Book Summary of Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development: Building on Brundtland by Robert Goodland, Herman Daly, Salah El Serafy, Bernd von Droste
Citation:
Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development: Building on Brundtland, Robert Goodland, Herman Daly, Salah El Serafy, Bernd von Droste, (eds), (New York: UNESCO, 1991), 98 pp.
This Book Summary written by: T.A. O'Lonergan, Conflict Research Consortium
Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development: Building on Brundtland
will be of interest to those who seek an understanding of sustainable growth in
light of the Brundtland Commission. Robert Goodland asserts that the
world has reached its limits
i. e. current throughput growth in the global economy cannot be
sustained. This is followed by Herman Daly's recognition of an
historical turning point in economic development. Specifically, he addresses
the shift from a perspective which viewed the world as relatively empty, to one
which views it as relatively full.
The third essay critiques the strategy of trying to reduce economic inequality
by expanding the scale of human activity. The authors assert that a free-
market approach will not solve the problems of inequity as it serves
to reinforce the status quo, in part, because the new technologies
favour the rich. The fourth essay examines how GNP and market
prices, heralded as signals for sustainable economic success, in fact mask
environmental destruction. The next essay addresses the relationships
among sustainability, income measurement and growth. This is
followed by an examination of the role of investment in sustainable
development. The last essay save one asserts that the ecological economics
of sustainability requires investing in natural capital. The
final essay offers the steps which much be taken in order to move from growth
to sustainable development. The authors assert that: reducing the developing
world's debt burden, a shift from the pursuit of growth
to that of sustainable progress, an the preference for quality over quantity are
prerequisites for this move.
Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development: Building on Brundtland
is an examination of the proposed move toward sustainable economic development
which supplies the necessary shifts in philosophical foundations
required for the move.
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