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rates create three types of diffi culties to implement an effective Earth Stewardship:
(a) ecological, (b) ethical, and (c) political problems.
(a) Regarding ecological problems, Steffen et al. ( 2011 ) have shown that a main
cause of exceeding the limits of the biosphere is the increased consumption by
the developed countries, consumption made possible by unlimited wealth accu-
mulation - as if natural resources were unlimited and planetary boundaries
were nonexistent. From the ecological perspective, it is problematic that the
neoliberal free market regime does not suffi ciently attend to the core concept of
planetary boundaries (Chapin et al. 2011b ; Steffen et al. 2011 ). The incorpora-
tion of the concept of biophysical limits (at the scale of the biosphere as a whole
as well as of regional habitats ) into economic and governance policies is a
necessary condition for implementing Earth stewardship. The notion of limits
has a long history in the concept of the economy of nature introduced by
Linnaeus in the seventeenth century, and was extensively developed by ecologi-
cal economics in the twentieth century. Limits on rates of consumption and
accumulation of wealth challenge neoliberal free market theoretical assump-
tions and practices of production and consumption. Under the current neolib-
eral free market regime, risks and negative externalities (e.g., oil spills, and
other forms of pollution and environmental damage) are often absorbed by
communities of humans and other living beings, while monetary gains receive
less taxation and are accumulated by persons (individuals or corporations) who
commercially consume, use, and/or deteriorate “human and natural capital.”
This double standard involves not only economic problems, but also raises ethi-
cal and political issues.
(b) Ethically, the notion of limits has a long history in the philosophical roots of
Western civilization, religious traditions, and Amerindian ecological world-
views. Aristotle develops an ethics based on the mid-way point; nothing in
excess. This rule shares core concepts implicit in many religious traditions,
including the Buddhist middle-way and the Christian values of solidarity and
distributive equity. Furthermore, austerity, reciprocity and equality are values
that are shared by the ecumenical community. Mary Evelyn Tucker (this vol-
ume [Chap. 27 ] ) identifi es six key “values for human-Earth fl ourishing” that are
shared by world religions: reverence, respect, restraint, redistribution, responsi-
bility, and renewal. In the tradition of Latin American liberation theology, Roy
May ( 2002 ) and Guillermo Kerber ( 2011 , p. 192) underline that “to regain a
healthy relationship with all creation it is necessary to address, and not be indif-
ferent to a world divided by extreme consumerism and starvation.” Among
Amerindians worldviews, equity and reciprocity among humans and nature are
also core values for cultures such as the Quechua and the Aymara (see Sarmiento,
in this volume [Chap. 5 ] ; Mamani 2000 , and in this volume [Chap. 6 ]).
Additionally, the notion of limits and respect for others is a cornerstone of the
ethical formulations substantiated in the ecological sciences, such as the land
ethic of Aldo Leopold, who stated that “an ethic, ecologically, is a limitation on
freedom action in the struggle for existence. An ethic, philosophically is a
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