Saving the environment requires re-writing Economics itself

by Susan Chan

You may have wondered what is the root cause of today's environmental problems? You may have viewed this simply to be corrupt politicians, or more specifically, a lack of political will in the face of systemic greed; or a variety of other reasons. However, the root cause of the problem is in the teachings of economics.

Western industrial civilization has basically bought into the models of "economic prosperity", which have been taught in economics classrooms. The prevailing models of economics which emphasize the virtues of "market growth", irrespective of social and environmental costs, was substantively developed in the nineteenth century.

Today's economics,was developed in the era of Adam Smith, and other great scholars at the time, and which in the post World War II societal milieu, was further engineered to serve the interests of large corporate enterprises (by implicitly giving the 'rights of individuals' to the entities). The University of Chicago School which embraced the exploitative economic doctrine of "Human Capital", was at the forefront of the corporate oriented manipulation of economics.

Global Warming and other numerous environmental problems in the world today, will likely only continue as long as the academic discipline of economics continues to support human self-destruction. The prevailing economics is precipitated with indifference under the greed-driven agenda of the corporate "selves".

Saving the environment, requires the replacement of the current model of "market"-biased economics with a revitalized people-driven economics. In such a context, social and environmental considerations would not be an afterthought. In such a rejuvenated "New Economics", social and environmental consideration would be at the core of all societal decision-making processes, as well as implemented public policies.

The books entitled Quantuum Economics: Wage Slavery or the Quality-of-Life? Choices in the New Economy, ISBN: 1894839609, and Quality of Life and Human Development, ISBN: 1897036353, substantively illuminate a critically needed 'New Economics': LINK

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