生态文明和稳态经济

Ecological Civilization and Steady State Economy

现代经济学对生态学和物理学规律的忽略引发了包括从全球气候变化和生物多样性丧失到自然资源耗竭、石油峰值和金融崩溃在内的一系列危机。传统经济学没有解释这些危机的共同根源,没有提前预警,并且没有在其揭示问题的同时给出解决办法。生态经济学以物理学规律和生态学规律为基础,以生态可持续和分配公正这些明确的道德目标为指导,把我们当前的危机视为经济不断增长产生的必然后果,并提供了可行的解决方案。然而改变我们的复杂体系需要改变我们对两个问题的理解,即在生态学和物理学意义上什么是可能的以及在社会、心理和伦理意义上什么是值得拥有的。只有这样,我们才可能采纳需要用来建设生态文明的规则和体系。

An ecological civilization must be grounded in the laws of ecology and physics.The failure of modern economics to pay attention to these laws has triggered a series of crises,ranging from global climate change and biodiversity loss to natural resource depletion,peak oil and financial collapse.We desperately need to understand the systemic causes of these problems,and develop systemic solutions.Unfortunately,conventional economics fails to explain the shared origins of these crises,failed to predict them ahead of time,and fails to offer solutions as they unfold.Ecological economics builds on the laws of physics and ecology and is guided by the explicit moral goals of ecological sustainability and just distribution.It views our current crises as the inevitable result of continuous economic growth,and offers viable solutions.To change our complex system,however,we will need to change our understanding of what is ecologically and physically possible and our understanding of what is socially,psychologically and ethically desirable.Only then are we likely to adopt the rules and institutions required to build an ecological civilization.