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WWF: China Ecological Footprint Report 2012 Consumption, Production and Sustainable Development
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From the Executive Summary p. 3 : "We have only one planet and the time has come to transform our present lifestyle and consumption patterns in order to halt the degradation of the Earth’s natural capital, and to secure
ecosystem services as the foundation for economic and social development."
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Editorial: The “New Conservation”
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EDITORIAL: OPENING PARAGRAPHS A powerful but chimeric movement is rapidly gaining recognition and supporters. Christened the “new conservation,” it promotes economic development, poverty alleviation, and corporate partnerships as surrogates or substitutes for endangered species listings, protected areas, and other mainstream conservation tools. Its proponents claim that helping economically disadvantaged people to achieve a higher standard of living will kindle their sympathy and affection for nature. Because its goal is to supplant the biological diversity–based model of traditional conservation with something entirely different, namely an economic growth–based or humanitarian movement, it does not deserve to be labeled conservation.
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Could climate change capitalism?
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Economist Nicholas Stern’s latest book is a rare and masterly synthesis of climate-change science and economics. His ‘global deal’ could change capitalism for the better, says Robert Costanza.
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Economic growth as the limiting factor for wildlife conservation
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The concept of limiting factor includes the lack of welfare factors and the presence of decimating factors. Originally applied to populations and species, the concept may also be applied to wildlife in the aggregate. Because the decimating factor of economic growth eliminates welfare factors for virtually all imperiled species via the principle of competitive exclusion, economic growth may be classified as the limiting factor for wildlife conservation. The wildlife profes- sion has been virtually silent about this limiting factor, suggesting that the pro- fession has been laboring in futility. The public, exhorted by neoclassical economists and political leaders, supports economic growth as a national goal. To address the limiting factor for wildlife conservation, wildlife professionals need to become versed in the history of economic growth theory, neoclassical economic growth theory, and the alternative growth paradigm provided by ecological economics. The Wildlife Society should lead the natural resources professions in developing a position on economic growth.
carrying capacity, competitive exclusion, ecological economics, economic growth, limiting factor, neoclassical economics, niche breadth, steady state economy
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Climate change and the world economy: short-run determinants of atmospheric CO2
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Volcanic eruptions, the El Nin ̃ o Southern oscillation (ENSO), world population, and the world economy are the four variables usually discussed as influencing the short-run changes in CO2 atmospheric levels through their influence on CO2 emissions and sinks. Using proper procedures of detrending, we do not find any observable relation between the short-term growth of world population and the increase of CO2 concentrations. Results suggest that the link between volcanic eruptions, ENSO activity, and CO2 concentrations may be confounded by the coincidence of the Pinatubo eruption with the breakdown of the economies of the Soviet Bloc in the early 1990s. Changes in world GDP (WGDP) have a significant effect on CO2 concentrations, so that years of above-trend WGDP are years of greater rise of CO2 concentrations. Measuring WGDP in constant US dollars of 2000, for each trillion WGDP deviates from trend, the atmospheric CO2 concentration has deviated from trend, in the same direction, about half a part per million.
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ECONOMICS IN A FULL WORLD
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The global economy is now so large that society can no longer safely pretend it operates within a limitless ecosystem. Developing an economy that can be sustained within the finite biosphere requires new ways of thinking
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Asymmetric effects of economic growth and decline on CO2 emissions
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Letter to Editor: Excerpt: "Why does economic decline not have an effect on CO2 emissions that is symmetrical with the effect of economic growth? There are various reasons that this may occur, but the asymmetry is probably due to the fact that economic growth produces durable goods, such as cars and energy-intensive homes, and infrastructure, such as manufacturing facilities and transportation networks, that are not removed by economic decline and that continue to contribute to CO2 emissions even after growth is curtailed."
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Economic growth and the human lot
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1st paragraph: In 1974, Richard A. Easterlin, a coauthor of the work by Easterlin et al. (1) in PNAS, published a seminal article (2) that has generated a huge literature. It sought to explain why the happiness score in the United States (and elsewhere) had stayed roughly constant, whereas income per capita had trended up. This evidence has come to be known as the Easterlin Paradox. His explanation was that economic growth has a positive effect on happiness with other things being equal; however, it also raises aspirations, and aspirations have a negative effect. Aspirations are determined by society, particularly reference group income. The combination of these two effects gives rise to a Hedonic Treadmill.
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Columbia Water Center White Paper America’s Water Risk: Water Stress and Climate Variability
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The emerging awareness of the dependence of business on water has resulted in increasing awareness of the concept of “Water Risk” and the diverse ways in which water can pose threats to businesses in certain regions and sectors. Businesses seek to secure sustainable income. To do so, they need to maintain a
competitive advantage and brand differentiation. They need secure and stable supply chains. Their exposure risks related to increasing scarcity of water can come in a variety of forms at various points in the supply chain. Given increasing water scarcity and the associated deterioration of the quantity and quality of water sources in many parts of the world, many “tools” have been developed to map water scarcity riskor water risk. Typically, these tools are based on estimates of the average water supply and demand in each unit of analysis.Often, they are associated with river basins, while business is associated with cities or counties. They provide a useful first look at the potential imbalance of supply and demand to businesses.
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Tennessee Valley Authority
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The Tennessee Valley Authority, a corporation owned by the U.S. government, provides electricity for 9 million people in parts of seven southeastern states at prices below the national average. TVA, which receives no taxpayer money and makes no profits, also provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists utilities and state and local governments with economic development.
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