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

Will the Steady State Economy Be Funded?

December 12, 2024/3 Comments/in Corporate Reform, Corruption, Degrowth, Economic Growth, Environment, Money and Investments, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Wealth /by Alix Underwood

by Kali Young

The U.S. nonprofit sector is a $1.4 trillion industry. If it were a country, it would be one of the world’s largest economies. Wealthy individual donors, foundations, and corporations are the three largest sources of nonprofit funding. As such, these entities have tremendous influence over what kind of social, economic, and political change thrives or dies. Many large foundations and major donors have amassed wealth thanks to the very economic system that is pushing the world toward ecological collapse.

Defending the Last Green Valley

November 26, 2024/3 Comments/in Conservation, Dave Rollo, Economic Growth, Environment, Governance, Limits to Growth, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Alix Underwood

by Dave Rollo

The Northeast Megaregion, also referred to as BosWash, extends from Boston to Washington, DC, and is populated by more than 55 million people. It is the largest contiguous urban area in the United States. BosWash has the largest population of the eleven U.S. megaregions, which together hold over 76 percent of the nation’s population. BosWash has the highest GDP of any megaregion in the world at some $3.75 trillion.

Challenging Land Use and Abuse in Allamakee County

October 31, 2024/0 Comments/in Conservation, Dave Rollo, Food and Agriculture, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Pollution, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Water /by Helene Langlamet

by Dave Rollo

Allamakee County lies in the northeast corner of Iowa, bordering Minnesota and Wisconsin. It is part of a three-state region that, unlike most of the upper United States and Canada, escaped glaciation during past ice ages. This geological oddity is immediately obvious to visitors by the dramatic terrain of bluffs, hills, and valleys. Expansive plains characterize most of the rest of Iowa, where miles-thick glaciers moved over the land like a bulldozer,

A Primer on Economic Growth and Biodiversity for COP16

October 17, 2024/11 Comments/in Biodiversity, Brian Czech, Conservation, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Governance, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Trophic Theory of Money /by Helene Langlamet

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,

Whose Behavior Needs to Change? The Other Side of the International Development Coin

October 10, 2024/10 Comments/in Alix Underwood, Consumption, Economic Policy, Governance, Inequality, Limits to Growth, Postgrowth, Poverty, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Wealth, Wellbeing /by Alix Underwood

by Alix Underwood

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” The Western-led international development sector, born in the aftermath of World War II, has evolved according to this (ironically) Chinese proverb. To better reflect the status of international development, I would append the following sentences to the worn-out proverb: “Use advanced extractive technology to harvest all the fish from the man’s ocean,

The Olympic Spirit: Friendly Competition or Unsustainable Growth?

August 15, 2024/0 Comments/in Consumption, Economic Growth, Pollution, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Wellbeing /by Helene Langlamet

by Mark Cramer

Every four years, the Summer Olympics present a rare opportunity for friendly competition and collaboration among nations. The public has an opportunity to witness a myriad of sports that otherwise never make the headlines. Talented athletes get a rare chance to display their skills before an international audience.

The Olympics offer a venue for peaceful, international solidarity. Yet they also present a seemingly insurmountable ecological challenge. To begin with,

A Trophic Perspective on Fossil Fuels

August 1, 2024/8 Comments/in Alix Underwood, Consumption, Food and Agriculture, Fossil Fuels, Limits to Growth, Pollution, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Helene Langlamet

by Alix Underwood

Like the economy of nature, the human economy has a “trophic” structure. In nature, nutrition and energy flow from plants to herbivores to carnivores, with each of these comprising a trophic level of the ecosystem. In the human economy, materials and energy flow from agriculture and other extractive activities to heavy manufacturing to light manufacturing. Both economies include service providers, such as pollinators in nature and the transportation sector in the human economy.

Tompkins County, the Finger Lakes Hub of Sustainability

June 20, 2024/2 Comments/in Dave Rollo, Governance, Pollution, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Water /by Gary Gardner

by Dave Rollo

The Finger Lakes region of western New York State is distinguished by a series of long and narrow glacial valleys, dammed by moraine, that now contain lakes. Glacial scouring created some of the deepest lakes in North America, including Seneca, Cayuga, and Skaneateles lakes. These spectacular natural features give the region its identity.

The region features ample farmland and forest and a relatively sparse population. Tompkins County,

Introducing the Commission on Economic Sustainability Act

April 25, 2024/2 Comments/in Daniel Wortel-London, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Gary Gardner

by Daniel Wortel-London

What U.S. federal agency is responsible for identifying and reducing the environmental and social costs of economic growth? None, really. The government has plenty of agencies and programs devoted to conservation, natural capital accounting, “green” industrial policy, and just transitions. But none address the elephant in the room: economic growth. Growth is what causes a nation’s ecological footprint to exceed its biocapacity.

Envisioning a Steady-State Comprehensive Plan

February 22, 2024/6 Comments/in Dave Rollo, Economic Growth, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Wellbeing /by Gary Gardner

by Dave Rollo

”Economic growth” is commonplace in the daily news. We assume it’s a good thing, that a 2–4 percent increase in GDP is beneficial to all. Likewise, we hear that our communities are growing, and we see a 2–4 percent increase in population as reasonable and benign. Meanwhile, visionary community leaders are busy planning for a steady feed of single-digit annual growth. So we’re in good hands, right?

But what the news reports miss is that any steady rate of growth is an exponential function that contains within it a knowable doubling time.