Intercorrelation between economics and ecology

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Posted by iEcology | Posted in Ecology | Posted on 06-03

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Economics has its roots formed in the nineteenth century back when the industrial revolution had just began. Economics mostly dealt with the balance of accounts at the end of each year, but it can be said that ecological and economical concepts can be tied together and can work in a sync since.

Economics and ecology both work with some very basic fundamentals, much needed for their stability and functionality. Nature starts with reproduction, growth, death and this goes on and on and perpetuates century after century. Both characteristics and composition might change but we see that there is always some informational content that remains the same irrespective of any such change. It is this very informational content that defines the broader aspect of the relationship between economics and ecology and the structure and organization that follows thereafter.

Ecological economics is a very old term and this very term shows us the clear relationship between the two variables – ecology and economics. Ecological economics teaches us the co-evolution, the interdependence and lastly the strict intercorrelation between the two. People who have interest to study and go deep into the reasons behind the adverse economic growth and its impact on the environment study this in a wide perspective. Unlike other concepts that have a clear positive approach, ecological economics has a very normative approach with the fact that it addresses the roles of human economies with the natural ecosystem.

What ecologist always proposed among other things was the basic fact that the earth has limited resources and that the population is growing at a very fast rate. If this continues to happen, very soon the resources will be exploited. What the economists say is that natural resources can never have a limit. Given the technological advancement and the fact that the demand for resources is always matched by the supply, a point of overexploitation can never be reached. Technology will simply able to handle any difficulty that arises out. Against this ecologist have argued about the fact that there are some very distinct resources and creatures that cannot always be increased or brought about a change by the mere fact of technology and therefore it is important to limit the consumption.

Today most of the business organizations that run with the help of economic processes deals with the concept of increasing and rejuvenation of economic resources through the increased flow of matter and energy into the system. Sustainable management again has various diversions, some related to agricultural management, some related to forest management and other related to water management. The laws of thermodynamics do not always apply everywhere and therefore we must recognise efficiency in nature and allow proper sustainability of the ecosystem. It is only then that both ecology and economics can go hand in hand.

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