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Joan Martínez-Alier and Goutam Karmakar engage in a conversation where they examine the discourses of the Anthropocene, the Capitalocene, political ecology, and the Entropocene, exploring environmental (in)justices and focussing on decolonial approaches to addressing them. This discussion, as Joan and Goutam believe, can inform readers about the inner workings of colonial capitalism and the extractivist economy, the involvement of environmental activists, and the incommensurability of values in ecological economics. In order to develop an equitable and environmentally sustainable society, this conversation aims to comprehend the dynamics linking environmental concerns, activism, and socio-economic systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This summary discusses the challenges faced by local communities in the Anthropocene, a new geological epoch characterized by global human and nonhuman interconnectedness. It explores the struggles of indigenous groups and eco-villages in maintaining their unique practices and resisting global influences. The article also delves into the concept of sustainability, distinguishing between weak and strong sustainability, and emphasizes the importance of bridging the gap between global and local ways of knowing. It highlights the potential for technology-mediated experiences of the sacred to contribute to a sense of overall purpose in life. The text summarizes a special issue of Acta Borealia that focuses on sustaining local practices in a global world, covering topics such as imagination, expertise, learning, technology, and language. The authors argue for the crucial role of traditional handcraft skills and language in maintaining a meaningful connection to the local environment, as well as the importance of skill and craft in sustaining local practices and bridging communities. The summary concludes by acknowledging the contributions of the authors and expressing gratitude to the reviewers and editorial board. [Extracted from the article]

Drawing on ecological economics, post-development studies, and political ecology, this paper argues that sustainable development notions have run their course within sustainability marketing debates and proposes degrowth as an alternative framework to steer disciplinary debates in new directions. We chart unexplored territory, offering sustainability marketing scholars tools to navigate degrowth-minded policies, transformative frameworks, and business models. In doing so, our work contributes to existing sustainability marketing debates in three ways: first, we respond to the paucity of studies engaging with the political economy of sustainability marketing. Second, we make visible the tensions and contradictions that arise as marketers seek to reconcile imperatives of economic growth and sustainability. Finally, we foreground degrowth as an emerging sustainability proposition, with potential for inspiring the radical set of transformations required to avert catastrophic climate change and keep global temperatures well below +2°C (relative to pre-industrial levels), as pledged in the Paris Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study resituates the notion of Natural Capital (NC) in a cosmological perspective and mobilizes accounting theory to propose a fresh approach to the concept. Thus, we firstly offer a critical analysis of NC to clarify the differences between its (capitalist) economic and ecological approaches. To do this, we perform a "Latourian" anthropological analysis of the mainstream notion of capital, repositioned in the Modern cosmology, as well as the notion of "Ecology." We show that the mainstream use of NC is incompatible with an ecological perspective, even in the case of Economic "Strong Sustainability." As an outcome, this study renews the critical analysis of Strong versus Weak sustainability. We then connect this debate with the concept of capital in "Traditional" Accounting (TA). We argue that TA theory provides a relevant framework to structure the debate on NC and to implement an ecological conceptualization of this notion. At the corporate level, in particular, the difference between a capitalist and an ecological NC relies on the difference between a debit (economic) and a credit (accounting) concept of capital. This study so proposes an extension of the "classical" accounting practices in historical costs to a more ecological vision of NC, linking accounting practices understood by current corporate stakeholders to ecological requirements. By doing this, we want to open a potential path of research in ecological economics and accounting based on an alternative perspective on NC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2008 economic crisis expanded the discussion about stabilization policies beyond its usual academic circles. Such concerns seem even more eminent now as, amidst the COVID-19, governments around the world search for solutions to the looming crisis. John Maynard Keynes, Michal Kalecki, and Hyman Minsky have long inspired those who believe that the private sector is unable to maintain long-lasting stability and, even less so, full employment. The remedy relies not in the indirect mechanisms of monetary fine-tuning, but rather on the direct means of fiscal policy. Less acknowledged, however, is that despite of their different approaches, neither of these three authors considered conventional pump-priming fiscal policy a direct policy. Considerations of this nature have, nonetheless, been pursued by a group of post-Keyensian/neo-Kaleckian economists—who argue that discussions about economic stability should be coupled with concerns related to the broader social and environmental systems. To contribute to the newly intensified push of a post-Keynesian/neo-Kaleckian ecological economics, the paper introduces a metric for green jobs, using non-dichotomous measurements as proposed by 'fuzzy logic', as a tool to operationalize an ecological job-guarantee program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book "Environmental ethics, sustainability and decisions: literature problems and suggested solutions" by Fabio Zagonari explores the ethical dimensions of environmental sustainability and the decision-making processes involved. The author argues that sustainability is an ethical issue and discusses the importance of institutions in shaping behaviors and suggesting values. The book provides an overview of environmental ethics, sustainability paradigms, and decision-making methods, with a focus on maximizing welfare and minimizing inequalities. It emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of environmental sustainability and the need for consistency and transparency in research and decision-making. The book offers simplified models and examples for both students and researchers to understand the complexities of sustainable decision-making. [Extracted from the article]

