What Is Sustainability?

What is sustainability, and why is it such a contested topic? What does it mean for development to be sustainable? In this lecture, I explore the two main views on sustainability within economics: Weak Sustainability and Strong Sustainability. In doing so, I also cover the Five Capitals framework (natural capital, built capital, human capital, social capital, and financial capital).

[mharor]

Thank you for your videos! I'm currently taking a course on Environmental Economics and this type of content is a great companion to it. I appreciate that you discuss alternative (and much needed) perspectives to the neo-classical paradigm. Please, continue making videos!

[MetabolismofCities]

Many thanks for your educational videos Dan! Very well made and very easy to understand! Looking forward to videos about your recent work on "A Good Life for All within Planetary Boundaries".

[becmkh]

This was explained so well, I'm doing an essay on this and some of the material given by the teacher is worded badly without even bothering to explain capital- I originally thought it just meant financial capital.
Thank you! :)

[ecovirus]

Very nice and interesting but why vietnamese subtitles?

[kkob]

Ironically, I have no serious problem with what you have presented as it is just an overview. The problem is even ecological economics is inadequate. Let's start with a definition of sustainability. All those in the video range from delusional to inadequate. I submit the following as a comprehensive definition:

Sustainability: The use of the ecosystem to meet needs in such a way as to not only not diminish the resources available to future generations, but to enhance the productivity and natural functioning of the ecosystem.

This definition leaves no room for interpretation. It is actionable. It is clear. It focuses on ecosystem function, not production. In fact, it is more accurately the definition of regenerative, which is the type of systems we actually need. Sustainable implies stasis, which is not necessarily desirable and is, in fact, impossible.

Notice it says nothing of economics, nothing of what we can take from it other than to say ecosystems can be enhanced to be more productive, but not for whom because ecosystem productivity should be enhanced for all biota within that ecosystem within the limit of meeting needs.

I have a problem with the concept of "critical" capital. This is nonsense. Ecosystems, and THE ecosystem, the planetary ecosystem, is completely interactive. Every element is critical. Remove one, cascading changes occur and the next settled phase will be different from what was, and potentially radically.

[Who-vtoh]

I really hate the neoliberal idea that everything is capital and everyone a capitalist. The Milton Friedman concept that erases the power conflict between labor and capital. As if we're all owners of our own forms of capital and thus we are capitalists, so we don't need unions and we don't need a minimum wage. It's amazing the depths people will go to to pretend labor exploitation doesn't exist.