Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Natural Capital
I watched a very interesting program on FSTV last night - Voyager. In it, Hunter Lovins pointed out that today's capitalistic businesses did not account for using up two kind of capital as part of their business - social capital and natural capital. Businesses that capitalized on these resources would eventually collapse due to the lack of resources.
Businesses that sustained without using up social and natural capital would be sustainable. The program then showed how clean energy production and the increasing economic advantages of wind power. They also featured a brewery in Colorado that was wind powered and had a very low environmental impact.
Here is an article I found about it.
Part of their theory is very appealing. I see that an economy that depends on producing disposable junk is headed nowhere. Also, I like the idea of mimicking natural processes where there are no waste products. Instead of focusing on labor productivity, the focus is on how completely a natural product can be used up. They also talk about shifting from producing things to where they wear out to where items are produced to last and make the best use of resources.
Somehow, somethings still bothers me about this and I can't put my finger on it. There seems to be something fundamentally missing.
HiTekVagabond
Businesses that sustained without using up social and natural capital would be sustainable. The program then showed how clean energy production and the increasing economic advantages of wind power. They also featured a brewery in Colorado that was wind powered and had a very low environmental impact.
Here is an article I found about it.
Part of their theory is very appealing. I see that an economy that depends on producing disposable junk is headed nowhere. Also, I like the idea of mimicking natural processes where there are no waste products. Instead of focusing on labor productivity, the focus is on how completely a natural product can be used up. They also talk about shifting from producing things to where they wear out to where items are produced to last and make the best use of resources.
Somehow, somethings still bothers me about this and I can't put my finger on it. There seems to be something fundamentally missing.
HiTekVagabond
# posted by Konrad Roeder @ 12/20/2005 07:56:00 AM
