Abstract

Often, we hear slogans such as, “Keep Earth Beautiful.” These ideas are largely forwarded for aesthetic reasons. However, these matters have implications beyond the aesthetic realm; they are of grave practical concern to society and all people. We are already seeing many forms of “social distress and conflict such as grinding poverty, hunger, malnutrition, and rampant disease affect one-third of the world and [these] are growing in absolute numbers” (Hawken 8). In spite of all our successes within the capitalist system, we cannot replace the life support system provided to us by Planet Earth. This awareness brought to life a new form of capitalism, natural capitalism, which better recognizes “the critical interdependency between the production and use of human made capital and maintenance and supply of natural capital” (HLL 3). Proponents of natural capitalism are of the view that changes implemented properly can promote economic efficiency, ecological conservation, and social equity. Although Natural capitalism raises greater awareness of our limited natural resources, it is still burdened by the fundamental tenets of capitalism, which encourage competition and greed and are simply incompatible with notions of fairness and in turn sustainability. To illustrate my view, I will examine the notion of natural capitalism, the strategies suggested by its proponents to move towards sustainability, and the limitations of this system. Finally, I will explore the proposed solution to better realize notions of sustainability.