''Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution'' is a 1999 book on
environmental economics
Environmental economics is a sub-field of economics concerned with environmental issues. It has become a widely studied subject due to growing environmental concerns in the twenty-first century. Environmental economics "undertakes theoretical or ...
co-authored by
Paul Hawken
Paul Gerard Hawken (born February 8, 1946) is an American environmentalist, entrepreneur, author, economist, and activist.
Biography
Hawken was born in San Mateo, California, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where his father worked at ...
,
Amory Lovins
Amory Bloch Lovins (born November 13, 1947) is an American writer, physicist, and former chairman/chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute. He has written on energy policy and related areas for four decades, and served on the US Nationa ...
and
Hunter Lovins
L. Hunter Lovins (née Sheldon, born February 26, 1950 in Middlebury, Vermont) is an American environmentalist, author, sustainable development proponent, co-founder of Rocky Mountain Institute, and president of the nonprofit organization Natural ...
. It has been translated into a dozen languages and was the subject of a
Harvard Business Review
''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Massach ...
summary.
Content
In ''Natural Capitalism'' the authors describe the
global economy
The world economy or global economy is the economy of all humans of the world, referring to the global economic system, which includes all economic activities which are conducted both within and between nations, including production, consumption, ...
as being dependent on
natural resource
Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...
s and
ecosystem services
Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems. Th ...
that nature provides. Natural Capitalism is a critique of traditional "Industrial Capitalism", saying that the traditional system of capitalism "does not fully conform to its own accounting principles. It liquidates its capital and calls it income. It neglects to assign any value to the largest stocks of capital it employs – the natural resources and living systems, as well as the social and cultural systems that are the basis of human capital."
Natural capitalism recognizes the critical interdependency between the production and use of human-made capital and the maintenance and supply of natural capital.
[Natural Capitalism: The Next Industrial Revolution, Lovins, Lovins, & Hawken, 2000] The authors argue that only through recognizing this essential relationship with the Earth's valuable resources can businesses, and the people they support, continue to exist.
Their fundamental questions concern the theoretical properties of an economy that, among other tenets, organizes around a more realistic ideation of the principles of business and industry, and envisioning a world in which this is a reality is a key concern of the argument.
The authors of ''Natural Capitalism'' claim that these choices are possible and "such an economy would offer a stunning new set of opportunities for all of society, amounting to no less than ''the next industrial revolution''."
According to the authors, the "next industrial revolution" depends on the espousal of four central strategies: "the conservation of resources through more effective manufacturing processes, the reuse of materials as found in natural systems, a change in values from quantity to quality, and investing in natural capital, or restoring and sustaining natural resources".
[
While traditional ]industrial capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...
primarily recognizes the value of money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
and goods
In economics, goods are items that satisfy human wants
and provide utility, for example, to a consumer making a purchase of a satisfying product. A common distinction is made between goods which are transferable, and services, which are not tran ...
as capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
, ''Natural Capitalism'' extends recognition to natural capital
Natural capital is the world's stock of natural resources, which includes geology, soils, air, water and all living organisms. Some natural capital assets provide people with free goods and services, often called ecosystem services. All of t ...
and human capital
Human capital is a concept used by social scientists to designate personal attributes considered useful in the production process. It encompasses employee knowledge, skills, know-how, good health, and education. Human capital has a substantial ...
. Problems such as pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
and social injustice
Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...
may then be seen as failures to properly account for capital, rather than as inherent failures of capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
itself.
The fundamental assumptions of ''Natural Capitalism'' are as follows:[
#The limiting factor to future economic development is the availability and functionality of ]natural capital
Natural capital is the world's stock of natural resources, which includes geology, soils, air, water and all living organisms. Some natural capital assets provide people with free goods and services, often called ecosystem services. All of t ...
, in particular, life-supporting services that have no substitutes and currently have no market value.
#Misconceived or badly designed business systems, population growth, and wasteful patterns of consumption
Consumption may refer to:
*Resource consumption
*Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically
* Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms
* Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...
are the primary causes of the loss of natural capital, and all three must be addressed to achieve a sustainable economy.