This brief introduction discusses the concept of strong sustainability from three basic pillars: The non-substitutability of natural capital, the necessity to have holistic analysis of sustainability using multi-dimensional criteria, and the construction of a new social contract to formulate sustainable trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way in which any topic is analysed in economics depends on methodological approach. The purpose here is to explore the argument that the way in which climate change is addressed depends on how economics is understood to relate to the physical environment and also to the social and ethical environment. This involves an exploration of the formation of knowledge, both in economics and in the economy. Alfred Marshall's evolutionary approach to knowledge formation was central to his approach to economics and to his understanding of economic behaviour. Here, we consider the application of Marshall's approach to issues around climate change, through the lens of the subsequent development of evolutionary economics and ecological economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this article is to explore new paradigms of teacher training in the field of environmental education. That is why this qualitative study explores the literature on ecological economics and degrowth to identify the most important theoretical principles that can be integrated into environmental education practices. From a transdisciplinary approach, the study integrates a philosophical and epistemological dialogue between scientific knowledge and indigenous wisdom of the Ecuadorian peoples. Then, the results of introducing the ecological economics foundations in the Ecuadorian environmental education policies are described with the analysis of the TiNi program. Subsequently, the emergence of the regenerative economics in the literature is discussed. To conclude, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are questioned for their conventional economic vision, and regenerative cultures are proposed to promote world futures focused in human well-being and environmental justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The western model of development is experiencing a generalized crisis manifested by economic, political, ecological and sociological worldwide instabilities and heated popular responses sparking in several points of the globe. As illustrated by Kate Raworth in Doughnut Economics, 13% of the world population lives in a situation of food insecurity and 19% lives without electricity, meanwhile society experiences increasing rate of green gas emissions, biodiversity degradation, and deposits of reactive nitrogen. Aims at proposing an economic theory that supports access to basic human rights to every human being without depredating the quality of the environment have led a group of post-Keynesian/neo-Kaleckian economists to push for a framework that couples economic stability with concerns related to the broader social and environmental systems. To contribute to the newly intensified push of a post-Keynesian/neo-Kaleckian ecological economics, the present article introduces a metric for green jobs, using non-dichotomous measurements as proposed by "fuzzy logic," as a tool to operationalize economic policies such as an ecological employment-guarantee program, for instance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An admirer of John Maynard Keynes and an advocate of a historically grounded economic theory, the French economist, Bernard Maris, investigated the possible emergence of alternative monetary, productive, and distributive institutional arrangements for a more just society. Based on a dialogue between institutional economics and Bernard Maris, the present paper aims at proposing general guidelines for the construction of a plan for subnational development towards a more equitable and inclusive society on the regional, individual, and geo-economic levels. With a special focus on the region of Occitanie—Maris's native region, located in the Southwest of France—the study borrows Karl Polanyi's lens, in his The Great Transformation, to envision a possible reduction of dependency in each one of those three levels through the process of decommodification of money, labor, and land, respectively. Because of its ability to take into consideration specificities (being them departmental, territorial, and/or social), institutional economic theory seems adequate to support subnational development, especially in a region with great diversity and a high level of socio-economic and geographic disparity like Occitanie. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As global climate change becomes an increasing problem, so will supply shocks, whether in terms of suppression, mitigation, or adaptation. Economics is largely unprepared to entreat these. Supply shocks are often misunderstood as hyperinflations brought on by increased money creation instead of as a fundamental shortfall in habituated consumption. Entreating supply shocks will be more akin to returning Apollo 13 to Earth than it will be to burying bank notes. Modern Monetary Theory's roots provide a solution. MMT is fundamentally a theory that supposes that capacity is the only constraint upon the abilities of economies. MMT, outside of this, has argued that inflation effectively indicates that capacity is being strained. This paper suggests that current prices are being used as a proxy for capacity by both a congressional budget and an MMT approach. It hopes to develop MMT in terms of its institutionalist roots. This article will point out some of the issues that arise with the use of prices as a proxy for capacity—and inflation as a measure of its limits. The paper's primary concern is to determine how society might fit into a lettuce wrap: a consumption space bounded by universal subsistence and zero-non-renewable resource use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how "resilience" appeared and became embedded as a keyword in Arts Council England's (ACE) policy discourse from 2010, initially in response to the financial crisis in Britain and the government's call for austerity. The general dynamic of what we call policy keywords here is thereby exemplified, while throwing light on Arts policy making at a specific historical juncture in Britain. Some of the features of such policy keywords are considered here: in terms of connotative ambiguities and associations, definitions, and naming or branding practices. Their distinctive purchase in ACE's "resilience" policies is analysed in the process. The policies were designed to reduce public spending by appealing to normative agendas which, in this instance, seemed contingent on a larger and immediate impetus and were derived from the field of "ecological economics". