ABSTRACT
Contemporary moral reasoning asserts that ethical behaviour ought to be bigger than an individual, that is, it must be a universal principle where the same weight (importance) is given to all sentient beings, where one’s own interests ought not to count for more than the interests of other beings. This moral premise challenges the conventional praxis for prosperity, which involves pursuing GDP growth wantonly; contemporary macroeconomics asserts that higher incomes will raise well-being and thus lead to prosperity for all. However, the environmental and socio-economic impact of economic growth includes the increased consumption of non-renewable resources, higher levels of pollution, global warming, the potential loss of environmental habitats, the decimation of biodiversity, increasing global trends in depression and anxiety, and rising inequality globally. This review chapter will assess whether it is possible to have the well-being of all sentient beings without wanton economic growth involving fossil fuels. In other words, is it possible to transform present-day divisive and degenerative economies into ones that are distributive and regenerative by design and purpose? The chapter reviewed contemporary thinking about the need for a radically alternative sustainable system and how all stakeholders might go about developing such an unprecedented economic model that is focused on reaching a balance between the needs of people and the planet’s ecological equilibrium that nurtures thriving biodiversity. Specifically, the chapter posits transcending the view of the absoluteness of the market to emphasise the role played by the state, households, local and global communities, and international agencies; and to contest the perspective of an economy being driven by narrow self-interest but rather by socially conscious individuals recognising the interdependency of human beings and the planet’s ecological systems. The chapter argues that local and global economies are complex dynamic systems with feedback loops and are prone to market failure; rethinking the causes of inequality and environmental degradation as a design failure that can be addressed; to embrace the ecological constraints as part of a regenerative circular economy; assess means of changing mindsets about carbon-based GDP growth. The chapter draws on the perspectives of environmental, social, and governance value systems embraced by progressive businesses and argues that Ostrom’s common pool resources governance principles, which are common features of the United Nations approach to containing carbon emissions, are plausible examples of how humanity might attempt to shift towards the mentioned enlightened economic practices that are ethically consistent with Singer’s hedonistic rescue principle.