#Future economic progress can best take place in democratic, market-based systems of production and distribution in which all forms of capital are fully valued, including human, manufactured, financial, and natural capital.
#One of the keys to the most beneficial employment of people, money, and the environment is radical increases in resource productivity Resource productivity is the quantity of good or service (outcome) that is obtained through the expenditure of unit resource.Weizsäcker, E, and Jesinghaus, J. 1992. ''Ecological Tax Reform, Chapter 2: Increasing the Productivity of Natural Resource ...
.
#Human welfare is best served by improving the quality and flow of desired services delivered, rather than by merely increasing the total dollar flow.
#Economic and environmental sustainability
Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...
depends on redressing global inequities of income and material well-being.
Meaning of book's title
In a 2009 interview, Paul Hawken described his motivation behind the title ''Natural Capitalism''. He stated that it was intended to be a pun on "natural capital
Natural capital is the world's stock of natural resources, which includes geology, soils, air, water and all living organisms. Some natural capital assets provide people with free goods and services, often called ecosystem services. All of t ...
", a term originally coined by E.F. Schumacher
Ernst Friedrich Schumacher (16 August 1911 – 4 September 1977) was a German-British statistician and economist who is best known for his proposals for human-scale, decentralised and appropriate technologies.Biography on the inner dustjacket ...
in 1973. Hawken endorsed the underlying concept of ''natural capital'', and its implications for society, so added an "-ism" at the end of that word as a double entendre
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...
.
Despite this intention from Hawken, many readers interpreted this wordplay in the opposite way. There was dissent from readers who misunderstood the title, believing that ''Capitalism'' was the operative word, and that the authors were therefore justifying or defending the concept of capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
. Hawken later expressed regret at this confusion, and stated that while he endorses the spirit of commerce and entrepreneurship, he does not endorse the "pathological" qualities inherent in pure capitalism.
Other editions
*''Zi4 ran2 zi1 ben3 lun4'', Chinese (simplified characters) edition of ''Natural Capitalism'' (2000, Shanghai Popular Science Press)
*''Capitalismo naturale'' (2001, Edizione Ambiente, Milano),
*Japanese edition of ''Natural Capitalism'' (2001, Nikkei, Tokyo)
*Chinese (complex characters) edition of ''Natural Capitalism'' (2002, CommonWealth, Taipei)
*''Öko-Kapitalismus: Die industrielle Revolution des 21''. Jahrhunderts (2002, Riemann, München)
*''Loodus-kapitalism: uue tööstusrevolutionsiooni algus'' (2003 stonian
*''Capitalismo Natural'' (Editora Cultrix, São Paulo),
*''Natural Capitalism: Comment réconcilier économie et environnement'' (2008, Scali, Paris)
*Korean edition of ''Natural Capitalism'' (~2011, Gongjon, Seoul)
See also
*''Climate Capitalism
''Climate Capitalism: Capitalism in the Age of Climate Change'' is a 2011 book by L. Hunter Lovins and Boyd Cohen. It presents positive stories and examples of how profit-seeking companies are helping to save the planet, and says that "the best w ...
''
*Eco-capitalism
Eco-capitalism, also known as environmental capitalism or (sometimes) green capitalism, is the view that capital exists in nature as "natural capital" (ecosystems that have ecological yield) on which all wealth depends. Therefore, governments s ...
*Media coverage of climate change
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...
*''Merchants of Doubt
''Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming'' is a 2010 non-fiction book by American historians of science Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. It identifies parallels betwe ...
''
References
External links
Book Excerpts and Downloadable Chapters
Natural Capitalism
— Mother Jones
Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...
article on book.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Natural Capitalism: Creating The Next Industrial Revolution
1999 non-fiction books
1999 in the environment
Eco-capitalism
Economic ideologies
Green politics
Environmental non-fiction books
Books by Amory Lovins
Little, Brown and Company books
Collaborative non-fiction books