Natural Capitalism: Can It Offer
Economic Development Anything?

For some time, I have thought that the new leading metaphor for our economy is the biological organism. This idea has occurred to many others, including Paul Hawken and Amory and Hunter Lovins, who wrote the book Natural Capitalism three years ago.

What is natural capital? It refers to the natural resources and ecosystem services that make possible all economic activity. These services are of immense economic value; some are literally priceless, since they have no known substitutes.

According to the authors, current business practices typically fail to take into account the value of these assets—which is rising with their scarcity. As a result, natural capital is being degraded and liquidated by the wasteful use of such resources as energy, materials, water, fiber, and topsoil.

The first of natural capitalism's four interlinked principles is increased resource productivity. Implementing just this first principle can significantly improve a firm's bottom line, and can also help finance the other three, which are: redesigning industry on biological models with closed loops and zero waste; shifting from the sale of goods (for example, light bulbs) to the provision of services (illumination); and reinvesting in the natural capital that is the basis of future prosperity.

Thought-provoking ideas indeed.

Can natural capitalism offer economic development anything? My answer is it certainly can. In fact, many EDO's across the country have adopted "sustainable" economic development strategies reflecting natural capitalism's core principles. Who? Look at Chattanooga, TN for starters. Then, look at what many Oregon communities, including Portland, are doing in this area.

Click here to learn more about natural capitalism. Go here for information about what the Europeans are doing in this area. They are ahead of the U.S. in adopting these principles.