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herman Daly's Economics for a Full World, by Peter Victor, provides a comprehensive overview of Daly's thought and the life experiences that shaped it. Daly has played a key role in advancing the critique of economic growth, helping launch the field of ecological economics, and creating a foundation for many variations of post-growth thinking. This commentary examines some of Daly's main contributions that have included elaborating the idea that growth can be uneconomic, outlining core principles of a steady-state economy, questioning the potential to decouple economic growth from environmental impacts, advancing the project of moving beyond gross domestic product (GDP) to measure economic performance, and emphasizing the importance of separately addressing the economy's optimal scale, just distribution, and efficient allocation. Also discussed are controversial elements of Daly's work, including his population and immigration proposals. While mainstream economists have resisted these ideas, the most important criticisms come from people sympathetic with his challenge to the growth paradigm, including criticism of insufficient analysis of how the dynamics of contemporary capitalist economies drive a relentless pursuit of growth. As Victor argues, it is time for a new generation to build on the foundations that Daly constructed. Much work still lies ahead in creating an economy appropriate for a "full world," including better understanding of how to reduce growth dependency and creating the complementary cultural and political changes needed to overcome opposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This century has not been kind to mainstream economics. It has failed to notice the planet is afire. Anti-ecological, it ignores natural limits. Its 'peak prometheanism' arrived in the 1980s, but how far back does the rot go? Some ecological economists locate the wrong turn in the nineteenth century. Before that was physiocracy (meaning 'rule of nature'). The physiocrats were the first to call themselves 'economists,' and to formalise political economy as an objective science tasked to anatomise general economic laws. Were they the pioneers of a genuinely 'ecological' tradition of economics? In this essay I subject physiocracy to critical analysis, focussing on agrarian capitalism and laissez-faire economics, as well as class, colonialism, environmentalism and the growth paradigm. I ask whether physiocracy was science masquerading as mysticism or the reverse. Finally, I reflect on the ideology of economics and the limits of 'image-focused' alternatives such as Kate Raworth's 'doughnut economics.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of the ecological and climate emergencies and several other deep crises, advocates of degrowth call for democratic transitions towards societies that can thrive beyond economic growth within ecological boundaries while being socially equitable. In recent years, scholarship has emerged that brings together the emerging degrowth paradigm with insights from political economy. Yet much contemporary political economy continues to ignore the environment and, by implication, the ecological downsides of economic growth. The present contribution criticizes this state of affairs and highlights the promises of a synthesis of contemporary critical political economy and the growth-critical tradition in ecological economics. It hints at how concepts of one particular strand of critical political economy, namely regulation theory, may be of use in analyses of (trajectories to) the postgrowth era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on Soviet practices and debates on money during the 1918–1921 period. In the first part, we briefly present the Bolshevik policy and discussions on eliminating money as a means of payments and calculation. In the second part, we outline in details A. Chayanov's model of in-kind accounting by making some comparisons with O. Neurath's proposals for an economy in kind. The latter had a decisive influence on Soviet Russia. Finally, we conclude with some reflections on the role of these models for ecological economics, modern efficiency measuring and monetary theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The institution of private property forms the basis for ecological disaster. The profit-seeking of the vested interests, in conjunction with their modes of valuing nature through the apparatuses of neoclassical economics and neoliberalism proceed to degrade and destroy life on Earth. I assert that the radical, or original institutional economics (OIE) of Thorstein Veblen, further advanced by William Dugger, have crucial insights to offer the interdisciplinary fields of political ecology and ecological economics which seek to address the underlying causes and emergent complications of the unfolding, interconnected, social, and ecological crises that define our age. This inquiry will attempt to address what appears to be either overlooked or under-explored in these research communities. Namely, that the usurpation of society's surplus production, or, the accumulation of capital, is a parasite that sustains itself not only through the exploitation of human labor, but by exploiting society and nature more broadly, resulting in the deterioration of life itself. I shall argue that the transformation of the obvious predator that pursues power through pecuniary gain into a parasite, undetected by its host, is realized in its most rapacious form in the global hegemonic system of neoliberal capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How farms can create and maintain sustainable agritourism is yet to be fully addressed. Given its link with sustainable development, research on agritourism sustainability, while highlighting the positive consequences, has neglected the theoretical perspectives. We thus find a lacuna in holistically understanding its driving processes and, consequently, its conceptualization. In response, this article draws extensively on the ecological economics co-evolutionary framework to explain the intertwined dynamics underlying sustainable