The Gardener and the Sick Garden: How Not to Address the Planet's Environmental Issues

摘要

To be effective, environmental policies must conform to realistic models of how humans interact with Nature, and how both humans and natural systems behave. When policies reflect more accurate models, then the resulting environmental policies would not be like those that we see in place now that order humans to not interfere with a static, self-regulating natural world; rather, they would be policies that would seek to persuade humans to take affirmative actions that encourage Nature (and humans in Nature) to restore planetary boundaries within a changing, nonlinear complex adaptive system. We have a much better chance of environmental success when we replace traditional regulatory bans and market-based instruments with policies that give rights to social-ecological systems, and impose on humans affirmative duties to create positive environmental externalities.