Sustainable development: socio-economic metabolism and colonization of nature

In this article the notions of 'societal metabolism' and 'colonization of n ature' are used to describe the inter-relations between societies and their natural environment in order to operationalize the concept of 'sustainable development'. Metabolism refers to the material and energetic input-output processes of societies, i.e, the extraction of natural resources, their pr ocessing, storage within society, and finally their release as wastes and e missions. 'Colonization of nature' refers to activities which deliberately alter natural systems and keep them in a societally desired state. We empir ically analyse the metabolism of five industrial countries. Their per capit a material consumption is similar enough to support the notion of a 'charac teristic metabolic profile' of industrial society, which can be viewed in a historical perspective against the metabolism of hunter-and-gatherer and a grarian societies, revealing an impressive increase. We then analyse the in ter-relations between a society's energetic metabolism and the need as well as the limitations of its colonization strategies. For example, we discuss how the biomass productivity of plants limits the energy flow of agrarian societies and globally may limit population growth. Finally, we discuss how industrial societies might perceive their sustainability problems and resp ond to them.