Sustainable growth...

Susatainable growth is one of my favorite topics because it focuses economics with the environmental realities that we have to face... or will face, I hope.

The National Geographic radio program "Pulse of the Planet," this week had an interesting item.

What happens when you spend more than you earn? Well, some scientists say that's exactly what's happening on here Earth. Human beings are taking more resources from planet Earth than nature can renew or we can somehow replace... Dr. Mathis Wachernagel is with the global sustainability group Redefining Progress.

"When we track how much we use as humanity, compared to how much capacity we have on the planet, what we see is that we are actually using more than what nature can renew. This is possible because we can cut forests more rapidly than timber regrows, or we can fish more rapidly than fish will replenish, or we can draw on water supplies and groundwater more rapidly than it renews. And all that we call ecological overshoot. We liquidate our ecological capital."

One of the best descriptions I have heard in a long time -- environmental deficits. [Here is PDF version of Redefining Progress's report.] Of course, by the shape of things, we don't have much of a problem with deficits.

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