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http://hdl.handle.net/1942/13222
Title: | Beyond the Environmentalist's Paradox and the Debate on Weak versus Strong Sustainability | Authors: | ANG, Frederic VAN PASSEL, Steven |
Issue Date: | 2012 | Source: | BIOSCIENCE, 62 (3), p. 251-259 | Abstract: | Environmentalists generally argue that ecological damage will (eventually) lead to declines in human well-being. From this perspective, the recent introduction of the “environmentalist’s paradox” in BioScience by Raudsepp-Hearne and colleagues (2010) is particularly significant. In essence, Raudsepp-Hearne and colleagues (2010) claimed that although ecosystem services have been degraded, human well-being—paradoxically—has increased. In this article, we show that this debate is in fact rooted in a broader discussion on weak sustainability versus strong sustainability(the substitutability of human-made capital for natural capital). We warn against the reductive nature of focusing only on a stock–flow framework in which a natural-capital stock produces ecosystem services. Concretely, we recommend a holistic approach in which the complexity, irreversibility, uncertainty, and ethical predicaments intrinsic to the natural environment and its connections to humanity are also considered. | Keywords: | ecology; natural resources; assessments; sustainability | Document URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/1942/13222 | ISSN: | 0006-3568 | e-ISSN: | 1525-3244 | ISI #: | 000301561900008 | Category: | A1 | Type: | Journal Contribution | Validations: | ecoom 2013 |
Appears in Collections: | Research publications |
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