Methodological Overview - Economics and Ecology: United for a Sustainable World - page 6

course we are now following toward a predictable culmination of great suf-
fering and widespread deprivation.
An Evolutionary View of America
All societies develop a cultural profile or ethic. This includes a set of traits,
characteristics, and beliefs that define them as a people. Americans are clearly
no exception. We take great pride, as politicians regularly remind us, in our
“National Character.” By and large, the American character was formed in
the 18th and 19th centuries. The first significant event marking what was
to become an incessant trend of Westward Expansion was the French and
Indian War, which ended in 1763. This was essentially a conflict between
the French and British over the question of movement into the Ohio Valley
from the initial colonial settlement of the east coast of North America. It
highlighted the strife over which of the largely European inhabitants would
settle the continent and how.
The 19th century, beginning with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803; and
the Lewis and Clark expedition over the following 3 years saw emergence
of the notion of Manifest Destiny, the conquest of the supposedly limitless
frontier—and perhaps above all, the beginnings of our cultural fascination
with the phenomenon of growth . This time period, marked by the romantic
notion of the unsettled American West, evolved into the Robber Baron era
and the development of large-scale, natural-resource-based, capital-goods
industries. In turn, emergence of these industries provided the infrastruc-
ture that supported the development of the United States as the industrial
superpower of the 20th century.
The maturing of industrial society, the growth of consumerism, and the (at
least temporary) rise of the middle-class marked the 20th century—a histori-
cal first. Throughout this maturation process, the United States maintained
its reliance on continual, unfettered growth and the notion that technological
progress was the answer to virtually all economically related challenges.
Indeed, growth and expansion, supported by incessant technological
change, has come to mark not only our national identity as a people but also
the overt public policy of virtually every major nation. Much of our discourse
will focus on these issues, but for now we pause to reiterate one clear fact:
The Western World, having for some time been driven by the credo of growth and
expansion, is in crisis mode. The global circumstances created by this ethos are
dire, and there is little agreement on the best way out of the mess. Therefore,
it is time, as we now address the topic of intellectual methodology, to stop
and take a broader view.
Resources were abundant during the time Americans were developing
their cultural identity. Consequently, the predominant economic policies