agritourism and its determinants. Co-evolution conceives the organizations–environments relationship as circular, with mutual influence, and dialectical. We analyze the dynamics of the farm–rural destination relationship through a longitudinal analysis of 20 Italian agritourism farms. We find that sustainable agritourism emerges within rural destinations through diffused multilevel interactions and feedbacks resulting in organizational practices that enhance the farm and region's identities, and thus competitiveness. We offer an interpretative framework that conceptualizes sustainable agritourism through effective multilevel co-evolutionary adaptations and identify four determinants: strategic intentionality, rural lifestyle experience, systemic approach, and social responsibility. This approach may help farmers and policymakers develop destinations through sustainable agritourism. Implications for future research and practice in the sustainable tourism field emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of green growth has emerged as a dominant policy response to climate change and ecological breakdown. Green growth theory asserts that continued economic expansion is compatible with our planet's ecology, as technological change and substitution will allow us to absolutely decouple GDP growth from resource use and carbon emissions. This claim is now assumed in national and international policy, including in the Sustainable Development Goals. But empirical evidence on resource use and carbon emissions does not support green growth theory. Examining relevant studies on historical trends and model-based projections, we find that: (1) there is no empirical evidence that absolute decoupling from resource use can be achieved on a global scale against a background of continued economic growth, and (2) absolute decoupling from carbon emissions is highly unlikely to be achieved at a rate rapid enough to prevent global warming over 1.5°C or 2°C, even under optimistic policy conditions. We conclude that green growth is likely to be a misguided objective, and that policymakers need to look toward alternative strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological intelligence (EI) refers to systemic thinking, ecophilosophy, holistic perspective, collective lifestyle and cultural commons. It is difficult to determine the exact nature of EI and its characteristics due to it being a complex concept. The aim of this study is to develop an EI scale intended for adults which is based on a holistic perspective, social intelligence and economy and try to specify the concept of ecological intelligence. The goodness-of-fit values were at an acceptable level. The results were Cronbach's alpha: 0.824; KMO: 0.878; X2/df: 3.39; RMSEA: 0.077; SRMR: 0.0504; GFI, AGFI, NFI, NNFI, IFI, CFI ≥ 0.90. These results showed that the scale is reliable, and has validity and strong theoretical background. There are 12 items within the scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several contributions have examined the field of ecological economics using bibliometric techniques. However, none of those bibliometric studies has yet investigated the historical roots of the recent contributions to the field. The aim of this article is to fill that gap, enabling us to test and shed light on the received view that ecological economics is based on pluralistic and interdisciplinary foundations. To do so, we use citations analysis and reference publication year spectroscopy. We focus on the articles published in the journal Ecological Economics from 2000 to 2017 and study the references cited in these articles published from 1880 to 1950. We first examine the ten most influential cited contributions and identify the ten most influential reference publication years. Our results offer qualifications to the received view, supporting low interdisciplinarity and providing caveats concerning pluralism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a theoretical and methodological account of an important controversy between neoclassical resource economics and ecological economics from the early 1970s to the end of the 1990s. It shows that the assumption of unbounded resource productivity in the work of Solow and Stiglitz–and the related concepts of substitution and technical progress–rest on a model-based methodology. On the other hand, Georgescu-Roegen's assumption of thermodynamic limits to production, later revived by Daly, comes from a methodology of interdisciplinary consistency. I conclude that neither side provided a definitive proof of its own claim because both face important conceptual issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological economics is an interdisciplinary science that is primarily concerned with developing interventions to achieve sustainable ecological and economic systems. While ecological economists have, over the last few decades, made various empirical, theoretical, and conceptual advancements, there is one concept in particular that remains subject to confusion: critical natural capital. While critical natural capital denotes parts of the environment that are essential for the continued existence of our species, the meaning of terms commonly associated with this concept, such as 'non-substitutable' and 'impossible to substitute,' require a clearer formulation then they tend to receive. With the help of equations and graphs, this article develops new definite account of critical natural capital that makes explicit what it means for objective environmental conditions to be essential for continued existence. The second main part of this article turns to the question of formally modelling the priority of conserving critical natural capital. While some ecological economists have maintained that, beyond a certain threshold, critical natural capital possesses absolute infinite value, absolute infinite utility models encounter significant problems. This article shows that a relative infinite utility model provides a better way to model the priority of conserving critical natural capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys the nascent experiments in political ecology underway in predominantly Kurdish areas of south-eastern Turkey, known as Bakûr, and Rojava (northern Syria). The Kurdish freedom movement is attempting to consolidate a social revolution with ecology at its heart in a most unpromising context, given its ongoing struggle against Islamic State and regional embargoes. This greening of its ideology can be significantly attributed to the influence of American social ecologist Murray Bookchin, an inspiration for Kurdish attempts to