Sustainability and the New Economics

It is one thing to put limits on resource throughput and waste generation to conform with the ecosphere's biocapacity. It is another thing to efficiently allocate a sustainable rate of resource throughput and ensure it is equitably distributed in the form of final goods and services. While the separate but interdependent decisions regarding throughput, distribution, and allocation are the essence of ecological economics, dealing with them in a world that needs to cure its growth addiction requires a realistic understanding of macroeconomics and the fiscal capacity of currency-issuing central governments. Sustainable prosperity demands that we harness this understanding to carefully regulate the rate of resource throughput and manipulate macroeconomic outcomes to facilitate human flourishing.

Introduction by William Rees.- Ch 1: The great acceleration, planetary boundaries and the Anthropocene, Will Steffen, Ch 2: Assessing natural environments: a summary, David Lindenmayer & Chris Dickman.- Ch 3: Human health and the natural environment, Colin D. Butler.- Ch 4:UN Sustainability Goals, Kerryn Higgs.- Ch. 5: The evolution of neoliberalism, John Quiggin.- Ch 6: Population growth, Ian Lowe.- Ch 7: Evaluation 'The Limits to Growth' 50 Years On, Kerryn Higgs.- Ch 8: The role of the fossil fuel industry, Ian Dunlop.- Ch 9: Economic failures of the IPCC process, Steve Keen.- Ch 10: Introduction to ecological economics, Philip Lawn & Stephen Williams.- Ch 11: Energy systems for sustainable prosperity, Mark Diesendorf .- Ch 12: Climate litigation and human rights, Michael Kirby & Sean Ryan.- Ch 13: What is a green deal without growth, Riccardo Mastini.- Ch 14: Paying a Green New Deal: MMT and the job guarantee, Steven Hall.- Ch 15: The Paradigm Shift, Stephen Williams.- Appendix.