Raw material and the global economy: Oversights and distortions in industrial ecology

Many proponents of industrial ecology have asserted that the declining volume of raw materials used per unit of gross national product (GNP) constitutes a process of ''dematerialization.'' They have suggested that this process could allow continued growth in production and wealth while attenuating adverse impacts on the environment. Dematerialization, however, has been a central strategy for reducing production costs since before the beginnings of industrial capitalism Historically it has been associated with expanded, rather than contracted use of raw materials. Besides ignoring the historical record, proponents of dematerialization have failed to recognize that absolute volume of material consumed rather than volume relative to GNP is the significant measure in ecological terms. On a global scale, the volumes and the distances transported of major minerals have increased over the periods for which dematerialization has been claimed.