A Theoretical Essay on Sustainability and Environmentally Balanced Output Growth: Natural Capital, Constrained Depletion of Resources and Pollution Generation

Ano: 2009 | Volume: 6 | Número: 3

Autores: Augusto Marcos Carvalho de Sena

Palavras-chave: sustainability, natural capital, depletion of natural resources, environmentally balanced output growth

Resumo Inglês:

The fact that today’s activities are imposing a heavy burden on the earth's capacity has led to an increasing
interest in environmental issues. It is emphasized that rapid production growth has exhausted natural resources
and polluted the environment. The objective of this essay is to offer a clear definition of natural capital, connect
it to a qualitative concept of sustainability and, supported by two analytical models and a set of studies on related
environmental literature, to show that sustainability can be attained via imposition of controls over production
processes that use depletable natural resources and generate pollution. The methodology used contemplates an
integrative approach combining a qualitative (seeking definitions)-analytical (appraising models) apparatus to
reach a new conceptual perspective to conceive sustainability. As the main essay’s contribution, it is showed that
sustainability can be reached if compensation is allowed for, i.e., stocks of renewable being augmented as
production depletes the stocks of nonrenewable natural resources. Moreover, that result is possible even
considering nondecreasing output production, an important finding to contrast with the current environmentally
based output growth literature, which asserts that slowing down output production is the only way to obtain
sustainability.