Chapter questions

Question 1

What determines if economic growth is negative for the environment?

Answer 1

?

Question 2

How are weak and strong sustainability defined?

Answer 2

Weak sustainability:
The sum of natural and man-
made capital must not decline.

Strong sustainability:
Neither natural, nor man-made
capital must decline.

Question 3

What does the concept “substitutability” mean and how is it related to the definition of weak and strong sustainability?

Answer 3

In weak sustainability it is assumed that it is possible to substitute natural capital with man-made capital. In strong sustainability it is assumed that it is not possible.

Because of substitutability it is therefore possible to discuss the sum of natural and man-made capital for weak sustainability but not for strong sustainability.

Question 4

Which two factors determine the possibility of substituting man-made capital for natural capital? How can these change over time?

Answer 4

(1) The technology available (or our preferences)
(2) How critical that natural capital i s to us. Like air, freshwater, land etc

Things that we can or cannot do without and if we have the possibility to provide these services man-made or not.

Both our needs and our technologies may change over time.

Those in favor of weak sustainability believe that technology will be able to substitute many things in the future (increase in technology available) or that we don’t know the future need, so there is now reason to prepare for it.

Those in favor of strong sustainability means that some things can’t be replaced well enough and that technology may even provide new problems that creates more needs. Since we don’t know the future needs and since they might be much greater than ours, we should preserve as much as possible now. And one big argument is that destruction of natural capital is often irreversible, while man-made is not. Better to preserve what cannot be restored.

Question 5

What is critical natural capital?

Answer 5

It is the natural capital that we cannot live without, such as top soil and clean air. It is hard to know what is critical in the future compared to today.