Çevre, Ekolojik İktisat ve Büyüme

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between economic growth, ecological degradation and sustainability. In this analysis, when the ecological degradation begins and the close relations of this degradation with the development of capitalism are revealed. In this context, the connection between the development of capitalism and ecological degradation is evaluated in detail during the age of primitive accumulation period, the first industrial revolution and the second industrial revolution respectively. When examining this connection, how different economic schools approach ecological problems is discussed separately. In this framework, the approaches of neoclassical economics, Marxism, ecological economists and other alternative schools to the ecological problems and their solutions are evaluated. Then, the interrelations between ecology, economic growth and sustainability are examined. It is shown how the neoclassical economics and neoclassical growth theories create ecological problems in the 2020s and how the models developed as an alternative to economic growth predict an ecological roadmap. In this framework, alternative theories are given which focuses to overcome the ecological problems that endanger the sustainability of our planet caused by economic policies legitimized by neoclassical economics. As a result, it is understood that ecological degradation cannot be regressed with current economic growth preferences which stems from neoclassical economics. Global warming and climate change continue to be deepening problems. US President Trump's announcement that he will withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement and some countries' contradictory or negative attitudes towards environmental issues jeopardize the sustainability of future generations. It is understood that it will not be easy to reduce or prevent ecological degradation unless the policies of the established economic paradigm and actors, who have decisive power over the future of the world, change.