Economist warns environment 'pushed to brink' | Eco News

In Professor Robert Costanza?s hometown of Donora, Pennsylvania, smog killed more than 20 people just a few years before he was born.

The freak event in the town studded with steel mills and zinc smelters put air pollution on the public agenda in the United States, and eventually encouraged the passage of the country?s first Clean Air Act.

Now a leading ecological economist at the Australian National University, Professor Constanza worries such a tragedy may be necessary before people start realising the global environment is in trouble.

?I think it does often take some sort of crisis,? Professor Costanza told AAP Newsagency.

?But I don?t think it?s too late,? he added.

In a report just launched in the national capital, Canberra, Professor Costanza warned the earth?s ecological limits were being pushed to the brink by society?s drive for material possessions and economic growth.

Professor Costanza?s report, co-authored with other experts on ecological economics, will today be published as part of the annual State of the World Report in Washington in the United States.

An alternative model, one that considers other measures of progress like a greener future and true wellbeing, was needed if humanity was to avoid a bleak existence.

Far from being a doomsday prediction, Professor Costanza said choosing to do nothing on a ?business as usual? basis would be far worse for humanity.

?It?s only doomsday if all you care about is material consumption,? he said.

?I?m arguing that that?s not what we should be caring about, because that?s not really everything that contributes to quality of life.?

People could create a better world if they stopped focusing on consumption and instead looked at the things that studies show really mattered, he said.

Family, income equality, crime rates, community and climate change were far more important to one?s overall wellbeing than a desire to buy more and ?keep up with the Joneses?.

AAP reports importantly, Professor Costanza stressed there needed to be a rethink on Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the benchmark commonly used to rate economic success.

The focus on GDP growth was misplaced and unrealistic because it didn?t reflect the significant costs of pushing the environment ?a little too hard?.

?You can?t have infinite growth on a finite planet,? he said.

?If you?re only trying to increase GDP, then the environment gets in the way.?

Source: http://econews.com.au/news-to-sustain-our-world/economist-warns-environment-pushed-to-brink/

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