ABSTRACT
This chapter examines approaches to making a socio-ecological system (SES) sustainable. From an environmental science perspective, sustainable development is "development without growth in throughput of matter and energy beyond regenerative and adsorptive capacities". Perhaps the largest obstacle to sustainable development is poverty. Poverty is a lack of economic capital, and it is largely inherited. Most economists and the World Bank advocate economic growth as the primary tool for ending poverty. Outsourcing and globalization of manufacturing allows companies to reduce costs, benefits consumers with lower cost goods and services, and causes economic expansion that reduce unemployment, and increases productivity and job creation. Globalization works only in the presence of economic freedom. The three key ingredients of economic freedom are: free and open markets, clearly established property rights, and enforced laws. The study of societal collapses of the past illustrates the economic risks associated with modern globalization.
