Rationale: Beyond the Confrontational Debate About the Environment
No set of issues has tended to separate economists and ecologists, especially in the mind of the public, more than those surrounding the linkages between economic growth, human carrying capacity, and the environment. The general lack of interest among the majority of economists in problems of the environment, and a parallel lack of interest among the majority of ecologists in economic issues, combined with a lack of dialogue between the two has allowed extreme positions to take hold in the public debate and to influence policy to an inordinate degree.
This "Shareholder's Report" attempts to move beyond the "environment as a debate" by focusing on a mutual point of interest - the environment as a productive asset that is shared worldwide. Our common problem is to manage this asset in a way that maximizes the probability that it will continue to support human well-being into the indefinite future. We must do this in the face of huge and unresolvable uncertainties about some key assumptions having to do with the limits of technological change and the capacity of ecological life support systems. To do that we need to artfully combine the data, ideas, and insights gained from ecology, environmental science, economics, business, psychology, law, engineering, and many other areas. All of these perspectives can provide at best partial truths - they are all needed for effective management of our complex environmental portfolio in the face of uncertainty.
If one views the totality of the natural world and it's human inhabitants, and look at it through the lens of a business - including its assets, liabilities, "profits" and "losses" - one becomes able to make decisions that looks at the long-term health of the company.
Some of the basic premises of this 'annual report" include:
- Everyone on earth is a shareholder in Earth, Inc.
- The assets of Earth include not only built capital and human capital
(knowledge) but also natural capital and social capital. We assess
and describe this total asset base in terms that make clear that all
four forms of capital are essential to the successful and sustained
operation of Earth, Inc.
- The annual budget and profit and loss statement would include the
services of all four capital types, again making clear that even though
built and human capital services may be increasing, natural and social
capital services may be declining enough to make the net gain negative.
