" Converging economic paradigms for a constructive environmental policy discourse William Konchak 1 , Unai Pascual * Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, 19 Silver Street, Cambridge CB3 9EP, UK 1. Introduction Social and environmental systems co-evolve and interrelate framing a holistic model for human and environmental interaction. This interaction is complex and asks for the establishment of a plural discourse to incorporate multiple perspectives into environmental policy decision making. It is usually claimed that the gargantuan fossil fuel economy is the root of our most pressing environmental problems and the inability to tackle them (Constanza et al., 1997; Hamilton, 2004; Ozkaynak et al., 2002, 2004). This materialistic line of thought can be traced back to Kant’s critique of pure reason, where the focus on scientific values began, forward through the Vienna Circle, and up to the present (Faber et al., 1996). These views are well articulated and appealing. In addition, there is also a sister stream of thought in this discourse based on morality and ethics. Most environmental moral discourse is dialectical in terms of de-ontological argument (reason, with duties) versus utilitarian (desire, for self-regarding behaviour), with most moral thought on the duty stream. This is also the case within the core of ecological economics (EE henceforth) where in contrast to neoclassical (environmental) econom- ics (NE), it advocates that preferences may not be all encompassing, and decisions can be ‘other regarding’. Both NE and EE are as much science as they are ideology (So ¨ derbaum, 1999; Bromley, 2004). While the dominant core of NE (questionably) claims to be purely normative departing from value judgements, EE involves various beliefs about values that often have duty components (Sagoff, 1988, 1998) and is fertilized by a rich critique of western values, openly claiming ethical positions rather than neutrality (Spash, 2000), examining issues such as path dependence (van den Berg, 2003), the impact of economic policies and social environmental science & policy 9 (2006) 10–21 article info Published on line 27 December 2005 Keywords: Environmental policy Economic growth Ecological economics Evolutionary economics Porter hypothesis abstract This paper argues that the vision of a fundamental clash between a Homo economicus self- interested perspective, dominant in neoclassical economics, and an environmental limit discourse and duty based perspective, central to ecological economics, is an ineffective route towards facilitating effective environmental policy. An evolution to refocus both perspectives towards finding a common ground faces intense resistance from entrenched positions. A conceptual exploration of the roots of such resistances is discussed and an alternative, but complimentary process that addresses the need for and process of a synthesis of conflicting approaches is proposed. As an exemplar of this argument, the Porter hypothesis is used as a guiding framework of how ecological economics as an action oriented paradigm can increase its influence as a policy guide avoiding confrontational policy contexts. # 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 1223 337168; fax: +44 1223 337130. E-mail address: up211@cam.ac.uk (U. Pascual). 1 Now at Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, 1069 E. Meadow Circle Palo Alto, CA 94303, USA. available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envsci 1462-9011/$ – see front matter # 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2005.08.004