Rethinking the economy within planetary boundaries

  • Mateo Aguado Caso Investigador en el Laboratorio de Socio-Ecosistemas del Departamento de Ecología de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Keywords: economic growth, consumption, human well-being, human needs, income inequality, ecological sustainability, ; socio-ecological justice, political ecology, degrowth

Abstract

The capitalist globalization under which we live is favoring the advancement of a chrematistic worldview of life based on increasingly urban, consumerist and unsustainable lifestyles. This fact, far from leading us towards more just and prosperous societies, is consolidating a culture of excess and waste that is pushing our civilization towards an unprecedented social and ecological crisis whose outcome could be dramatic for our species and the rest of the world’s living beings.

Under a context like this, the 21st century presents us with a colossal challenge: to be able to accommodate in a fair and peaceful way the well-being of the growing human population in a planet of limited ecological space and finite natural resources. The rising unsustainability of the current economic model and the lifestyle associated with it is beginning to collide with the planetary boundaries, and we are running out of time to adopt a global and coordinated response that is up to such an extraordinary challenge.

Over the next few years, human beings must be able to overcome the current materialist and consumerist conception of human well-being and rethink the true raison d'être of the economy on a finite planet that is bounded by impassable biophysical restrictions. Our future as a species at the dawn of the new millennium will depend on it.

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Published
2021-07-31
How to Cite
Aguado Caso M. (2021). Rethinking the economy within planetary boundaries. Política y Sociedad, 58(2), e65870. https://doi.org/10.5209/poso.65870