Sustainable economic conditions cannot be reached without increasing the resource productivity of the industrialized countries dramatically. By 2050, the world-wide average per capita consumption shall not exceed 8 tons of material per year. System policies need be developed and applied to ascertain success.
KEY CONCEPTS
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The existing economic system de-stabilizes the ecosystem services that are crucial for the survival of humans on earth, and cannot be replaced by technology.
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The physical root cause imperiling the eco-system services is the enormous consumption of natural resources (material, water, and land surface) for creating material welfare. The economic root cause is the near zero price for using nature.
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Limited physical resources on earth, population growth and the need to protect eco-system services necessitate a substantial increase in resource productivity.
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The human economy must be constrained to function within the limits of the environment and its resources and in such a way that it works with the grain of, rather than against, natural laws and processes (Ekins).
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First estimates indicate that capping the yearly consumption of natural material resources at close to 6 or 7 tons per capita seems unavoidable. This implies a tenfold dematerialization on average for the economy of traditionally industrialized countries.
weitere Informationen A Solution Named Dematerialization