implement democratic confederalism, which comprises principles of direct democracy, gender equality and ecological well-being in a needs-based economy. The Mesopotamian Ecology Movement has emerged from activist campaigns opposing dam construction, climate change and deforestation in the region, to inform ecology councils tasked with formulating policies that reflect this philosophical paradigm shift. The essay considers the prospects for the ecological initiatives in Turkish and Syrian Kurdistan. It argues that, confronted by formidable challenges, expansion of the democratic confederal model beyond the heartlands of Bakûr and Rojava, and international solidarity, are preconditions for their endurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many existing statistical and machine learning tools for social network analysis focus on a single level of analysis. Methods designed for clustering optimize a global partition of the graph, whereas projection-based approaches (e.g., the latent space model in the statistics literature) represent in rich detail the roles of individuals. Many pertinent questions in sociology and economics, however, span multiple scales of analysis. Further, many questions involve comparisons across disconnected graphs that will, inevitably be of different sizes, either due to missing data or the inherent heterogeneity in real-world networks. We propose a class of network models that represent network structure on multiple scales and facilitate comparison across graphs with different numbers of individuals. These models differentially invest modeling effort within subgraphs of high density, often termed communities, while maintaining a parsimonious structure between said subgraphs. We show that our model class is projective, highlighting an ongoing discussion in the social network modeling literature on the dependence of inference paradigms on the size of the observed graph. We illustrate the utility of our method using data on household relations from Karnataka, India. Supplementary material for this article is available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For nearly 30 years, since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, sustainability proponents have sought in various ways to foster a "sustainable consumption transition." EDITORIAL Does the COVID-19 outbreak mark the onset of a sustainable consumption transition? Consumers are stockpiling nonperishable food and other supplies and public authorities have not disclaimed the eventual need for rationing and other consumption controls. [Extracted from the article]

For nearly 30 years, since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, sustainability proponents have sought in various ways to foster a "sustainable consumption transition." Consumers are stockpiling nonperishable food and other supplies and public authorities have not disclaimed the eventual need for rationing and other consumption controls. We should expect a relentless stream of inducements from governments and companies encouraging consumers to get out of the house and back on the bandwagon. [Extracted from the article]

Currently, a national TEEB study is being conducted in Germany. However, it lacks an overall estimation of ecosystem service value (ESV) at the national level. In this paper, we estimate the ESV in Germany based on the national land cover data and the unit value transfer method and examine the relationships between ESV and gross domestic product (GDP). The results indicate that the total ESV amounts to 248,895 million US$/yr, accounting for 7.91% of the sum of ESV and GDP. Cropland with 111,704 million US$/yr makes the largest contribution to the total ESV, and the second largest state, Lower Saxony, has the greatest ESV of 60,346 million US$/yr. In addition, a spatial pattern that distinguishes four regions in terms of the relationship between ESV and GDP at the district level is identified. This study illustrates the overall status of ecosystem services at the current point of time in Germany, raises public awareness about the magnitude of these services relative to other services captured in GDP, and implies suggestions for future research and ecological policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of energy efficiency of agroecosystems from a sociometabolic perspective is a useful way to assess the sustainability of farm systems. In this paper we examine the transition of a Mediterranean agroecosystem from an organic farm system in the mid nineteenth century to an industrialized one at the end of the twentieth century by means of the technologies and ideology of the Green Revolution. Given that many of the world's agricultural systems have experienced, or are currently experiencing this transformation, our results are relevant for building more sustainable agricultural systems in future. Our results highlight the relevance of livestock density, and the flows of biomass reused and unharvested biomass as key elements affecting the sustainability of the agroecosystem not only from a socioeconomic perspective, but also from an agroecological point of view. Additionally, from a biocultural perspective our investigation sustains the relevance of the study of traditional farm systems for the development of a sustainable agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indonesia's deforestation is a crisis of global proportions. Its causes are highly complex, spanning local social and community dynamics to national political hierarchies and global corporate politics, current and historic. Development plays a key role, with global neo-liberal imperatives leveraged, resisted and competing with myriad multi-level agendas and actors. Gramscian analysis of logics and ideology, which combine to construct a global and local "common sense," helps to explain the mixed messages of policy and conservation, which themselves make Indonesian deforestation and its solutions so complicated. Solutions to forest destruction, presented in the form of payment for ecosystem services, multi-stakeholder initiatives, improved governance and transparency within a neo-liberal market framework, have had limited success. The reason for this limited success lies in the notion, encouraged by multilateral and development thinking, that commodification of communities and nature will also conserve forests. Drawing on fieldwork in Indonesia and the United States, this article argues that discrepancies in development and economic policy, which lead to ecologically destructive outcomes like tropical deforestation, cannot be patched up by innovative market tools. Rather, they reflect irreconcilable