Preface
Mainstream economics is obsessed with gross domestic product (GDP)
growth. Those who measure GDP growth are convinced that any amount of it is a good sign for the economy, and that's how it's presented to the public. Furthermore, any economy is considered to be separate from Nature (or worse, Nature is only a small part of the economy); also, sustainability of natural resources is rarely ever considered. The only resources taken into account during the bulk of economic planning are artificial--- railways, trucks, factories, ships, etc.--- or are humans (labor). A bit of consideration is given to natural resource availability,
but usually not in any holistic way. To be more concise, mainstream economists value Nature only for what can be extracted from it, and for the amount of wastes that can be dumped back into it.
Note--- these topics are not "flashy", but understanding them is crucial to the continued organized existence of human beings. The path we're still on is leading to species suicide. That's not hyperbole.
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The Flaws in Mainstream Economic Thinking
1. Herman Daly and other Steady-State economists astutely have pointed out the probability of growth beyond an optimal scale that is
uneconomic. In other words, growth in which the costs outweigh the benefits. Mainstream economists don't agree. That's because they don't know the overall practical value of Nature to economics and human well-being. Nor do they appear to understand the true costs of
ecosystem damage inflicted by human mainstream economic activity. To them, ecosystems merely are a tiny part of the economy. That's especially true now that
financialization has become a larger part of economies. So, I imagine this quip from a mainstreamer: "We don't need Nature. To increase GDP, all we have to do is shuffle more papers (so to speak).".
2. The practical value of natural capital and ecosystem services is often somewhat invisible to, and thus
vastly underestimated or ignored by, mainstream economists. Here's a short introduction to the topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMIUglBligI .
Here's another, with E.O. Wilson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duOzXGTuUrA .
3. Mainstream economists fail to recognize that GDP as a measurement of economic health (and human well-being) is incomplete in the long run, and thus misleading.
Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) Approach
From the Natural Capital Project at Stanford U.---
https://naturalcapitalproject.stanford.edu/news/accounting-nature-economies
For those of you who may be at a more advanced level regarding this subject, here's the link to the full study--- (which also is embedded at the link above as "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences").
https://www.pnas.org/content/117/25/14593 .
This ecological approach, developed by the Natural Capital Project, already is being tested in China. The EU has something similar: Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES).
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Conclusion
The philosophy and policies of neoliberalism/mainstream economics have brought us to where we are today: environmental degradation; little to no concern for the importance of ecosystem services; little concern for industrial waste disposal (especially if it's into the atmosphere); the unsustainable use of natural capital; and a false belief in unlimited growth, overconsumption, GDP as a complete measure of economic health, and corporatism. If all that isn't bad enough, we're on the brink of the largest, most severe ecodisaster in human history. Meanwhile, the Super-Rich are laughing all the way to the bank, most politicians are doing a lot of talking and not much else, and the corporatist propagandists are running amok.
A ray of hope---
A shift to ecological economics, as well as the continued development of the GEP approach to economic measurement, and the adoption of ecoethics is the best path forward... and it's all possible.
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Not only my opinion. Stay Well
