Ecological economics in 2049: Getting beyond the argument culture to the world we all want

Abstract

Ecological economics (EE) was originally envisioned as a transdiscipline with the following core characteristics and goals: (1) a focus on the primary goal of sustainable wellbeing of both humans and the rest of nature; (2) three broad sub-goals of sustainable scale, fair distribution, and efficient allocation. (3) intelligent pluralism and integration across disciplines, rather than territorial disciplinary differentiation; (4) concern with the functioning of the interdependent system of humans embedded in the rest of nature from an evolutionary, whole systems perspective; (5) an emphasis on the development of valuation techniques that build on a broad understanding of the interaction of built, human, social and natural capital to produce sustainable wellbeing. These characteristics and goals make ecological economics applicable to some of the major problems facing humanity today, and especially to the problem of improving humanity's wellbeing and assuring its survival within the biosphere. Going forward EE must move further beyond the argument culture to finally become the meta-paradigm that it was originally envisioned to be. It can use its tools and vision to enable society to overcome its addiction to the current unsustainable growth paradigm and make the transition to the world we all want. Show more