flaws in contemporary political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past three decades, scholars and activists have been attempting to enrich the field of economics with both feminist and ecological perspectives. This essay reviews some highlights of such efforts, describes the current state of the field (particularly in regard to notions of "care"), and introduces a short symposium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution engages with the question of measurement of economic well-being from a feminist ecological perspective. It starts from the dual premises that it is necessary to recognize and value as important the economic, social, and environmental contributors to economic welfare and desirable for ecological and feminist economists to collaborate in moving toward a sustainable future. The study examines the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), formulated and developed by environmental-ecological economists, as a potentially useful measure that responds to both feminist and ecological economic concerns by making visible unpaid care labor and the environment. As an accounting framework that applies the monetary imputation approach, the GPI is objectionable to some ecological and feminist economists. Reviewing debates among feminist and ecological economists, this study argues that the goals and potential objections of both groups may be addressed by complementing GPI with a narrative approach in a plural and conditional policy-input process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes up the recent debate on whether ecology and economy should be understood as entangled or analytically distinct entities. Instead of continuing to place these two strands of thought against each other, this article suggests another route into the problematic. This route is offered by thinking through the psychic life of money. In mobilising Jacques Derrida's theorisation of hauntology, it rethinks the spatiality and temporality of money in terms of dis/continuity. It argues that rather than opting on the one hand for a generous inclusive notion of the economic-ecological, or on the other for keeping money and energy apart as two separate realms, it is more productive to envision a modality of radical complicity structured by originary lack and excess of interest and survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While in many cases the benefits of ecosystem services (ES) can be enjoyed on different scales, the provision of ES requires engagement and commitment at the local scale. Therefore, the local level becomes important when thinking about compensation schemes or payments for ecosystem services (PES) as an approach to managing ES. The difficult task of bringing together different actors and institutions at different scales for specific conservation projects at the local level often remains in the hands of intermediaries. In this paper, we investigate the role of a civil society organisation (CSO) as an intermediary organisation in a PES scheme, the Community Blue Carbon Project (CBCP) in Costa Rica. To assess the role of intermediaries in a PES scheme, we rely on social network analysis and examine the position and role of the intermediary organisation. Based on Net-Map interviews, which is an interview-based mapping tool that helps people understand, visualise, discuss and improve situations in which many different actors influence outcomes, we find that the intermediary organisation in the CBCP is composed of several institutional and individual intermediaries who create both formal networks for connecting the international to the local level and informal networks for creating trusting relationships among the actors. Different spatial levels are reflected within the CSO’s organisational structure, and the CSO mitigates the distributional, procedural, recognition and contextual aspects of environmental justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing analysis suggests that individuals may reduce their concern for and belief in climate change as a result of macro-economic difficulties. Such conclusions are predominantly based on repeated cross-sectional and pooled data making it difficult to separate out the effects of economic conditions from other explanatory factors. Approaching this question through experimentally priming individuals to feel a certain way about the economy has also proven difficult due to economic perceptions being difficult to alter in a survey setting [Kachi, Bernauer, & Gampfer, 2015. Climate policy in hard times: Are the pessimists right? Ecological Economics, 114, 227-241]. This article thus investigates a related question on the effect of the salience of economic perceptions on climate change views using an online question-order experiment, whereby salience denotes the prominence of the issue in the mind of the respondent. Respondents were randomly assigned to receiving an economic prompting question before or after being asked about their climate change views. The results show no effect of the prompting on belief in anthropogenic climate change, but they do show an effect of prompting on prioritization of taking urgent action to address climate change. Those with a non-positive view of the economy were less likely to support urgent action in comparison to those who considered the economy to be performing well if they were asked first about their economic evaluations. The salience of economic evaluations and the direction of such evaluations would not be significant if economic evaluations themselves were not important, and thus the findings also reveal that economic evaluations do matter. Key policy insights Belief in anthropogenic climate change is not affected by the salience of economic perceptions. Support for taking urgent action to implement policies to address climate change is impacted by the salience of macro-economic perceptions, with respondents who have their non-positive economic perceptions brought to the forefront of their minds displaying reduced support for urgent action. Policies that aim to tackle climate change are more likely to have bottom-up support from the public during periods when the economy is perceived to be prosperous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avitourism is one of the faster growing subsectors of ecotourism, recognized for its economic value. Much of our current understanding of the economic value of avitourism revolves around bird festivals, migration events, or well-known birdwatching sites. Birdwatchers are a diverse group, some of whom competitively seek vagrant birds (i.e., birds outside their normal geographic