The green economy: mythical or meaningful?

Abstract

The conflicts among ecological and economic goals have been a central characteristic of environmental politics since the emergence of the modern environmental movement in the 1960s. On one side of the debate is the argument that reducing pollution and protecting ecosystems and other resources unnecessarily impairs economic expansion, competitiveness and prosperity. From this point of view, although some environmental safeguards are needed, public policy should favour growth as a general rule. On the other side is the assertion that human health and ecological limits demand a carefully managed path for growth, including little or even no growth, and a preference for ecological over economic goals when they conflict. Environmental politics has consisted of a struggle to define where the balance between these goals should be struck.