Dictionary definition of “natural capitalism”

natural capitalism

n. an economic theory or practice which assigns a financial cost to the use, maintenance, abuse, or depletion of natural resources and ecosystems. Subjects: English, Environment, Money & Finance

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Citations: 1996 Robert Frenay Audubon (Jan. 11) “Butterflies and the dismal science” vol. 98, no. 1, p. 86: In the effort to create a greener economic system, some theorists—starting with University of Florida zoologist C.S. Holling—are seeking to define an economic value for nature. Costanza describes what he calls natural capitalism, defining capital as “a stock that yields a flow of valuable goods or services into the future.” He says the yield of new trees or fish from parent stocks should be counted as “natural income” and the parent stock itself considered “natural capital.” 1999 Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution (Sept. 30) p. 3: Natural capitalism recognizes the critical interdependency between the production and use of human-made capital and the maintenance and supply of natural capital.…Natural capital, made up of resources, living systems, and ecosystem services. 2004 Rona Fried Tidepool (June 17) “A Business Built on Biomimicry”: Biomimicry and “Natural Capitalism” are other terms that describe a similar approach to creating products that work with nature.

Posted 18 Jul 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

The term “natural capital” was first used by E.F. Schumacher in his book Small is Beautiful in 1973, and was first used in peer-reviewed literature by Herman Daly and Robert Costanza in Conservation Biology in 1992.

The first use of “natural capitalism” was my talk to the California Academy of Science March 31, 1994, and it was entitled Natural Capitalism.

I used the term extensively in talks from that time until the article called Natural Capitalism was printed in Mother Jones in 1997.

The theory of natural capitalism is pure Herman Daly as was mentioned in my book.

The book Natural Capitalism came out in 1999. By that time, I wasn’t so fond of the term because I think it caused misunderstanding. On cursory reading, people thought it to be a variant of capitalism. It was always meant to be a play on words.

Bob Costanza, who is quoted in the Frenay piece, was on my board at the Natural Step and I discussed the term with him on a number of occasions before the 1996 piece, even to the extent of asking him what he thought of the idea. He did not use the term in the interview. Frenay used it from his talks with me and used Bob’s definition.

by hawk 22 Aug 05, 0310 GMT