Externalities - Economics and Ecology: United for a Sustainable World - page 87

economics, whatever the details of its methodology, has unerringly come
down on the side of continual growth—despite any and all negative con-
sequences. Consciously or not, it has supported proceeding unabated until
major, negative impacts are proven. If we are to survive as a viable society
with an attractive quality of life, an important reform must be to change that.
Economics must embrace the uncertainty and act in the interests of long-
term, social health instead of short-term, materialistic gain. Economic
policy and scientific knowledge, especially in the face of major proba-
bilistic uncertainties, such as those surrounding global climate change,
must be aligned.
Full life-cycle cost accounting, even of the difficult-to-measure intangibles,
must become a rigidly held norm. To date, professional lip service is afforded
this goal, but little effort has been made in actually applying it. One effort is
the environmental impact statement, and it is enlightening that development
interests often ridicule this tool as a needless and cumbersome blockade to
progress. The fields of economics and ecology must, in effect, act as one.
They are, after all, inexorably linked in cause and effect—the consequences
of which form the legacy of all generations . Moving toward this outcome is a
major purpose of this topic.
Endnote
1. Externality. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality (accessed on November
13, 2010).