Quality of Life and the Distribution of Wealth and Resources

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses all the anthropocentric definitions of sustainability and focuses on sustaining an acceptable level of human quality of life (QOL). Within the dominant ideology of free market capitalism, reducing wealth and resource consumption also reduces QOL within a generation. It appears that excessive resource consumption on the part of the current generation threatens dramatic reductions to the QOL of future generations. Continued economic growth substantially increases this threat. Current levels of QOL depends on current consumption levels, as this means ensuring sustainability for fixture generations requires a reduction in QOL for at least some of the people alive today. Above a certain level, greater wealth, and resource consumption are not tightly linked to QOL. Thus, a more fair distribution of resources and wealth within and among generations need not require a sacrifice in QOL for the current generation, increasing the feasibility of policies directed towards this outcome.