AECN/NRES 883 Ecological Economics
AECN/NRES 883 Ecological Economics
What distinguishes the course from more traditional natural
resource and environmental (and some ecological) economics approaches?
(See the full syllabus at
Class
Syllabus; also see the
Class
Schedule for detail on timing of the topics)
In particular, did you ever wonder if there was an economics:
That points to the need to seriously consider moving to sustainable agriculture and other sustainable business organizations, like organic, sustainable and local (food) supply agriculture, and integrating these ecosystem approaches into the food chain (agroecology and agribusiness to include farming and ranching, food processing and distribution, retail and restaurant business) from producer through consumer? An economics built upon thermodynamic and ecological (especially resilience) principles?
That suggests designing manufacturing systems which recognize the life cycle of the goods produced (i.e. applying industrial ecology principles), as Volvo (this part of Ford Motor Company, also the first U.S. automotive company to acknowledge climate change as an issue) now does in guaranteeing that 85% of its car is recyclable?
That sees there is no waste (i.e. most if not all externalities vanish) in a well-designed production process, in that wastes from one process enter as inputs to another process (as in a natural ecosystem), albeit useful energy is lost at every step in that process?
That suggests the same industrial ecology approach be applied to agribusiness manufacturing systems of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides as well as genetically modified seed development (also a kind of manufacturing), and in food processing, leading to a sustainable agribusiness sector?
That suggests a wetland in the way of a new bypass highway is actually a natural capital resource doing potentially valuable work for the economy?
That points to the need to save substantive amounts of the hydrocarbons (e.g. crude oil) currently in the ground because we might need it as a material in manufacturing? In building the equipment to harvest renewable energy?
That suggests an economic and other careful examination of the scale of the human economy relative to that of other systems, with special attention to the size and viability of other living ecosystems as affected by economic growth and development, seeing the economy embedded in the ecosystem?
That sees the possibility of communities in the future being built upon thermodynamic and ecosystem principles, i.e. human communities integrated into natural ecosystems, as is being done in one experimental community in Vermont, and that this somehow makes more economic sense than more artificial communities represented in a Disney World-like approach (even the plants and animals are artificial!) we see in many if not most places?
That recognizes it is human nature to not only seek individual self-interest as represented in profits, wealth and the new cars and other comforts it will buy, but also it is human nature to seek unity-with, and to pursue a shared other-interest (still internalized within self), which is to seek being a part of, and do-the-right-thing by family, community, environments and ecosystems at all scales (like in "think globally, act locally")?
That sees achieving economic efficiency is about finding the best mix, the best way to achieve both self-interest and the shared other-interest? That there is heart in economy and economy in heart?
That acknowledges how the first capitalist, Adam Smith, saw the "sentiments"... which he defined as walking-in-the-shoes of others, and asking "how would I wish to be treated"... as essential to achieving good economic efficiency and the true wealth of a nation and community?
That posits there is a moral and ethical dimension (the shared other-interest, being in sympathy with) to economic efficiency and rational choice, i.e. the need to go beyond just prudence: In fact, without the virtues reflected in the moral/ethical dimension, there cannot be economic efficiency and sustainable development/economy (as we learned in the Enron and World Com cases)?
That recognizes we live, together, on a spaceship earth, a closed system in which we cannot get rid of anything so we easily risk fouling our nest, and a system that has only one source of energy represented in the sun, which suggests the economy needs to be better in synch with it (e.g. as in sustainable busine and industry, economy and community)?
That sees "green building" (i.e. eco-houses, eco-buildings of all kinds) an essential feature of new economic and community development?
That proposes harvesting solar energy (e.g. windpower, photovoltaics, biofuels) ... using renewable flows... which makes more economic sense than burning-up, as fast as we can, all the old, buried, essentially nonrenewable stocks (i.e. the coal, oil, natural gas, the "old carbon")?
That acknowledges other species on this planet, especially the endangered ones, also provide an essential service for humans....they also work..., and, they may have earned a right to some space on this spaceship earth, having an intrinsic value, and thus a more ecocentric perspective (in contrast to an only human, anthropocentric perspective on value) could do more good than harm?
That carefully distinguishes... yet seeks a synthesis... among the varying philosophies and scientific foundations leading to quite different theoretical and practical approaches represented in environmental economics, natural resource economics, ecological economics and behavioral economics?
If any of this has made you curious and/or has stirred the realization that perhaps there could be an economics for which we would say, “yes, there is an economics that works this way” then this course may well be for you!