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when “too far” is too far, especially if one tries hard to avoid talking about limits,
denying their existence is a failure to appreciate and accept reality. Intelligence put
into practice is really innovation which remains steadfast in its attempts to create
ingenious ideas and practices that support survival.
In short a balance must be found. Life is not all about competing but also
a question of cooperating and sharing. Beyond this is the need to generate and
strengthen symbiotic relationships such as those that exist between algae and lichen.
After having abused the word “sustainable” there is a need to return to its true
meaning: survival. In French sustainable development (développement durable) can
be translated into English as “durable development”. Durable is the key and really
refers to taking only what can endure i.e. solely that which is needed to survive.
Survival means coexisting in harmony with the other components and people that
compose the planetary environment.
15.4 Meeting the challenge
To obtain an adequate vision of the planetary environment and resource manage-
ment, it becomes necessary to contrast the economist's viewpoint with that of the
thermodynamist's. In the same way that resource intensity is defined as the amount
of resource used per monetary unit obtained, planetary resource intensity could be
used as an indicator as to society's e
ciency in protecting the Earth's precious re-
sources. Thanatia and the Crepuscular Earth Model should help provide a baseline
calculation.
A true understanding of any such indicator should lead to an enhancement of
resource management policies and practices. It could also help to generate solutions
which currently lie outside the immediate global agenda and thus fail to address
some of the world's most pressing issues. Possible ways to overcome some of the
issues relating to resource depletion include:
(1) The creation of an integral dialogue between the economics of Man and that of
Nature.
(2) Increase the level of understanding as to the interdependicies that exist between
various resources and their effects on sustainability.
(3) Impress upon the need for global remediation and maintenance.
All three support Robert Solow's statement that:
It would be a real achievement if it were to become a commonplace that capital
assets, natural assets, and environmental assets were equally “real” and subject
to the same scale of values, indeed the same bookkeeping conventions. Deeper
ways of thinking might be affected. (Solow, 1992)
To this, the authors would also like to add the idea of “knowledge assets”.
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