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The effectiveness of emerging theory and practice in sustainability development
Jack Keegan
School of Management, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane QLD
Abstract
Discussion about sustainable development seems more cogent as the negative consequences of current environmental trends become increasingly obvious to larger numbers of people. This paper discusses the limits of the dominant economic approach to measuring prosperity. It provides a model that identifies socio-environmentalism as the area where economic methodologies fail. Externalisation of social, environmental and socio-environmental 'costs' is identified as the main flaw in widely used, economically-based decision processes.
The paper concludes by noting that concerns about accelerating environmental degradation cannot be dispelled by the present state of sustainable development theory and practice.
Keywords
sustainable development, neo-clasical economics, methodology failure, measurement, external costs flaw, cooperation model, eco-efficiency, eco-managerialism, socio-environmentalism
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