The Triple Bottom Line

The concept of the triple bottom line widens the scope and complexity of social decision-making into three realms or domains of activities:

1. The ecological realm tracks the environmental aspects of decision-making, augmenting what is often left out of political and economic decision-making. We can divide the ecological dimension into the realm of the geophysical world and the realm of the natural world. The physical and natural worlds provide the foundation, or grounding, of the economic and social realms.
2. The economic realm examines how actions and decisions lead to development (not physical growth) effects. This implies that sustainability need not conflict with ecological considerations that point to the physical and natural world. The article by Peter Montague in Schroyer & Golodik explains how ecological economics intersects with sustainable development.
3. The social realm examines culture and institutions (such as nations, communities, households and families), raising issues of gender, class, race, poverty, inequality, power, inclusion and exclusion, etc.

©Wayne Hayes, Ph.D. 5/24/2008