ABSTRACT
This chapter begins begin with the kind of economic systems which Daly and Goodland locate at the centre of human activities. The measurement of environmental degradation and losses has also led to the development of natural-resource accounting techniques, and the establishment of resource inventories, not simply for natural species, but in terms of the economic value of species and ecosystems. Advanced capitalism, according to this perspective, provides few problems that cannot be managed by better environmental management, perhaps through arriving at ‘utilisation values’, examining the life-cycle through which products and services pass. Life-cycle analysis was originally developed by private industry, to reduce the costs of transporting domestic detergents, and can be seen as a commercial response to a new market opportunity. ‘Managerial’ solutions to environmental problems, as they are presented to individuals in the developed, industrialised economies of the North, may be no more than cosmetic devices, which respond to public disquiet or taste.
