Could the Green Party of Aotearoa become an environmental party that was neutral, if not liberal on economic issues? Must it see economic growth and a healthier environment as opposites rather than complements? 

This week the Dominion Post published a letter to the editor that alleged that the Green Party's constitution puts ecological sustainability ahead of human development and that economic growth is impossible.

But what the Green Party's constitution actually says (in part) is "…this world is finite, therefore unlimited material growth is impossible; ecological sustainability is paramount …"

Taken at face value these statements should not stop the Green Party from being economically liberal. There seems to be no known limit to human creativity and to rail against the drive to improve one's circumstances is to rail against human nature.

Productivity growth from innovation lifts living standards and alleviates resource scarcity. Moreover, there is strong evidence that population growth slows with higher living standards. Witness the current 'ageing population' concerns canvassed in The New Zealand Initiative's recent reports on demographic trends and fiscal projections.

In addition, increasing scarcity sees a switch to alternatives. The lapsed 'peak oil' predictions of recent years indicate that the lesson from economist Paul Simon's famous resource scarcity bet with environmentalist Paul Ehrlich is hard learned.

The fear that humans will enduringly pursue material consumption at the expense of environmental quality is at odds with human nature and experience. People value higher material living standards, greater leisure and a cleaner environment. They naturally aim to secure all three if they can. Bjorn Lomborg exhaustively documented the evidence for both greater material prosperity and a better environment during the 20th century in his 2001 book, The Skeptical Environmentalist.

Environmental issues of the tragedy of the commons type are not caused by economic growth; they are caused by the lack of a property rights system that internalises costs.  Economists and environments should be able to unite on this point.

Finally, ecologically sustainable development is arguably increased by ongoing productivity growth. (It is commonly defined as development that provides for the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.) The history of economic development has seen current generations bequeathing more assets overall to succeeding generations than they inherited.

Arguably it is non-mainstream prior beliefs rather than its constitution that stop the Green Party from adopting a mainstream approach to economic policy.