Making economics environmentally friendly

Researching how to improve and develop a sustainable world, Dr. Stanislav Shmelev published a book this month called Ecological Economics: Sustainability in Practice. The aim is to present the alternative view where logic, methodological clarity and transparency could help build the capacity to improve economies and make them more sustainable. Dr. Shmelev is also a contributor to Comment:Visions.

Economical Economics: Sustainability in Practice is the result of 10 years of Shmelev’s work in the field of sustainability research.

“It took almost three years to complete it, and I am very grateful to the Oxford University library for being such a friendly environment to complete this project,” Shmelev said.

Shmelev is an ecological economist, a photographer, a lecturer and a consultant, who has dedicated most of his life, with his ecology expertise, to contribute in somehow to improve environment and sustainability. Shmelev explains the book was designed to provide a deep insight into a new interdisciplinary field of ecological economics, stimulate new thinking in academia and government, and help to reform education programmes at the departments of economics.

“The current economic crisis shows in part the inadequacy of conceptual models and approaches applied at various levels, with this book I propose to use a ‘bigger picture’ view of economy-environment interactions, pioneered by the Nobel Prize winning economist W. Leontief in 1970; new ways of measuring progress based on multicriteria vision for sustainability inspired by the United Nations framework, and new tools for decision support based on multiple criteria,” Shmelev said.

?Furthermore, the book was written to provide the interested student, policy maker or a member of an NGO with the necessary methodological tools to conduct sustainability analysis at the local, national, or international levels. The book offers a range of cutting-edge methods used in sustainability research including multicriteria decision aid (MCDA), input-output analysis, and life cycle analysis. Also, it is packed with references for students with some background in economics, environmental science or mathematics who aim to develop the analytical skills required for redirecting the development path towards sustainability in government, international organisations, academia, non-profit sector and business.

“The current trend of monetising everything (estimating the effects of economic activities on the environment in monetary terms) is worrying because we live in a multidimensional world and it is important to take social, environmental and economic dimensions of decisions into account without necessarily converting everything into money. It is such multidimensional vision that is proposed in this book,” he added.

Dr.Shmelev is starting a programme of invited lectures, and he can be booked to speak via his websitewww.environmenteurope.org

The book, published by Springer by an ex- Oxford University Senior Researcher, can be accessed via this link  http://www.springer.com/978-94-007-1971-2 . And it can be purchased on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ecological-Economics-Sustainability-Stanislav-Shmelev/dp/940071971X or in bookstores such as:
Waterstones: http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/stanislav+e-+shmelev/ecological+economics/8595951/
Blackwells http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/id/Ecological_Economics/9789400719712
Foyles http://www.foyles.co.uk/Public/Shop/Detail.aspx?rowNum=1&itemId=6746810&searchBy=1&term=Shmelev&quick=true
Germany:
Weltbild: http://www.weltbild.de/3/16893185-1/buch/ecological-economics.html