Sustainability: Ecological and Economic Perspectives, with Michael A. Toman
TL;DRAbstract
Decision makers are more and more often being told to "act sustainably" and to pursue policy paths toward "sustainable development." These admonitions and instructions appear to express a significant societal commitment to alter current practices. And yet these widely supported admonitions provide little guidance to policymakers and other actors, because the term "sustainable" embodies deep conceptual ambiguities. These ambiguities cannot be easily resolved because they rest, in turn, on serious theoretical disagreements that transcend disciplinary boundaries. In particular, economists and ecologists employ different conceptualizations for explaining the interactions of humans with their environment. Nor are these differences easily ignored because they pervasively affect the way we conceive and implement sustainable policies.
Chat with Paper
AI Agents for this Paper
Decision makers are more and more often being told to "act sustainably" and to pursue policy paths toward "sustainable development." These admonitions and instructions appear to express a significant societal commitment to alter current practices. And yet these widely supported admonitions provide little guidance to policymakers and other actors, because the term "sustainable" embodies deep conceptual ambiguities. These ambiguities cannot be easily resolved because they rest, in turn, on serious theoretical disagreements that transcend disciplinary boundaries. In particular, economists and ecologists employ different conceptualizations for explaining the interactions of humans with their environment. Nor are these differences easily ignored because they pervasively affect the way we conceive and implement sustainable policies.
Keywords
Chat
Click to start Chat