Title: Growing the green economy – globally

Authors: Hazel Henderson

Addresses: P.O. Box 5190, St. Augustine, FL 32085, USA

Abstract: Strategies for global sustainability and growing the green economy must address current economic models driving today|s unsustainable forms of globalisation. Technological innovation is needed to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, recycling and redesign industrial processes. More fundamental strategy levels need re-examining: policy models, assumptions, institutional inertia and cultural values fuelling today|s drive toward increasing unsustainability. Conventional economic models still drive such unsustainability: the malfunctioning |source codes| replicating traditional industrialism worldwide. This study reviews the current scientific debate about the unwarranted pre-dominance of economics in public and private decision-making; whether economics is a science or a profession and the demands by mathematicians, physicists and other scientists that the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economics be delinked from the original Nobel prizes. Scientific research on the human brain and ecosystems now refutes most of economics| core tenets. Multi-disciplinary policies and appropriate metrics beyond money coefficients are needed for steering societies toward sustainability and quality of life.

Keywords: green economics; sustainability; systems; sustainable development; transdisciplinary; indicators; quality of life; values; environment; ecological assets; social capital; globalisation; economic models; technological innovation; decision making.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGE.2007.013060

International Journal of Green Economics, 2007 Vol.1 No.3/4, pp.276 - 298

Published online: 06 Apr 2007 *