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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] Economic Growth (and Neoclassical Economics) vs. Sustainability
  • Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 01:24:22 -0800

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [SANET-MG] Economic Growth (and Neoclassical Economics) vs.
Sustainability
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 19:28:24 -0800
From: Brian Czech <brianczech@STEADYSTATE.ORG>
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU

Hi all,

I am new to the list. I am a conservation biologist
with the federal government and founding president of
the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State
Economy (CASSE). My government job (biodiversity
conservation) is an exercise in futility as long as
economic growth (increasing production and onsumption
of goods and services) is the primary domestic policy
goal of the American polity. Due to the tremendous
breadth of the human niche, the scale of the human
economy expands at the competitive exclusion of
wildlife in the aggregate.

I’ve come to view economic growth as not only the
biggest problem facing biodiversity conservation but as
a major threat to national security and international
stability. I’ve been writing on this topic since my
Ph.D. research 10 years ago. I proposed the steady
state revolution in Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train:
Errant Economists, Shameful Spenders, and a Plan to
Stop Them All.

I invite you to visit the CASSE website:

Www.steadystate.org

and e-sign the position on economic growth at the
Action page:

http://www.steadystate.org/PositiononEG.html

The reasons for signing the position are provided at
the CASSE website. No contact information is requested
and no further contact results from e-signing.

I was glad to see the recent exchange on the merits of
mainstream economics for sustainability purposes. My
thoughts on that are provided in Shoveling Fuel.

Happy holidays,


Brian Czech, President
Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
Arlington, VA
WWW.STEADYSTATE.ORG

**************

Steve:

Baloney. The profession of Economics is a lap-dog.
The powers that be,
political and economic, have co-opted the economics
profession, which is
entirely a captive of market fundamentalism.

Those brave economists who stray too far from
fundamentalism are ignored or
worse. I'm thinking of Nicolas Georgescu-Roegen,
Herman Daly, and maybe Kenneth
Boulding, from earlier decades. It is time for
economists to get serious and
admit the limitations of the market model.

Or, maybe something has changed that I don't know about
in the ten years I've
been away.

My two cents.

John Lozier
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
West Virginia University Extension Service
PO Box 6108, Morgantown, WV 26506-6108
Telephone 304-293-6256
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~



  • [permaculture] Economic Growth (and Neoclassical Economics) vs. Sustainability, Lawrence F. London, Jr., 12/28/2004

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