Consumption Theory - Economics and Ecology: United for a Sustainable World - page 56

THROUGHPUT MODEL

Natural Resources

Extraction

Produced Inputs or Intermediate Goods

Production

FINAL

Technology

PRODUCTION

Distribution

Wholesalers and Retailers

Consumption Final Consumer “Satisfaction”

In this model, we begin with the endowment of natural resources avail-
able to support the economic activity in question. As we stated earlier,
these resources are essential components of the natural environment. The
economic process then begins with extraction of the resources (minerals,
timber, water, fish, medicinal plants, and so on), the conversion of those
resources through the production process ⇒ to intermediate and then fin-
ished products ⇒ to the distribution of those goods ⇒ to sales outlets ⇒ and
ultimately to the consumer, which may be a household or an organization,
such as a business, government, or nonprofit entity. That final product is
supposedly then consumed, and in the lexicon of economic methodology,
results in value, which can be alternatively expressed with several different
terms, such as satisfaction, well-being, utility , and human welfare , to name a few.
The simple point is as follows: Natural resources are employed to satisfy human
necessities, as well as desires. Thus, the movement of materials through the econ-
omy—from extraction to final consumption—results in the use (consumption)
of nature for the pleasure of human beings, however else it may be construed.
In a real sense, of course, this is exactly what the economy does. It employs
available resources to meet the material requirements of people. But the
story does not end here. In the first place, the implication is that the natural
environment holds no value for people until it is somehow “processed” into
constructed artifacts. This innately ignores appreciation of nature, wilder-
ness, or biodiversity for its intrinsic value. Only the extrinsic value (economic
conversion potential) of the built or produced environment seems to matter.
But, as destructive as that may be, it is not the main misleading draw-
back of the throughput model. The major problem with the throughput