Envisioning shared goals for humanity: a detailed, shared vision of a sustainable and desirable USA in 2100

Economics has been defined as the science of allocation of scarce resources towards alternative ends. This definition implies that the first step in economic analysis is to determine what ends are desirable for society. Most sectors of the society would agree that sustainability is a desirable end, but there is little agreement as to what a sustainable future would look like. The University of Maryland Institute for Ecological Economics sponsored a democratic future search process designed to create a relatively detailed, shared vision of a sustainable and desirable USA in the year 2100. This paper presents the vision developed at that conference, examines the resources required to achieve the vision, and assesses the suitability of market mechanisms for allocating the required resources towards the desired ends. We find that markets are not efficient mechanisms for allocation in this case, and propose the institutions of a ‘strong democracy’ as a promising alternative. # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

[1]  Robert Costanza,et al.  49 Chapter 4 VALUING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES WITH EFFICIENCY , FAIRNESS , AND SUSTAINABILITY AS GOALS , 1999 .

[2]  Amory B. Lovins,et al.  Hypercars: the next Industrial Revolution , 1996, 1996 IEEE Aerospace Applications Conference. Proceedings.

[3]  Pete A. Y. Gunter,et al.  For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Towards Community, The Environment, and a Sustainable Future , 1990, Process Studies.

[4]  W. Hamilton,et al.  The evolution of cooperation. , 1984, Science.

[5]  Robert Costanza.  Visions of Alternative (Unpredictable) Futures and Their Use in Policy Analysis , 2000 .

[6]  Benjamin R. Barber,et al.  Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age , 1985 .

[7]  G. Daily.  Nature's services: societal dependence on natural ecosystems. , 1998 .

[8]  W. M. Smathers,et al.  A synthesis of ecological and economic theory toward more complete valuation of tropical moist forests , 1983 .

[9]  R. Costanza,et al.  Embodied energy and economic valuation. , 1980, Science.

[10]  M. Weisbord,et al.  Future Search: An Action Guide to Finding Common Ground in Organizations and Communities , 1995 .

[11]  N. Georgescu-Roegen.  The Entropy Law and the Economic Process , 1973 .

[12]  David Sauri-Pujol,et al.  Environment and Economy: Property Rights and Public Policy , 1992 .

[13]  Paul Ekins,et al.  Real-life economics : understanding wealth creation , 1992 .

[14]  Robert Costanza,et al.  The Local Politics of Global Sustainability , 1999 .

[15]  Francis M. Bator,et al.  The Anatomy of Market Failure , 1958 .

[16]  H. Daly,et al.  For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future , 1990 .