FAQs & Fundamentals
Answered by Dr. Robert Costanza, Dr. Josh Farley, and Dr. Jon Erickson
What is Ecological Economics?—FAQ 1
What is the dominant world view today?—FAQ 2
What is the value of nature?—FAQ 3
How can one value nature?—FAQ 4
Are there alternatives to GDP and if so, what are they?—FAQ 5
What is Quality of Life?—FAQ 6
What are some policy tools you’ve seen that are based on the ecological economic principles?—FAQ 7
Answered by Dr. Herman Daly
What is the distinction between economic and uneconomic growth?—FAQ 1
What is the distinction between growth and development?—FAQ 2
What implications does the distinction between growth and development have for a steady state economy?—FAQ 3
What is the distinction between comparative and absolute advantage? Why is it important?—FAQ 4
What is the difference between globalization and internationalism?—FAQ 5
What is the ends/means spectrum?—FAQ 6
Answered by Dr. Brian Czech
Is there a conflict between economic growth and environmental conservation?—FAQ 1
Doesn’t growth in the service sector occur without environmental degradation?—FAQ 2
Doesn’t economics growth in developing nations lead to increased environmental protection and stable populations?—FAQ 3
What is the alternative constant economic growth?—FAQ 4
What do ecological economists mean when they talk about scale?—FAQ 5
What is throughput? How can it be measured? What is its relationship to scale?—FAQ 6
What is the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy?—FAQ 7
Fundamental Energy Principles by Dr. Cutler J. Cleveland
Principle #1: Energy cannot be created, destroyed, or recycled.
Principle #2: Eenrgy from the sun - past and present - creates the conditions necessary for life to exist.
Principle #3: The climate of Earth is determined by the balance between energy entering and leaving the atmosphere.
Principle #4: Natural selection operates on evolutionary strategies that capture and allocate energy among competing uses.
Principle #5: Energy transitions are social transitions.
Principle #6: Energy growth and economic growth go hand-in-hand.
Principle #7: The struggle for the control of energy generates violent conflict.
Principle #8: Energy is a fundamental driver of environmental change and human health at local, regional, and global scales.
Principle #9: Energy quality varies markedly among sources.
Principle #10: Net energy is an ultimate limit to energy supply.
