Looking through the dataquadrate: characterizing the human–environment relationship through economic, hedonic, ecological and demographic measures

Abstract: This paper introduces the concept of plotting four-dimensional data in two dimensions without loss of information; namely, the dataquadrate concept. Here objects are represented as quadrates instead of points in a practical 4-axis Cartesian coordinate system. This procedure helps us imagine and analyze complex relations where four different, non-negative variables influence processes. This tool is of high utility for analyzing specific human–environment issues. Here we analyze a monetary measure (gross domestic product; GDP), a hedonic measure (subjective wellbeing), a limiting measure (ecological footprint) and a demographic measure (human population). Our system adds new insights to the de-growth debate discussed in a Journal of Cleaner Production special issue (vol. 18, 2010) and systematically illuminates lots of confusing paradoxes such as the downward sloping part of the Environmental Kuznets Curve, the Jevons'' paradox, and the Easterlin paradox. In this paper all these phenomena are analyzed for the USA and for China in 1990 and in 2007. By utilizing such methodology, when mitigating environmental problems we are not limited to negative, restrictive messages but are enabled to create new strategic ways of problem solving about how to optimize the human ‘celestial footprint’ (the ratio of human wellbeing to human environmental load). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]