Environment and Employment

<p>Mounting evidence suggests that GDP growth is damaging the natural environment and unlikely to be ecologically sustainable in the long-run. At the same time an annual GDP growth rate of around three percent is regarded as the minimum necessary to prevent unemployment from escalating. Clearly a trade-off exists between environmental goals and employment goals yet this trade-off has been largely ignored or denied. </p><p>This book aims to resolve the environment-employment dilemma by suggesting ways and means to achieve low rates of unemployment or preferably full employment in the context of a low-growth or steady-state economy. In search of a solution to this dilemma this book seeks to answer the following questions: </p><ol> <p> </p> <li>What existing paradigms offer a possible foundation for further investigation into issues dealing with both the environment and employment?</li> </ol><ol> <p> </p> <li>What specific initiatives can be implemented to deal with unemployment given that any potential solution must be consistent with responsible macroeconomic policy?</li> </ol><ol> <p> </p> <li>To what extent can ecological tax reform provide a solution to the environment-employment dilemma?</li> </ol><ol> <p> </p> <li>Under what circumstances is it clear that certain forms of employment generation are antithetic to the goal of ecological sustainability? </li> </ol><ol> <p> </p> <li>How can more favourable employment-generating opportunities be exploited in ways which lower unemployment or achieve full employment without the need for ecologically-destructive GDP growth?</li> </ol><p>This book will no doubt stimulate a broader discussion on the issue and it may just begin a process that leads to the eventual emergence of a viable policy strategy to generate a sustainable full employment future. This book will be of interest to decision-makers civil servants researchers and NGO employees as well as students of environmental and ecological economics and issues related to employment and unemployment. </p>