range). The economic value from these unpredictable and transient birdwatching events remains poorly known. Using the travel cost method in a readily-quantifiable environment, we estimated that a vagrant Black-backed Oriole in Pennsylvania, United States of America, stimulated travel activity valued at about $223,000 USD or about $3,000 per day over 67 days. Some birdwatchers value rare birds, contributing significant time and financial resources to their viewing. Identifying such significant real economic value from avitourism can help to evaluate competing costs in debate over human land-use scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The variety of ideas about ways nature is ‘valued’ in public policymaking are investigated. A theoretical ideational approach is combined with empirical analysis of the UK’s ecosystem services framework. Several types of ideas are identified, and how they interact is examined: ideas about nature itself; about the role that different research on the value of nature can or should play in decision-making; and about how policy decisions are made. In particular, the ways these ideas appear in academic debates, especially in ecological economics and philosophy, are confronted with how ideas appear in thepolicy practiceof employing a ‘valuing nature’ concept. This reveals political dynamics sometimes missed by both advocates and critics of the concept of ecosystem services, such as the importance of promoting organisations and their agendas and activities, persuading different actors to change positions, and institutional commitments and sunk costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a green economy indicator framework for tourism destinations which has been developed in the case study destination of Bali, Indonesia. Whilst the term “green economy” can have many interpretations, here it refers to the global strategy framework surrounding Rio+20, as well as the policies and strategies being developed by tourism destinations as a response. Many uncertainties remain about the effectiveness of these efforts and how they may be measured. For lesser developed countries in particular, reliable data is often difficult to obtain and this study uses a case study approach to identify the relevant, and measurable, indicators in this context. First, a nominal group technique was applied to identify the green economy issues for local tourism stakeholders. The indicators were then selected based on the green economy literature and a review of the available secondary data for the destination. Data on greenhouse gas emissions from tourism was identified as one of the critical gaps and an estimate is provided to show how this could be obtained and monitored. While this indicator framework was developed specifically for Bali, the case study may be relevant for many other island destinations in the lesser developed world that are experiencing rapid tourism growth. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ecologically sustainable development (ESD) is the environmental component of sustainable development (SD). The main aim of this study is to explain the issues related to ESD from different points of view. Considering that environmental issues are essential to achieve SD goals, emphasizing the central role of ecological resources in SD is an important issue that makes it possible to suggest certain solutions that might help keep the global ecosystem sustainable for the desired SD. The role of natural capital in clarifying concepts and linking the economic system with the environment is significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most ecosystem services that are not traded on markets contribute to human welfare; however, these services are often undervalued due to the fact that their economic value is not well known. Accounting for the value of these services can help in making decisions that enable efficient use of environmental resources. This paper reports on a study of recreational trips to nature areas, the economic value of recreation in nature and factors influencing such trips. It also aimed to explore the possibilities of designing a nature-based recreation management strategy that could meet societal preferences and demands for recreation amenities. Data were obtained from a survey that involved Swedish residents who were randomly selected from a national register and were analysed using a negative binomial regression model. The results showed that the average frequency of trips to nature areas was 80 trips annually and the average travel cost for a trip to these areas was 117 SEK (16 USD). Forest-dominated areas were the most frequently visited and mountainous areas the least. Trips to mountain-dominated areas had the highest travel cost, followed by water-dominated areas, with forest areas the lowest. The consumer surplus for a trip to a nature area was 526 SEK (72 USD). The frequency of trips to nature areas was influenced by factors such as travel cost, type of nature area, travel time to and time spent at the nature area, recreational activity, income and dwelling place. If the aim of the Swedish policy on outdoor recreation (i.e. Right to Public Access) is to increase the frequency of trips to nature areas, facilities that could help reduce travel costs to these areas should be provided. Nature areas should be managed towards meeting societal preferences and demands for recreation. The findings could assist ecosystem managers in land use planning processes and in designing a sustainable nature-based recreation strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The green economy is an emergent approach to sustainable development launched at Rio+20. Herein environmental decision-making is increasingly achieved through economistic processes and logic. The natural commons are quantified and managed as natural capital. This paper summarizes the trajectory of the project and its ideological framework. It examines various conceptualizations of economic approaches to the environment and considers philosophical, methodological, and political problems associated with the green economy project. In the face of very different definitions of what constitutes a green economy, environmental communicators face a situation characterized by discursive confusion as the complexity of natural capital accounting processes conceal new political configurations. Counter movements argue that the green economy program is performing ideological work that uses language of environmentalism to obscure an intensified agenda of neoliberal governance and capital accumulation. The concept now has contradictory meanings. Environmental