Prosperity for a Finite Planet: Part 1
April 24, 2014
On April 24, 2014, Tim Jackson spoke on the shifting paths for achieving prosperity in our lives. While economic growth was once essential in reaching our current level of development, perhaps continued growth not only sees diminishing returns, but also detracts from our present happiness and future prosperity. In a world with finite ecological limits, how do we make what we need, get it to the people who need it, and nurture what we already have? In part one of his talk, Jackson offers a cogent diagnosis of the growing tension between economic growth and prosperity. Jackson looks forward to an alternative economics that would better serve future prosperity in Prosperity for a Finite Planet Part 2.
Tim Jackson is the author of Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet. He is Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Surrey and Director of RESOLVE—a research group on lifestyles, values, and the environment funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). For over twenty years, Jackson has been at the forefront of research on the relationship between economic growth and the environment. During the ‘90s and ‘00s he worked extensively on the development of “adjusted” national accounts (“green GDP”) at both national and regional levels in the United Kingdom. He has also written extensively on the conceptual and empirical dimensions of the relationship between economic growth, wellbeing, and sustainability. In 2004 he was appointed Economics Commissioner on the UK Sustainable Development Commission, where he led a program of work entitled Redefining Prosperity.