SALISBURY — The continual loss and fragmentation of wildlife habitat, forest lands, agricultural lands, recreational lands, and diminishing ecosystem services, is happening at an alarming rate. Is it sustainable? Is it in the best interest of Vermonters? According to economical economist Dr. Jon D. Erickson is Blittersdorf Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy at the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources of the University of Vermont, it is not. Erickson will give the presentation “Infinite Economic Growth and other Fairytales that Destroy Ecologies and Communities,” on Saturday, Feb. 15, 10 a.m. to noon at the Salisbury Congregational Church, 853 Maple St.
The Salisbury Conservation Committee has invited Erickson to give this presentation and lead a conversation on the subject. Erickson will discuss the myth of infinite growth and the necessary steps toward a more resilient, fair, and (dare we say) smaller economy. He will also explain how making the needed changes in our outdated economic models will make our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren healthier and happier and help us address climate change at the same time.
Erickson has published widely on climate change policy, renewable energy economics, watershed planning, and the theory and practice of ecological economics in Vermont and around the world. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, president of the U.S. Society for Ecological Economics, and an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker.
He writes, “Our economic system is built on a belief that it can grow forever. More people, spending more money, on more things is sold as the common cure to our economic troubles, social injustices, and environmental problems. But this belief depends on socializing the costs of growth to the many, while privatizing its benefits to the few. It is fabricated on myths such as green growth, where efficiency is claimed to “decouple” our economy from the environment.”
The presentation is free and open to the public.