Are We In a Sustainability Epidemic, In a Good Way?
Economic Problems
The economy seems like a terrifyingly big concept, but it is really just a grand aggregation of the choices made by lots and lots of people. The choices that each of us make have their natural and proportionate impact on the economy overall. Over time, changes in the choices and preferences that are expressed in people’s decision making reflect in the structure and cycles of the economy.
One of the big economic problems we are currently dealing with is that our collective choices, especially over the last century, have led to huge ecological and social sustainability challenges. Deforestation, climate change and a loss of biodiversity are all major problems, and so are poverty and a global deficiency in healthcare. Many of these things are problems today because the choices that we have made did not always consider (or ‘internalize’) their social and ecological implications, especially over the long run.
The long run is now catching up with us and we have become much more aware of these issues, and this is starting to reflect in our choices. But why has economics not been able to pre-empt or even clearly explain the relationships between our choices and the ecological and social problems that they have caused?
Economic theories, and the analyses based on those theories, have not been able to internalize these hidden costs of choices for a variety of reasons. One of the most important of these is that most economic growth theories are based on people being rational decision makers that seek to constantly maximize their income and consumption — which we also sweepingly refer to as ‘utility’. Investopedia defines economic utility as “the total satisfaction or benefit derived from consuming a good or service.”
The problem so far is that protecting the natural world or ensuring greater social harmony has not been an integral part of our own very personal conception of utility. As a result, these things have not reflected in the economy very much.
But there is a very interesting catch. This may be changing. As early as the late 1800s the famous economist John Stuart Mills said that changes in utility itself can occur over time, and this could change the patterns of economic activity. What we see today could just be come of these changes.
Through the sharing of information people are learning more about the implications of the choices they make, and these choices are starting to reflect the social and ecological implications in our decision making. More people want electric vehicles and clean energy solutions, socially responsibly produced garments and food products. These preferences are showing up in policies, and in research and development budgets, driving new frontiers for more ‘sustainably produced’ goods and services.
If you don’t believe me have a look at the Google Books Ngram for the word ‘sustainability’ below. If this were an epidemiological chart, we would be terrified!
Although there is a long way to go, the behavioral and narrative evidence suggests that a change in our ideas about utility are evolving for the better. And that puts each of us at the very center of the future.
But why does this matter? It matters because you, and we, matter. Our choices are important and its worth knowing that they make a difference every time we make an economic decision however big or small.