communicators have an important role to play in exposing the contested nature of the project and in helping to define the emerging green economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land-use change is a phenomenon highlighting significant shifts in human interaction with the natural environment. Different patterns of agriculture and a trend towards non-agricultural land use challenge the sustainability of farming systems. This study aims to identify the causes of changes in land use and cropping patterns, with a special focus on paddy, the staple crop in Asia. In the case of Wayanad, a district in Kerala, South India, we argue for an interdisciplinary analysis of rapid land-use change to unpack the multiple dimensions of sustainability: economic, ecological and social factors, aggregating up to 70% reduction in the area under paddy by 2010. The results rest on empirical field research, participatory rural appraisals and stakeholder workshops conducted during the 4-year period from 2010 to 2013, along with state- and district-level data covering the 1983–2011 period. Reduced economic viability, labour shortages and population pressure on land are the major drivers for the transformation of paddy fields to other land uses. Changes in land use and agrarian structure reflect not only the livelihood strategies adopted by farmers in response to these drivers, but also the impacts of unintended policy idiosyncrasies. At a more fundamental level, they are the consequences of policy conflicts and inadequate sectoral integration of policies and implementation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European farmland hosts a species assemblage of animals and plants which have undergone declines through the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, at least partly as a result of increased productivity. Further increases in human populations, changes in availability and cost of raw materials, policy constraints, price volatility and climatic changes will further drive greater efficiency and high yields in agriculture, with the risk of further adverse environmental impacts. We assess the effects of different management priorities (production-driven cropping vs. wildlife-friendly farming) at an arable farm in eastern England on food production, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and biodiversity. We modelled one actual and three alternative cropping scenarios using actual yields from the farm over 13 years, to calculate total yields and those foregone for agri-environmental measures. We measured crop yields, relative abundance of 19 farmland bird species, and CO2and N2O emissions related to crop production. Removing up to 10.5% of land from production coupled with a more diverse rotation (including legumes) resulted in a large increase in breeding birds (177%) and reduction of 9.4% in GHG emissions at the cost of 9.6% of food energy. Food protein lost was only 2.9%. A smaller increase in bird numbers of 50% could be achieved at a much smaller cost to yield (∼1.7% energy or protein) but with correspondingly smaller emissions reductions (1.2%). Results are discussed within the context of continued biodiversity loss to agriculture, increasing food demand and changing diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article identifies three distinct traditions in what might be described as 'ecological political economy'. First, a 'Promethean' approach posits that capitalism has a relentless drive towards growth and bears responsibility for the wholesale transformation of nature. Second, critics of sustainable capitalism acknowledge the possibility of capitalist futures with a better management of natural resources and carbon emissions. The Strategic Relational Approach, developed by Bob Jessop and Ngai-Ling Sum, points to a unique third type of ecological political economy. Each approach is shown to have distinct views concerning the commodification of nature, the role of the state and ways to understand ecological and social transitions. The Strategic Relational Approach points to the possibility of counter-hegemonic strategies and collective mobilization to transform the state and so redirect, control and contain capitalist relations with nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article illustrates how publication trends in different subject categories in economics evolved from 2007 to 2013. Using data from RePEc we show that the largest increase in the relative share was for articles published in JEL category Q (‘Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics’) over this period. Furthermore, we provide evidence that the number of JEL categories per article increased over the last 25 years. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As a species, human beings are free-riders incentivized to adopt ‘rational’ short-term measures that assure long-term ecocide given increasing uncertainty due to the increasing speed of high-tech powered globalization. The financial crisis and displacement of employment by technological advances reinforce momentary opportunism. Policy-makers often frame ecopreneurship as a short-term solution for creating ‘green jobs’, with the potential to alleviate the environmental and unemployment crises simultaneously. Globalization has resulted in increasing public uncertainty and anxiety challenging overwhelmed state budgets and requiring supplementary individual investments. Understandable short-term ‘rent-seeking’ must be co-opted by firm green public policies transforming unbridled ‘casino capitalism’ into a regulated ‘green casino’, channeling inevitable human speculation and free-rider behavior toward sustainability. Ecopreneurship in this context is a Sisyphus ‘green-green’ job-creating process, a realistic, existential effort to head off the most egregious negative forms of entropy in order to delay or avert such collective suicide a bit longer. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous research highlights that ecopreneurship helps to live within planetary limits and influence existing practices. Yet, the tactics of ecopreneurs aiming to do this is rarely covered. This study follows three ecopreneurs in urban planning, food, and clothing sectors during four years while they tried to influence existing practices. Over the years their activities changed, decelerated, or stopped. Owing to the difficulties and opposition they faced, their tactics included resource bricolage, and giving in to opposition and finding detours. These findings present ecopreneurship as a mundane process evolving over time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]