This was posted to Ecol-Econ list today. It addresses some of the issues
which Thomas Lunde & I recently discussed. The liklihood of a world of
"eco-villages" is remote IMO, increasingly so with Y6B(global pop) &
still growing.
But the outline of the issues seems solid to me. Perhaps that's why I
keep pointing to the numbers; Y2B & factor 10 technology & many
ecovillages globally is a pleasant ideal to contemplate.
Sustainability
by Laurence Knight
08 June 1999 02:28 UTC
A few thoughts derived from Ted Trainer (1998) "Saving the Environment:
what it will take" UNSW Press, Sydney [$10, ISBN 0 86840 648 1]. {Note,
Ted equates economic growth to increased resource use, with a degree of
justification as you will see}.
A central point of Trainer's book is that conventional approaches to
protecting the environment are necessary but considerably insufficient
in terms of ESD. His basis for making this claim is humanity's every
expanding ecological footprint [of the order of 40% of earth's
biological productivity].
The fundamental issues relate to the sustainability of lifestyles,
economic systems and settlements. At present, these three factors cause
over-production, over-consumption and excessive levels of waste. Huge
amounts of material are processed in the production process, with most
of it being dumped back into the environment as waste and pollution [eg
three tonnes of rock are processed to produce a gold ring]. Ten-fold
[or greater] improvements in energy efficiency would be needed to permit
full reliance on renewable energy sources [eg using biomass to fuel a
car would require the same amount of land needed to feed nine people].
Unfettered markets are geared to deliver profits rather than meeting
needs. Growth in consumption is inevitable in a system where economic
entities are constantly seeking to do more business and hence increase
their profits. Further, when competitive individualism and material
acquisitiveness are top priorities, social fabric items such as concern
for others, the public good and the environment are weakened. [Only the
selfish motives are required/rewarded/reinforced by markets].
Trainer feels that the 'factor four' productivity improvements discussed
by Lovins etal are a long way from being sufficient to deal with ongoing
population growth and economic growth rates. He believes that if
technology is so save society from the need to change lifestyles,
stunning breakthroughs are needed in many areas and these need to
continue at a comparable rate to economic growth.
Trainer believes that the transition to a service based economy is
similarly insufficient as services are still energy-intensive - on a per
dollar output basis, they are about half as energy intensive as
manufactured goods.
The resource intensiveness of current patterns of consumption is also
hidden by the transfer of manufacturing to developing countries. [The
consumption of resources in developed countries does not show up when
raw material inputs are considered].
Trainer attacks the notion that economic growth is needed to accumulate
the wealth necessary to protect the environment - given that most the
wealth currently created by the economy is luxury and waste, there is
plenty of scope to protect the environment without increasing luxury and
waste.
Trainer believes the limitation of ecological economics is its failure
to question growth. "Its main concern is only to look for ways in which
the same old goals of affluent living standards and economic growth can
be pursued which causing little environmental impact if possible"
[p43]. He further believes that it is not possible to put effective
monetary values on fundamentally important ecological factors - such as
biological energy flows, climate regulation, nutrient cycles etc]. He
believes that it is inappropriate to limit consideration of all issues
to monetary costs and benefits, and that this together with the drive to
privatise and deregulate reduce society's ability to control what
happens.
Ultimately Trainer believes that a sustainable society cannot have a
growth economy, cannot have the profit motive/market forces as its
primary driving forces, and must have a reduced per capita rate of
consumption of resources. Trainer favours a global ecovillage setup …
Comment: Trainer paints with a very broad brush, but he makes a valid
point that the traditional pollution-control work is only a small
fraction of what is needed to achieve a sustainable society. Attempts
to achieve ESD in a society striving for continuous economic growth in a
market dominated system may also be analogous to a swimmer, who when
caught in a rip, tries to swim against the current. The challenge is to
break out of the rip.
LK
--
+----------------------------------------+
Dr Laurence Knight
Environmental Policy and Economics Division
Queensland Environmental Protection Agency
PO Box 155, Brisbane Albert St, 4002
Tel: (07) 3227 7897 Fax: (07) 3227 8341
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
