1.2 Ecology and the economy
The words economy and ecology have the same ancient Greek root oikos which means ‘household’. The economy is all the human-made systems we use to transfer and transform energy and matter from nature to meet human needs and wants in the planetary 'household.'
Mainstream economics courses largely ignore the connection between our economies and nature. But without Earth's life support systems, there would be no economy to support human life.
You can’t understand economic systems or how to improve them without a basic understanding of energy, matter and ecosystems. If we understand how human economic activities currently disrupt ecological processes, we may be able to design our economies to regenerate, rather than degenerate, Earth’s life-support systems.
At the end of Subtopic 1.2 Ecology and the economy, you should be able to:
discuss the significance of worldviews on the human-nature relationship
outline different forms and sources of energy
explain the role of energy in the economy
distinguish between renewable and nonrenewable energy resources
explain the role of machines in transforming energy for the economy
explain the role of fossil fuels in the Great Acceleration, and the problem of energy blindness
discuss the importance of rebalancing energy use with available resources
explain the role of matter in the economy
distinguish between renewable and nonrenewable material resources
discuss the impacts of extraction of matter and disposal of material waste on ecosystems
discuss strategies to reduce material use and waste production and their barriers
explain the role of interactions, energy flows and biodiversity in ecosystem function and stability
discuss how human economic activities disrupt ecosystems
explain the roles of biogeochemical cycles (focusing on water and carbon) in ecosystem function
discuss how human economic activities disrupt biogeochemical cycles
explain the planetary boundaries model and the interconnectedness of Earth’s life-support systems