Rage and the economics of the environment

From an interview of British economist Tim Jackson by Stephen Leahy posted on Tierramerica.info:

"The continued pursuit of growth endangers the ecosystems on which we depend for long-term survival," says the British economist, ferocious critic of the Copenhagen Accord on climate change.

TORONTO, Canada, Jan 25 (Tierramérica).- "Rage is sometimes the appropriate response" to the failure of the world's leaders to craft a new climate treaty in Copenhagen, says British economist Tim Jackson.

The Copenhagen Accord, the outcome of the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December, not only revealed global environmental governance as a fiction, but also demonstrated a continuing blind adherence to the mantra of economic growth, says Jackson

Professor of sustainable development and director of the Research Group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment at Surrey University in Britain, Jackson is also a British government advisor and economics commissioner for the Sustainable Development Commission.

Jackson is also a professional playwright with numerous radio-writing credits for the BBC, based in London.

Tierramérica's Stephen Leahy spoke with Jackson by phone about his new, controversial book "Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet", the Copenhagen Accord and prospects for a real climate treaty, continuing a conversation they began last month in Copenhagen.

TIERRAMÉRICA: Your book "Prosperity without Growth" argues that economic growth in developed countries is making people less happy and destroying the Earth itself.

TIM JACKSON: It's clear the continued pursuit of growth endangers the ecosystems on which we depend for long-term survival.

There is also ample evidence that increasing material wealth in developed countries is not making people any happier, but just the opposite in some countries. Beyond a certain level of income, there is no correlation of greater income with greater happiness.