Is Planet B Necessary? Arguments Concerning Depleted Resources and Consequences for Sustainability

Inconsistencies in the Dynamics of Sustainable Development Dimensions in Central and Eastern European Countries

“…In this context, a higher level of environmental concern is required even within or, especially, in the case of public servants, who have the moral obligation of avoiding the waste of national natural resources. Our result is consistent with the one of Seifi and Stratan et al [30,143].…”

“…(6) As also pointed out in previous studies [18,30,92,126,127,128], according to our results, governance still does not sufficiently concentrate on the environment dimension, being still more oriented towards economic results than towards environmental protection. This is evidenced by the negative influence found while analyzing the relation between the two issues.…”

“…As (once) an inspiring and (now) a traditional response, Norgaard [26] emphasizes the concept of co-evolution, as "the constant and active interaction between a living organism and its environment", considering the environment and society, with its economic and social dimensions, as two intimately co-evolving systems [27] (p. 57). In this way, sustainable development is seen as an alternative to conventional development, oriented only towards growth [14][15][16][28][29][30]. Based on the co-evolution concept, the supporters of sustainable development continue to consider reforming of institutions as the main solution for improving the three dimensions of sustainability [31] (p. 260).…”

“…(9) Good governance Good governance is on the list of the most decisive points in the process of development [125], including the environmental policy. In this way, poor government and regulatory policies are highlighted, among other factors, as "significant hindrances to environmentally (…) responsible behavior" [25] (p. 63), but also in [18,30,92,126,127,128]. It represents an umbrella term denoting lasting and positive changes in accordance with the six key principles [126] 6) corruption [39,91].…”

Environmental Performance in EU Countries from the Perspective of Its Relation to Human and Economic Wellbeing

“…Human wellbeing is defined as formed by nine components (see Van de Kerk and Manuel [ 21 ], as well as Kowalski and Veit [ 50 ]), analyzed in the literature in relation to the environment, as follows: sufficient amount of food [ 51 , 52 , 53 ], sufficient to drink [ 54 , 55 , 56 ], safe sanitation [ 22 , 53 , 57 ], education [ 22 , 53 , 58 , 59 ], health [ 22 , 53 , 60 , 61 , 62 ], gender equality [ 21 , 23 , 63 , 64 ], income distribution [ 20 , 22 , 53 , 65 , 66 , 67 ], population growth [ 53 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 ], and good governance [ 22 , 53 , 59 , 72 , 73 , 74 ] (see Table 2 ). For example, it was demonstrated that (1) the lack of safe sanitation represents a pollutant factor, negatively influencing environmental wellbeing [ 22 , 57 ], (2) the level of individual education registers positive effects on pro-environmental attitudes [ 58 , 59 , 75 ], while the number of students enrolled in education may influence enviro...…”