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Navigating Sustainability in the Face of Scarcity: Balancing Needs and Limits

Discover the intricate balance between "weak" and "strong" sustainability concepts in face of scarcity. Learn how economics, markets, and ecological concerns intersect in the pursuit of sustainable development. Explore the importance of modifying economic models, considering long time scales, and reevaluating the measurement of beneficial change. Join the discussion on achieving sustainability goals by letting prices reflect true opportunity costs. 8 Relevant

alfonso-roberts
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Navigating Sustainability in the Face of Scarcity: Balancing Needs and Limits

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  1. Sustaining what for whom? Optimizing in the face of scarcity

  2. What is sustainability? • A non-declining capital stock – “weak” sustainability. • “Natural capital assets...should not decline through time.” Pearce – “strong” sustainability

  3. Of the myriad definitions They are all trying to get at several things: • facing limits • meeting needs • equity • avoiding disaster

  4. Toward what purpose? • Avoid human emiseration resulting from irreversible damage to ecosystems. • Implication: now and into the future

  5. Economics and sustainability All economics begins with one premise: • Every action has an opportunity cost. Why? • Scarcity is a given.

  6. Enter ecological economics Markets do many things well, but they do not recognize ultimate limits. • 1st and 2nd Laws • Optimization at the margin ignores scale. • The assumption of substitutability

  7. Achieving sustainability requires: • Modifying economic models. • Thinking in time scales to which we are not accustomed. • Reconsidering whether GDP really measures beneficial change. • Letting prices reflect real opportunity costs.

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