Economic Growth and Biodiversity: The Elemental Arguments
Session Organizers: Jon Rosales and Corey Peet

Description: When we consider how any one thing is hitched to all other things we are basing our conception on well established ecological principles.  Nowhere is this more direct than with our consumptive behavior; our consumptive behavior is collected in the economy.

The largest impact on land, water and sea comes from the economy.  Whether it is direct through resource use and discharge of waste, or indirect via the transport of invasive species, economic behavior, of all human behaviors, most directly impacts the environment and biodiversity.

The theme of this symposium is to explore the relationship between economic growth and biodiversity.  The content of the symposia addresses major impasses in people's minds about economic growth and biodiversity conservation.  The essential arguments on the relationship between economic growth and biodiversity are compiled.  The symposia will serve as a primer on this issue for SCB members.  The symposia will feature speakers who are leading scholars in the field and who are writing articles for a special section on the same theme for an upcoming special section in the journal Conservation Biology.