These are the CASSE blog articles on sustainability.


Fresh Water, Growth, Degrowth, and the Steady State Economy

by Geoffrey Matthews

In Our Common Future, the 1987 report of the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, sustainable development is described as a process of change which meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs and aspirations. To achieve this objective, the report suggests a series of goals that should underlie national and international action on development.


The Hidden Costs of Cheater Economics on Human Health & the Future of Life on Earth

Brent Blackwelder provides an overview of some of the ecological costs of economic growth, as presented in Tony Juniper’s latest book, What has Nature Ever Done for Us?


The One Percent: Not Kristallnacht but Lebensraum

The purchase of expensive luxury goods requires an agricultural and extractive surplus at the base of the economy–this is the “tropic theory of money.”


What to Do When You Suspect We’re Headed for Collapse

What can you do in the face environmental and social mayhem? Learn something, say something, and do something.


Tensions in Ukraine: A Scramble for Growth?

When viewed through the lens of ecological economics and energy resources, the situation in Ukraine comes into sharp focus.


An Economic Game Plan to Prevent Water Pollution

Water pollution is not just a technical problem. It’s an emergent property of our flawed economic system.


Biocultural Heritage: The Foundation of a Sustainable Economy

Want healthy ecosystems and healthy economies? You’d better think about conserving biocultural heritage.


A Medical Missionary’s Environmental Epiphany

What can leprosy and its treatment teach us about ourselves and how to manage our environmental crises?