This essay tries to survey and comment on Fair Future (2005), a recent book by the “Wuppertal Institute” a German think tank of ecology. It mainly deals with the sufficiency-principle since Aristotle, the Euro-Continental concept of society which prefers political order to economical benefits and a new idea of the human right including the “a priori” land-property of local communities. These are interpreted in this essay in relation to the tradition of the “German social theories” from Kant to Fichte. Fair Future is characterized by its understanding of environmental problems as economic ones；therefore, it could safely be said its theoretical basis is that of the intra-generational ethics like traditional theories of justice rather than that of inter-generational, ecological “holism”. This book also differentiates itself from liberalist economics in that the sufficiency^- and consistency^- (sustainability^-) principles are considered important as well as the efficiency principle. It should also be noted 1) that this book supports traditional agriculture in local communities；2) that it draws attention to a tension between modern national states (old suzerain states) and local communities；3) it proposes sustainable economy models like de-centralized system of energy supply；4) that it argues about the social development which is rooted not only on the economic life standard but on the local cultures；and5) that it criticizes the WTO in that its idea of the free trade does not reduce actually the economic gap between the North and the South.
environmental justice
critics of the free-trade theory
contraction and convergence
ecological footprint
efficiency/consistency/sufficiency
land property