Visioning the Green Economy

Molly Scott Cato

Reader in Green Economics

Cardiff School of Management

Ecological Balance rather than Economic Growth

From cowboy to spaceman

A steady-state economyAn end to

economic growthRate of

throughput of resources slower than the ability of the planet to regenerate

Evolution rather than growth

An economy that fits within its ecosystem

From linear to cyclical economy ‘extracts fossil fuels and

ores at one end and transforms them into commodities and waste products’

‘cannot turn pots back into clay’

Permaculture suggests the need to reuse our wastes

Industrial ecology Designing with nature

in mind Examines the impact

of industry and technology on the biophysical environment

Examines local, regional and global flows of materials and energy in products, processes, industrial sectors and economies

Natural metabolismBusinesses should ‘match the metabolism of

the natural world’‘Products that, when their useful life is over,

do not become useless waste but can be tossed on to the ground to decompose and become food for plants and animals and nutrients for soil’—Jonathan Porritt

‘Buildings that, like trees, produce more energy than they consume and purify their own waste water’

A new consumption ethic

The bioregional economy

‘All life on the planet is interconnected . . . But there is a distinct resonance among living things and the factors which influence them that occurs specifically within each separate place on the planet. Discovering and describing that resonance is the best way to describe a bioregion.’

An economy embedded in its local environment ‘Borrowing our resources from the local natural

environment’

Localisation and reskilling

A convivial economy

Find out more:

My Blog:www.gaianeconomics.blogspot.com

Green Economics: An Introduction to Theory, Policy and Practice

(Earthscan, 2009)