Open AccessThe green economy: mythical or meaningful?
Author(s) -
Daniel J. Fiorino
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
policy quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2324-1101
pISSN - 2324-1098
DOI - 10.26686/pq.v10i1.4480
Subject(s) - prosperity , politics , assertion , argument (complex analysis) , balance (ability) , green growth , economics , environmental pollution , preference , political economy , development economics , economic system , political science , sustainable development , economic growth , environmental protection , law , geography , medicine , biochemistry , chemistry , computer science , microeconomics , physical medicine and rehabilitation , programming language
The conflicts among ecological and economic goals have been a central characteristic of environmental politics since the emergence of the modern environmental movement in the 1960s. On one side of the debate is the argument that reducing pollution and protecting ecosystems and other resources unnecessarily impairs economic expansion, competitiveness and prosperity. From this point of view, although some environmental safeguards are needed, public policy should favour growth as a general rule. On the other side is the assertion that human health and ecological limits demand a carefully managed path for growth, including little or even no growth, and a preference for ecological over economic goals when they conflict. Environmental politics has consisted of a struggle to define where the balance between these goals should be struck.