Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: 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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