ecological economics Archives – Page 3 of 6 – Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

Book Review: The Green New Deal and Beyond: Ending the Climate Emergency While We Still Can by Stan Cox

May 15, 2020/1 Comment/in Consumption, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Energy, Environment, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

By Gerry Greaves

Achieving sustainable societies globally is likely to be a defining challenge of the 21st century. There is a growing realization that we must act to mitigate the climate crisis. There is also a growing understanding that social and economic injustice must be solved simultaneously. There are many ideas of how to achieve this, but none seems to have caught widespread attention as much as the Green New Deal. This resolution of the U.S.

Planet of the Humans Puts Sacred Cows Out to Pasture

May 1, 2020/73 Comments/in Brian Czech, Climate Change, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Energy, Environment, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Technology /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech

Planet of the Humans is a once-in-a-decade documentary for all concerned with the environment, the economy, and life on Earth. Directed by Jeff Gibbs and produced by Michael Moore, Planet is especially important for advancing the steady state economy. It is reminiscent of Pope Francis’ Laudato si’ in that it makes the case for a steady state economy—resoundingly—while never quite uttering the phrase “steady state economy.”

When viewing a documentary,

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,

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,

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,

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.

Existential Dread: We Need to Talk About our Feelings

February 12, 2020/1 Comment/in Biodiversity, Climate Change, Consumption, Economic Policy, Environment, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

By James Magnus-Johnston

Just as the smoke disperses from fire-ravaged parts of the world, the specter of ecological breakdown is creeping into humanity’s collective psyche. Whether that manifests as a bit of anxiety or full-on dread of mass extinction, we need to start talking about our feelings. If we don’t, we may avoid rather than confront the reforms needed for the planet to continue supporting life.

As a university instructor in Canada,

Degrowth Toward a Steady State Economy: Unifying Non-Growth Movements for Political Impact

February 5, 2020/15 Comments/in Brian Czech, Degrowth, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech and Riccardo Mastini

No later than the 1960s, scholars wrote in rigorous terms of the limits to economic growth. Europeans such as E.F. Schumacher, Americans including Herman Daly, and European-born Americans (most notably Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen and Kenneth Boulding) set the stage for later studies in ecological economics and sustainability science. Their scholarship, supplemented by the population focus of Paul Ehrlich and the modeling approach of Donella Meadows and coauthors (for the Club of Rome),

My CASSE Internship: A Unique Experience in Unsustainable Times

December 10, 2019/1 Comment/in Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

By Ben Valdez

I don’t think it’s ever easy to consider being an unpaid intern right out of college. It’s something you don’t usually think about while you’re in school, at least from my experience, and it’s certainly not something you’re trained to aim for as a prospective graduate.

Before I came to the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy in September of 2019, I had spent the summer at home in the Los Angeles sun,

Distinguishing Capitalism from Growth

November 21, 2019/4 Comments/in Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

by James Magnus-Johnston

Capitalism and growth might have similar connotations, but they have important distinctions, too. “Capitalism” has become a clumsy catch-all for any number of value-laden projections—greed, big business, innovation, accumulation, complexity, workaholism. “Growth,” meanwhile, is a landmine of technical and cultural connotations, and I’ll explore just a couple of them here.

Technically speaking, their differences seem straightforward. Growth is a material increase in economic production and consumption. Capitalism is a highly complex term,

Posts

by Brian Czech

by Beth Allgood

by Herman Daly

by Brian Czech and Riccardo Mastini

by James Magnus-Johnston