A root cause of our persistent sustainability crisis is that Western thinking has not achieved sustained acceptance – very different from mere theoretical admission – of the scale of market externalities, and what that implies for claims made about the superiority of market outcomes.
We have known about market externalities since 1920, but we have accepted them since… when?
In other words, the market system has always had both an Invisible Hand and an Unmentionable Foot. We have celebrated one and, well, simply not mentioned the other. Yet, in today’s shrinking and ever more transparent world, the Foot can no longer kick costs out of sight as it was long able to.
To believe economic growth can solve environmental and social problems is to believe the Hand can repair what the Foot damages before irreversible harm occurs.
A major part of the sustainability challenge is reconciling ourselves to this long overlooked Foot…
(From a forthcoming essay. Thanks to Matt T for illustration).
This is a informative illustration. Thanks.