Essentially a literature review of particular articles and 3-5 pages long. Covering these questions: Summarize the readings regarding the economists’ different views of the environment and review the 3 central debates regarding ecological and economic sustainability amongst the economics community. Be sure to address the following questions in your discussion: a. Which group of economists believes that public policy should reflect society’s demand for future natural capital flows? b. Which group of economists advocates for general investment into capital flows rather than natural capital flows in particular? c. Do these viewpoints reflect strong or weak sustainability? Recall that the existence of ecological thresholds and the degree of perceived ecosystem resiliency contribute to this divergence of opinions amongst mainstream and heterodox economists. If an economy is considered very far from such a threshold, the urgency of investments into natural capital restoration may be considered less productive than alternative forms of public investment. In other words, what is the marginal value of critical natural capital across varying stocks of ecosystem services (would we expect to see more or less investment into ecosystem restoration as stocks of resources decline)? d. Discuss the role of technology in how these viewpoints have emerged and the role of wealth in achieving ecosystem resilience. Be sure to include a brief statement about the factors that contribute to an economy’s environmental quality. Remember: economic growth alone is a NR 568: Economics of Forests, Restoration and Fire Page 2 of 3 sufficient, but not necessary condition for improving environmental quality. Can you provide some examples of supplementary conditions needed to improve ecosystem resilience? e. There is a perceived trade off between economic growth and investment into nature’s restoration. Since many investments in the restoration of nature do not pay off for many years, issues of inter-generational equity may arise- should we forgo employment today in order to ensure nature’s flow of capital to future generations? Wu et al. (2011) propose a solution to address both present-day economic growth and future ecosystem service flows in western forest communities; discuss the pros and cons of this approach. f. Discuss the existence of ecological thresholds within the context of fire dependent forests. Has the increased incidence of damages from high intensity wildfire decreased the carrying capacity of forest ecosystems in the western U.S.? g. For full credit, you will need to cite the following class readings: Arrow, K., Bolin, B., Costanza, R., Dasgupta, P., Folke, C., Holling, C. S., … Pimentel, D. (1995). Economic growth, carrying capacity, and the environment. Ecological Economics, 15, 91–95. Farley, J. (2012). Ecosystem services: The economics debate. Ecosystem Services, 1(1), 40–49. Solow, R. M. (1999). Sustainability: An Economist’s Perspective. In R. Stavins (Ed.), Economics of the Environment (2000) (4th ed., pp. 131–138). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. Wu, T., Kim, Y.-S., & Hurteau, M. D. (2011). Investing in Natural Capital: Using Economic Incentives to Overcome Barriers to Forest Restoration. Restoration Ecology, 19(4), 441–445