Managing Natural and Social Capital
• I’m Don Alexander and I’ve been at VIU for 11 years. I
created this course about 9 years ago and it continues
to evolve. It is one of my favourite courses. I’ve been
interested in alternative economic perspectives and
institutions since the mid-to-late ‘80s, and think it will
be a topic of the utmost importance for achieving future
sustainability.
• My office hours are Wednesdays from 8:00 to 9:00
a.m. in Building 359, Room 215, or at other times of
mutual convenience. Please read the course outline
carefully.
• My phone number is (250) 753-3245, ex. 2261. The
best way to reach me is by e-mail:
don.alexander@viu.ca.
• A Student Free Store will happen Thursday, September
10th from 9:00 to 2 at the Welcome Centre.
• To start off, I would be interested to know what you think
this course is about.
• Talk to your neighbour about what experience if any you
have had with non-mainstream economic institutions.
• There are a lot of innovative and exciting things happening
in this area – some probably more viable and
transformative than others:
• 'Earth ship' to land in B.C.
(http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2014/08/10/earth-ship-to-land-in-bc)
• SFU becomes first Canadian
university to accept Bitcoin donations
• The textbook is Mike Lewis and Pat Conaty. 2012. The
Resilience Imperative: Cooperative Transitions to a
Steady-State Economy (Gabriola Island, BC). [E-version
also available through the VIU Library.] We will start in
on it next week. I will also ask you to read occasional
other articles and chapters.
• For this week, read pp. 12-17 Toward Sustainable
Communities (2012 ed.) by Mark Roseland on-line at the
Library for Thursday and watch the short video, The
Story of Stuff, at www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8.
• I also highly recommend Deep Economy by Bill McKibbin,
The Economics of Happiness by Mark Anielski, and
Ecological Economics by Herman Daly and Joshua Farley.
• How many of you have taken Economic Geography? Or
an economics course? Bring in what you learned. Are
there any topics of special interest?
• demonstrate knowledge of the concepts of natural, social,
and human capital, and be able to apply them in a variety
of contexts (as measured by the mid-term, major project
and final exam);
• demonstrate knowledge of some of the principal strategies
for enhancing natural and social capital and relevant case
studies (as measured by the mid-term, major project and
final exam);
• demonstrate knowledge of emerging critical issues in terms
of the urgency and challenges involved in building an
alternative economic system (as measured by the mid-term,
major project, and final exam).
 See the web site for lecture notes and assignment
instructions: http://web/viu.ca/alexander2 under Courses.
 See the outline for the week-by-week description of
topics, questions, and readings in the course outline.
 The assignments and grading will be based on 15% for
attendance and participation (including leading at at least
one discussion), 25% for the mid-term, 35% for the case
study assignment (including 5% for an outline and 5% for
a brief in-class presentation), and 25% for the final exam.
• The starting-point of the course is that economic activity
can either enhance or degrade natural, social and human
capital, and the case studies you look at will be ones that
enhance these forms of capital in positive ways.
• The text is quite technical in its focus on economic
alternatives and how they work. The book can be dry at
times, and somewhat strident, but the information it
contains can’t be found anywhere else.
• What do you see as the relationship between the
workings of the economy and the spatial phenomena,
both natural and cultural, as studied by geographers?
• It may sometimes be unclear what relationship this
course’s contents has to Geography, but it’s really about
why and how some places prosper and others decline
and, just as importantly, what can be done about it. I
would like to show you some images that illustrate this
point.
Grameen Bank lending circle
• In a capitalist – and especially a global – economy, some places
increase in prominence and influence and others decline into, as in
Detroit, near-3rd World conditions. Is this just a ‘natural’ phenomenon or it something that residents can do something about?
• In this course, we will read about and discuss instances where
people have done something about it. So, geographic endowments
and locations may have initially influenced the prominence and
role of certain cities and regions, but later these factors may
become less relevant.
• Another thing to consider is that different cultural conditions in
different places influence how people respond. Some parts of
Canada, for instance, have a stronger sense of solidarity and
identity that makes it easier for them to take action, and others
have less. Ditto for other parts of the world. Can you think of
examples?
• Externalities- positive or negative impacts of economic
activities, the costs of which are not borne by the producer
or consumer.
• Relationship between economy and ecology- are there limits
to growth or can the economy grow infinitely? Are natural
resources infinitely substitutable for by human ingenuity?
• Carrying capacity- the limits of an ecosystem, at whatever
scale, to support life without running short of a critical
resource or causing insuperable damage to life support
systems. We don’t always know when we will hit carrying
capacity limits; hence it makes sense to exercise the
precautionary principle.
• ‘Empty’ vs. ‘full’ world- At one time, there was a lot of room
for the economy to expand into (as when the pioneers first
settled North America), but now the world is becoming full
as an infinitely growing economy tries to keep growing on
a finite planet.
• This leads to drawdown and
overshoot. For more explanation, see
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page
/video_overshoot_explained/
• Growth (quantitative expansion of the economy),
throughput (conversion of natural resources into products,
pollution and waste), and development (qualitative
improvement of things and people). This does not require
or primarily depend on growth or throughout.
• Marginal utility (resulting value in having or producing one
more unit) and increasing marginal cost (the point at which
costs outweigh benefits). The latter is related to law of
diminishing marginal utility.
• Public goods (where individuals cannot be effectively
excluded from their use and where use by one individual
does not reduce their availability to others. Private goods
(whose use is only available to those who own them).
• A key element of the framework in this course is that of
community capital (see Roseland 2012; will also pass out
sheet). In addition to financial capital (both necessary to the
financing of enterprises and describing the resulting profits),
there is
 natural capital;
 social capital;
 human capital;
 physical capital, and
 cultural capital.
• All of these need to be enhanced in order for economic
activity to be regenerative instead of destructive.