments/in Brian Czech, Climate Change, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Governance, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

By Brian Czech

In the earlier months of Donald Trump’s presidency, Democrats were stunned by his popularity despite his racist rhetoric, acerbic arrogance, and international insults. Trump himself had meanly boasted that he could “shoot somebody on 5th Avenue” and not lose any votes. He knew the American political system—Dems included—worshiped at the altar of GDP growth. Trump, as the quintessential growthist, had skyrocketed to the throne of Untouchable High Priest, albeit in a sharply divided church of red and blue growthists.

Meaning and Ethics in Ecological Economics

February 19, 2020/2 Comments/in Economic Growth, Environment, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

By Haydn Washington

The True Meaning of Ecological Economics

Ecological economics has a problem: Pluralism is out of control, to the extent that “ecological economics” is starting to mean different methods, approaches, and values to different people. We need to know precisely what we mean by “ecological economics,” and to settle upon an ethical framework thereof.

The original thinkers in ecological economics, such as Herman Daly, were clear that ecological economics was an economics that operated within ecological limits.