I really appreciate your feedback on this and your connecting ecology and economy in the thoughtful way that you did. I find you, in some ways, on much the same page as Paul Hawken of Smith and Hawken who later wrote one of the best books I have read on what we need to do to aid the planet recover –”The Ecology of Commerce”. He is known for having said in that book it was big business that got us into this [environmental degradation] and it will be big business that will get us out of it. I think we’re beginning to see some of that but I am unsure how deep it is as yet.

Maybe the current economic situation has brought about some real cultural changes that will further drive sustainability points home. While we have had our differences on economics over the years I like to think our solid support of certain common goals is far stronger and is what keeps this meaningful and constructive dialogue going.

We are in a difficult situation and it was a long time coming. I don’t see a quick solution and it may lead to some really unexpected and more permanent cultural changes. Let’s just hope they are for the good.

Best,
Joel Gordes

Thanks for this one.

Your definition is precisely right: “meet[ing] the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

Many here seem to think about this on environmental terms only. But it is no coincidence that the words ecology and economy share the same greek root, oikos, or home.

The current economic crisis is highlighting more than ever before the serious threats created by a lack of understanding of sustainability. Specifically, the lack of sustainability embedded in the structure of the financial securities system is a major threat to all the other systems that a modern society depends on.

Our financial system has not been operating in a remotely sustainable manner for several decades. And our government is now borrowing and spending at completely irresponsible levels to prop up a financial system built on securitization and avoided accountability. The federal government’s recent economic endeavors are completely unsustainable.

The financial institutions that our government is most trying to sustain are neither sustainable, healthy or competitive. In fact they seriously distort and disrupt the functioning of healthy markets. They should not be considered too big to fail, but rather too big to exist.

Like the natural selection of ecology, a critical part of a healthy economy is truly competitive markets. We don’t need to restore the markets for complex incomprehensible and unaccountable financial securities. Indeed we need the opposite – new rules that restore the health and diversity of the financial system that has been disrupted by a cancerous invasion of securitization.

Sustainability advocates should be out in front of the effort to restore a truly sustainable financial system in which feedback mechanisms are clear and effective, like in any healthy natural system.

Fred