Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet, 2021a

19 A Plan Might Be Welcome 324
In effect, our “boat” has no “waterline” painted on its side to indicate
when it is fully loaded. The word “macro” in macro-economics makes it
sound like the “big picture” view, but it’s really just intermediate. By
analogy, we might say that micro-economics is about underst<strong>and</strong>ing all
the complex workings within a house or building. Macro-economics
concerns itself with the distribution of various building types <strong>and</strong>
functions within a city. Missing is a branch evaluating how many
cities can fit on Earth <strong>and</strong> be supplied by the environment. Ecological
Economics attempts to address this shortcoming, which is not important
in an “empty” earth but becomes crucial as the human scale begins to
dominate the planet.
19.3.1 Steady State Economy
Chapter 2 demonstrated that economic growth cannot go on forever.
Continuing to operate as if growth can—<strong>and</strong> should—persist risks
irrevocable damage to that from which all value ultimately depends <strong>and</strong>
derives: a healthy natural environment. The sooner we can jump ship to
a new economic model that can survive the long haul, the better.
A few key principles will help flesh out aspects of how a steady state
economy might work. A critical goal is to reduce the flow (or dem<strong>and</strong>)
of resources into the economy, <strong>and</strong> reduce the waste (pollution, CO 2 ,for
instance) back into the environment. This would be akin to diminishing
the sizes of the two thick arrows in Figure 19.1. One approach would be
to levy substantial taxes on every tree that is cut, mineral that is mined,
drop of oil that is extracted, or wild animal that is unnaturally removed
from the environment. Likewise, a heavy tax would accompany disposal
of waste <strong>and</strong> emissions of pollutants. Meanwhile, labor would no longer
be taxed. Labor can add value to resources already in h<strong>and</strong>. The idea is
to tax the damaging things, not the beneficial things.
Think about what happens under these conditions. Buying a newly
manufactured item becomes expensive. Throwing away an old device
becomes expensive. Repair (labor) becomes cheaper. Say goodbye to
the disposable economy, or “planned obsolescence.” Durable goods
<strong>and</strong> lifetime warranties become popular. Items are designed to facilitate
upgrade or repair. For instance, once you own a large display at high
resolution, good contrast, <strong>and</strong> good color representation, it should satisfy
for a lifetime. 29 <strong>Human</strong> visual acuity is static, <strong>and</strong> modern displays
are effectively perfect, relative to our biological hardware. If a small
electronic component fails, the environmental cost of manufacturing a
whole new unit <strong>and</strong> disposing of the old one is enormous—especially
compared to the environmental cost of replacing the small failed component.
At present, repair cost often exceeds the cost of replacement <strong>and</strong>
disposal. 30 Under the new arrangement, we begin to place greater value
in craftsmanship, community resources, <strong>and</strong> high-quality goods. 31
29: Functional upgrades could potentially
be modularized to small inserts.
30: . . . disposal is essentially free now
31: . . . less plastic junk!
© 2021 T. W. Murphy, Jr.; Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Lic.;
Freely available at: https://escholarship.org/uc/energy_ambitions.