Foreword

Thomas E. Lovejoy

IT IS NO SECRET that the state of the global environment is extremely worrisome and getting worse literally daily. The world is headed for massive impairment of natural systems and soaring extinction rates, with global biogeochemistry already seriously out of balance. This is so despite many efforts to safeguard and restore the environment. Indeed, working on the environmental agenda can seem tantamount to running up a down escalator.

So if ever there was a time to consider the right relationship of humanity and the environment, both in the general sense of the phrase as well as in the important sense of the Quaker tradition, it is now. This book could not be timelier.

The heart of the problem, in many senses, lies at the intersection of economics and ecology. Both words, as has been often pointed out, come from the same root, namely the Greek oecos, meaning house. Yet despite the best efforts of some very good economists and ecologists the two disciplines remain far apart without even a common vocabulary, and this lack of integration is a major factor in the downward spiral of the global environment.

One problem is the way neoclassical economics attempts to bridge the gap by recognizing externalities, namely those things not accurately reflected in market prices. For example, important efforts such as work on the pricing of environmental goods and services, gets us away from the idea that nature is free for the taking. That probably was fine for our australopithecine ancestors, but with our swelling population and prowess at commandeering resources the end is already in sight. It is not possible for the current population to live a developed world lifestyle, nor is it possible for all of us to live as hunter-gatherers. We will need to be more creative than simply getting all the prices right in fitting the economy to a finite planet. In this quest, prices surely have a role to play. A practical example is the market created to reduce the contribution to acid rain by the sulfur in power plant emissions. Current discussions about raising the price of carbon are headed in a similar direction by giving us incentives to live within the earth’s biophysical limits.

A second obstacle is the concept of substitution, that is, when one resource is exhausted it can be replaced by another, as whale oil was replaced by fossil fuels. As biologists, we know by definition that one species can never completely substitute for another, even when their roles in ecosystems might be fairly similar. Even if two had identical roles, one is not expendable; our own bodies tell us that redundancy has value, which is why, for example, we have two kidneys. Would we want to have an ecosystem or planet with the equivalent of a single vital organ?

A third great challenge is the application of discount rates that basically make it easier to put off addressing problems unless their immediate costs to humanity are so great as to warrant up-front expenditure. Interestingly, Sir Nicholas Stern decided not to apply discount rates in his economic analysis of the challenge of climate change, because otherwise society’s response would be too little, too late.

If, as has been pointed out, the economy is the wholly owned subsidiary of the biosphere, there needs to be a way for human action and the economy to transcend the obstacles and move humanity toward a sustainable, respectful course.

First, we need to recognize that we benefit both directly and indirectly from the environment and in ways complex and hard to measure. Huge and regular benefits will frequently accrue to humanity through advances in the life sciences from new insights based on what was previously an esoteric organism. Human societies value knowledge and libraries, but we have yet to transfer that approach to the enormously valuable living library of the life sciences represented by the diversity of life on earth. Until we do, soaring extinction rates make book burning, and the attendant ignorance, look pale in comparison.

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Second, we need to think carefully about what we mean by “growth.” I have often wondered about possible lessons embedded in ecology that could be of use in developing more-sustainable economies. Biological systems have two forms of growth. In the more obvious one, the organism simply gets bigger through consuming more resources; sometimes that ceases at adulthood, but in others, like alligators, with indeterminate growth, the organism simply grows larger until it reaches the end of its life. In the second, known as growth by intussusception, the organism does not grow larger but becomes more complex. Although the analogies in economic growth may rarely be so distinct, surely the information industry has a large element of complexity, as contrasted to natural resource use.

Clearly the time is at hand—indeed, it is overdue—for a grand reconciliation between humans, human systems, and the environment. This very solid and thoughtful book sets the stage for just that, and we all are much indebted to the authors and those who labored in the Moral Economy Project.

Only a call to our higher values and their integration into our socioeconomic system can achieve what is needed. That may seem like a vainly grand ambition, but in many senses we have no other choice.

Belief in a higher being is widespread in human societies. There could be no higher calling than to recognize that our incredible living planet and humanity’s future are inextricably intertwined. I cannot but believe that as a species able to produce soaring achievements in the arts and science we have the capability to achieve right relationship.

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