"We have the technologies to build a new economy," said Brown, "an
eco-economy, one that is compatible with the earth's ecosystem. The key to
building this economy is to get the market to tell the ecological truth.
Over the past century, the global economy has grown from an output of just
over $2 trillion a year to $42 trillion, roughly a 20-fold increase. The
indirect effects of the economy on the earth a century ago were minimal.
This is no longer the case. Today the indirect costs of various goods and
services may exceed the direct costs, the costs that determine the market
price. When we buy a gallon of gasoline, for example, we pay for getting the
oil out of the ground, refining it into gasoline, and delivering it to the
local service station. We do not pay the costs of disrupting the earth's
climate system."
"We need to calculate the indirect costs of burning gasoline so we can learn
the full costs of its use. A model for doing this is provided by the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which in April released a study
on the cost to society of smoking a pack of cigarettes. When both the cost
of treating smoking-related illnesses and the losses in employee
productivity as a result of absenteeism are included, each pack of
cigarettes smoked in the United States costs society $7.18. The question is
not whether that price is paid. It is paid by the smoker, by the employer,
or by the taxpayers who fund Medicare programs."
eco-economy, one that is compatible with the earth's ecosystem. The key to
building this economy is to get the market to tell the ecological truth.
Over the past century, the global economy has grown from an output of just
over $2 trillion a year to $42 trillion, roughly a 20-fold increase. The
indirect effects of the economy on the earth a century ago were minimal.
This is no longer the case. Today the indirect costs of various goods and
services may exceed the direct costs, the costs that determine the market
price. When we buy a gallon of gasoline, for example, we pay for getting the
oil out of the ground, refining it into gasoline, and delivering it to the
local service station. We do not pay the costs of disrupting the earth's
climate system."
"We need to calculate the indirect costs of burning gasoline so we can learn
the full costs of its use. A model for doing this is provided by the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which in April released a study
on the cost to society of smoking a pack of cigarettes. When both the cost
of treating smoking-related illnesses and the losses in employee
productivity as a result of absenteeism are included, each pack of
cigarettes smoked in the United States costs society $7.18. The question is
not whether that price is paid. It is paid by the smoker, by the employer,
or by the taxpayers who fund Medicare programs."