Resource use rates and efficiency as indicators of regional sustainability: an examination of five countries

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment 1998-06, Vol.51 (1-2), p.571-593
• Main Authors: Ko, J.Y. (State Univ. of New York, Syracuse, NY (USA). Coll. of Environmental Science and Forestry), Hall, C.A.S, Lemus, L.G.L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AGRICULTURA; Agricultural production; AGRICULTURE; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Applied sciences; Biological and medical sciences; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; COSTA RICA; DURABILITE; Ecological footprint; ECONOMIA; Economic growth; ECONOMICS; ECONOMIE; ENERGIA; ENERGIE; ENERGY; Energy consumption; Energy economics; Energy policy; Environmental impact; Environmental monitoring; ETATS UNIS; EUA; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; General, economic and professional studies; GESTION DES RESSOURCES; KOREA REPUBLIC; Manufacturing industry; MEXICO; MEXIQUE; NATURAL RESOURCES; NETHERLANDS; ORDENACION DE RECURSOS; PAISES BAJOS; PAYS BAS; PLANT PRODUCTION; PRODUCCION VEGETAL; PRODUCTION VEGETALE; RECURSOS NATURALES; Regional planning; Renewable energy; REPUBLICA DE COREA; REPUBLIQUE DE COREE; RESOURCE MANAGEMENT; RESSOURCE NATURELLE; SOSTENIBILIDAD; SUSTAINABILITY; Sustainable development; USA
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1006095822024

We examine trends from 1970 to the mid 1990's of some variables related to development and sustainability for Costa Rica, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands and the United States: first, by calculating energy and agricultural efficiencies over time, second, by examining the environmental impacts of economic activities, and third, by estimating ecological footprints. We find that many "optimistic" arguments about sustainability have been misleading, and that there is little or no indication that we are becoming any more sustainable or even efficient. Total quality-corrected energy consumption has increased for all five countries and the renewable energy portion is decreasing. The efficiency of turning energy into both agricultural production and GDP has declined for all countries except for the US. In general, there is a remarkable linearity between resource use and economic and agricultural production over all countries and all years, suggesting severe biophysical constraints to sustainable objectives. On the other hand, per capita ecological footprints have decreased somewhat in Costa Rica, Mexico, and the United States, while national ecological footprints have tended to remain constant except for Korea. While there has been a reduction of specific pollutants in the United States, some of this has been achieved by exporting heavy manufacturing industries. We conclude that continued population and economic growth in each country is likely to make the achievement of any kind of 'sustainability' increasingly unlikely. Sustainability, if that is desirable, requires a very different approach than what we have undertaken to date.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]