Vision
The U.S. economy, and eventually the world economy will: (1) be at a sustainable scale, in which economic activities fit within the capacity provided by ecosystems; (2) provide for a fair and equal opportunity for all people to create wealth; and (3) provide for the efficient allocation of resources such that the prosperity of the human economy promotes the health of the ecosystem on which it depends.  A steady state economy can be compared to a mature and healthy forest ecosystem where a wide variety of fauna and flora are living in healthy balance but the volume is not growing.

Background
Most of our environmental problems are, to a greater or lesser extent, the result of population growth.  Population growth is driven in great part by the dominant cultural belief that the economy must be constantly growing.  A growing economy depends on a growing population and growing consumption.

While a growing economy has resulted in a higher quality of living (for some) in the more developed countries it has now reached the point where it is causing more problems than it is solving.   These problems include global warming due to increasing greenhouse gas emissions, decreasing biodiversity due to habitat destruction, collapse of ocean fisheries due to over fishing and pollution, and many others. 

A constantly growing economy dependent on finite resources and finite physical space conflicts with the principles of physics and ecology.  We need to replace “economic growth” with “sustainable economic development” -- a shift in focus from ever-escalating resource extraction and use to actually improving the quality of life.  Simply stated it is “better not bigger.”

We must move towards a steady state economy as first proposed by Herman Daly and now advanced through the Center for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy (steadystate.org). A steady state economy brings together what have been two separate disciplines into one discipline: ecological economics.  It recognizes that our economic system is really a subset of our environmental system and the two must work in harmony. 

A steady state philosophy views the economy as a matter of “throughputs”. In this view, renewable or non-renewable resources are used as “low entropy”1 inputs and after processing through economic activity the result is “high entropy” outputs or waste and pollution.  The key to a steady state economy is relying on solar energy as our main input.  A steady state economy promotes “economic development” (improvement in quality of life and efficiency) and discourages “economic growth” (expansion of population and consumption).

There are three basic criteria for the maintenance of ecological sustainability.  1.) For renewable resources the rate of harvest should not exceed the rate of regeneration (sustainable yield); 2.) The rates of waste generation from projects should not exceed the assimilative capacity of the environment (sustainable waste disposal; and 3.) For nonrenewable resources the depletion of the nonrenewable resources should require comparable development of renewable substitutes for that resource.

The discussion of a steady state economy begins with a moral discussion about our responsibility to future generation and the development of a shared vision of what we would like the earth to be like in order for it to be sustainable for these generations.

Public Policy Position
The NECSP endorses the concept of a steady state economy.  To implement this type of economy the following will need to be accomplished.

1. Population levels will need to be stabilized with total fertility rates to be at or even below 2.1 until we figure out what is a sustainable population level.
2. Governments must, based upon the science of ecology, identify sustainable parameters for annual use of both their renewable and non-renewable resources and ensure these limits are observed -- through the use of cap and trade or similar quota system.
3. There needs to be a broad natural capital depletion tax to assure that resource inputs from the environment to the economy are sustainable, while giving strong incentives to develop new technologies and processes to minimize impacts.
4. The application of the precautionary “polluter pays principle” should be applied to assure that the full costs of outputs from the economy to the environment are charged to the polluter.
5. A system of ecological tariffs should be implemented as one way to allow countries to implement the first two proposals without putting themselves at an undue disadvantage relative to countries that have not yet implemented them.
6. The U.S. tax policies should be modified to support a steady state economy rather than a constantly growing economy.  Child tax deductions should apply for no more than two children. 
7. The U.S. spending policies should favor a steady state economy over a growth economy.  One example would be spending money on bicycle paths and public transportation rather than more highways.  Taxes should be shifted from the “goods” to the “bads.”
8. The system we now use for measuring economic health, gross domestic product or GDP, needs to be changed to a more comprehensive measurement such as Gross Happiness Product that is used by Bhutan.  GDP just measures economic output which includes negative expenditures such as the war machine -- which is one of the largest parts of our economy and does no one any good.
9. Individuals should modify their behaviors  and spending patterns to favor a steady state economy.  Such changes would include limiting family size to two or fewer children, buying local when possible, keeping consumption of new products to only those that are either absolutely essential or, if luxury items, those made in a green, sustainable fashion, growing as much of their own food as possible, limiting travel to only that which is essential, and using renewable energy.

Special Notes
Developing countries may need a growth economy to help improve their quality of life and their primary goal initially should be to stabilize their rapidly growing population. Already developed countries, having fairly stable populations but high consumption levels, should focus on reducing their consumption of natural resources.

Resources
The Center for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy-www.steadystate.org
The International Society of Ecological Economics-www.ecoeco.org
An Introduction to Ecological Economics by Robert Constanza, et. al., 1997, CRC Press
Steady-State Economics by Herman Daly, 1977, W. H. Freeman and Company
The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainabilityby James Gustave Speth,