As a long standing member of ESA, I am writing to express my strong support for the position statement on economic growth brought to the ESA Governing Board by Brian Czech and his group.
As one of the co-signers of the petition for ESA's consideration of this position statement, I was encouraged to learn that the Board found the issue of interest worth pursuing through its Public Affairs Committee. I feel strongly that ESA, in pursuing study of this issue, should meet with Brian Czech, who has a record of fine work in this area, as well as other representatives of his group. Czech et al.'s position statement is one articulation of the ecological economic paradigm that the human economy is necessarily a subset of nature's economy. Judging by ESA's inclusion of ecological economics into its annual meeting sessions and symposia, ESA endorses this field and its principles. I therefore urge ESA's Public Affairs Committee, in considering this issue, to put together a team that includes Czech and others expert in ecological economics. I find Czech et al.'s statement to be right on the mark in identifying population and per capita consumption as together determining ecological impact/footprint. Achieving steady-state requires adjustments in both, with the need for more or less (or a dual) emphasis on population vs. consumption varying with nation. A focus on steady-state economy thus has the potential to avoid the polarization that can come with initiatives that solely focus on population, as well as to direct effort where it's needed most. Through its SBI and MEA activities among other work, ESA has been a leader in promoting awareness of the resource limits and potential tipping points facing the world. I strongly believe that ESA must now assemble the best team of experts it can to formulate its position on the societal paradigm that has brought us to these limits and tipping points, and the changes in thinking needed to transform the future of our society. As Czech is the person who took the lead in bringing an articulate, well prepared position statement to ESA on this issue, I believe it is not only fair, but in its best interests, for ESA to work with Czech's expert group on this issue. Heather Reynolds Associate Professor Department of Biology Indiana University
