China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Energy and sustainability
Published in Peter M. Schwarz, Energy Economics, 2023
A second challenge is that conventional economics does not include all aspects in nature in its valuation. Ecological economics is a developing branch of environmental economics that focuses on the need for strong sustainability when considering ecological systems that have no good substitutes. New-growth forests may not be a good substitute for old-growth forests for species that can only thrive in that habitat. The carbon cycle has helped to regulate the Earth’s temperature. Increasing CO2 concentrations are affecting the climate. If we cannot sufficiently reduce our emissions of GHGs, some have proposed geoengineering: engineering measures to counteract the buildup of CO2 and other GHGs. The most often cited proposal is to inject particles into the upper atmosphere that would reflect sunlight into space, much as the volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 injected aerosols and created haze that blocked sunlight from reaching Earth. Such proposals are typically viewed as a last resort. As an old commercial said, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature,” and such interventions could have unpredictable consequences.14 They could also be subject to threats by terrorists or unfriendly regimes to destroy the interventions, wreaking havoc by suddenly releasing large amounts of GHGs.
Water, Economics, and the Nature of Water Policy Issues
Published in Robert A. Young, John B. Loomis, Determining the Economic Value of Water, 2014
Robert A. Young, John B. Loomis
The ecological economists represent a growing and increasingly influential departure from the techniques and policy prescriptions of mainstream economics. This school of thought arose in tandem with the worldwide awakening to environmental problems in the late 1960s. Perhaps the key premise of the ecological economics movement is that growth of the world’s economy will, in the not-too-distant future, be limited by the biophysical capacity of the earth’s environmental system. Accordingly, they challenge the complacency of the mainstream view that the world economy could continue indefinitely along the high-growth path of the past, a path that has been powered by technological change and has enabled increasing consumption levels for more and more of the earth’s population. (For an introduction, see, for example, Edwards-Jones et al. 2000.) Ecological economists are strongly skeptical of the potential of market allocation systems and technological innovation for dealing with potential long-term environmental problems. Rather than highlighting maximum economic growth as a primary social goal, they emphasize a policy of sustainability or “…development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987).
Industrial Metabolism: Roots and Basic Principles
Published in Surendra M. Gupta, A. J. D. (Fred) Lambert, Environment Conscious Manufacturing, 2007
Ecological economics connects economic theory with physical laws, particularly mass conservation, energy conservation, and an increase of disorder. It is called the second law economics, as the second law of thermodynamics plays a crucial role in its formulation (see Boulding, 1966). This branch of economic science considers matter and energy, rather than labor and capital, as basic production factors of any economic system. Ecological economics attempts to design strategies that result in sustainable development. Some early works in this field include those by Georgescu-Roegen (1971, 1976) and Dasmann et al. (1973). The concepts have been compiled and elaborated by, among others, Ruth (1993), who studied the application of renewable energy sources in macroeconomic models.
Impacts of sustainability and resilience research on risk governance, management and education
Published in Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure, 2021
Linda Nielsen, Michael H. Faber
Normative questions related to population and economic growth, the Earth’s carrying capacity, the economic value of natural capital and ecoservices, the circular economy, and inclusive wealth all relate directly to the concept of PBs but are largely studied under the umbrella of ecological economics, applied ethics and branches of engineering and social sciences. While in the 1970s, when ecological economics emerged as an amalgam of ecosystem ecologists and environmental economists, many of the concepts and values they promoted were the fringe of both scientific and political discourse, it is clear that in the past 10–15 years, most of these formulations have infiltrated the full spectrum of scientific disciplines from the humanities to the social, natural and applied sciences and become the norm in policy and scientific circles. Where once mainstream economics promoted value-free analysis through methods such as cost-benefit analysis in the attempt to make economics a ‘hard science,’ the alternative understanding of concepts such as wealth, capital and growth that emerged from ecological economics, is now re-defining society’s understanding, perceptions and expectations at large with regard to the very notions of well-being, happiness, wealth, social and ecoservices, the equitable distribution of all of the above, and the legitimacy of the institutional arrangements responsible for distributing commonly shared resources at local, landscape and global scales.
Towards a more circular economy: exploring the awareness, practices, and barriers from a focal firm perspective
Published in Production Planning & Control, 2018
Donato Masi, Vikas Kumar, Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes, Janet Godsell
The concept of CE, originally introduced by Boulding (1966) and Pearce and Kerry Turner (1990), is rooted in diverse theoretical backgrounds such as environmental economics, industrial ecology, ecological economics (Ghisellini, Cialani, and Ulgiati 2016) and ‘cradle-to-cradle’ (Braungart, McDonough, and Bollinger 2007). The key principle of the CE is the creation of circular loops of materials, energy, and waste flows; this key principle is combined with others, such as the minimisation of energy and raw material inputs into production systems and the mimesis of natural systems. All these principles are the core of different conceptual antecedents of the CE, and a first original feature of the CE is the way in which it combines principles from different conceptual antecedents. Table 1 summarises the key principles of the CE and the corresponding conceptual antecedents.
Proposing a solution to India’s water crisis: ‘paradigm shift’ or pushing outdated concepts?
Published in International Journal of Water Resources Development, 2018
India’s water sector is facing insurmountable problems. In this country with 1300 million persons to feed, and with rapid urbanization and industrialization and changing consumption patterns and life styles, the challenges facing water managers are immense. Managing water today is no longer only about developing new sources through conventional means by constructing reservoirs, digging wells and laying canals and pipelines, but also about finding new sources of water and allocating the limited water amongst various competitive uses, while protecting the hydrological integrity of our catchments, rivers, lakes and aquifers. Inter-sectoral water allocation requires greater use of sound economic principles for efficient pricing, introduction of water-use restrictions, etc. Water resource management requires application of ecological sciences, ecological economics and environmental economics. It is quite obvious that our water-sector institutions have to be equipped with more technical manpower, with greater competence and with people from multiple disciplines. They also call for new institutions for basin-wide water allocation and for undertaking resource management action.