Dr. Brian Czech of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and president of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy was the keynote speaker for last week’s Earth Week celebration, sponsored by the American Democracy Project.

Czech discussed the mounting conflict between economic growth and environmental protection, along with the role of the international diplomacy in establishing what he coins a “steady state economy” his Thursday night lecture.

Czech, a conservation biologist by trade, said economic growth is inherently dangerous to the world and that a less-polluting steady state economy, an economic model that defies conventional economic thought, is necessary to stave off runaway pollution and the eventual collapse of the world economy.

Czech advocates a concept he calls “ecological economics,” which applies the rules of the natural world to economics.

“Ecological economics deals with scale, distribution, allocation of resources through the laws of thermodynamics and the principles of ecology,” Czech said. “Ecologists are the economists of nature.”

A steady state economy, Czech said, is a economic system that allows neither for growth nor recesion. Steady state economists say that individuals’ standard of living generally would improve under a steady state economy, but that the top 1 percent of consumers would experience a reduction in their standard of living. Czech advocates the elimination of the “liquidating class,” those who consume too much. Ideally, a steady state economy would eliminate poverty, Czech said.

Czech said that land and natural resources cannot be separated from the economy, and that there is a limit to economic growth. However, modern economic theory posits that there is no limit to economic growth.

Czech and his organization advocate a worldwide steady state revolution, which he says is outlined in his book, “Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train: Errant Economists, Shameful Spenders and a Plan to Stop Them All.”

Czech said the current economic system is “bloated” and “irresponsible,” and that through supranational organizations like the U.N., “liquidating” countries that consume too much, like the U.S. and Japan, would be reigned in by worldwide boycotts, tariffs, ecological footprint taxes and embargos.

A lot of consumption by “liquidators” is to boost their self-esteem, Czech said. “People in that class just try to display their wealth,” Czech said. “We have to be on guard against that.”

“The worldwide revolution,” Czech said, “would be academic and social, peaceable, not pacifistic. It uses the model of the abolition of child labor and abolition of smoking.” He said neoclassical economics should no longer be taught in learning institutions.

However, Czech admitted that “The devil is in the details as far as how to constigate the liquidating class.”

While Czech admitted in a post-9/11 world it may be difficult, if not impossible, to spark a revolution, he said consumers should still be mindful of excessive consumption and take efforts to curb their consumption.

Philip Young, UTM business professor and Hendrix Chair of Excellence in Free Enterprise, says Czech is certainly outside of the conventional and widely accepted body of economic thought. “He believes in some kind of planned economy,” Young says. “They pretty much fail.”

Young says most economists believe that the market determines what’s best for the economy, not a contrived plan.

Furthermore, Young disagrees with Czech’s idea of imposing tariffs on highly consuming countries.

“Impediments to trade almost always result in less efficient combinations of resources,” he says. “Free trade reduces our costs and contributes to a better standard of living for everybody.”

Young also believes Czech’s concern with pollution is alarmist; Young says there is no real proof that global warming exists, despite calls from most scientists that Earth is warming at an alarming rate and that humans are affecting the global climate.

“I don’t think global warming is anything to worry about,” Young says. “We may be producing more carbon dioxide than anyone else, but is that bad?”

To decrease dependence on dwindling oil supplies, Young advocates increasing reliance on nuclear power and a resurrection of a nationwide electric rail for freight transit. He also doesn’t believe that the United States should hold corporations to strict pollution controls.

“For the most part, the U.S. is clean,” Young says. “We should be focusing on bringing other countries, like China and India, up to our level.”