Mainstream economics and the present economic system are among the main culprits of the worsening ecological crisis of our days – the global climate change, the mass extinction of plant and animal species, the scarcity of fresh water, etc. To avoid social collapse and to create ecologically sustainable societies would require new economic theory and practice. This is the task undertaken by ecological economics. From the huge international literature of this more and more influential discipline only a few pieces were available in Hungarian so far. The goal of this reader is to ease this need: it offers a wide-ranging selection from the classic and recent works of the discipline. It is recommended to everyone who is keen on thinking about our world, and especially about the relations between market economy, market society and nature by the help of high level works; and who is interested in our global problems and their potential solutions.

The editors of the book:
- György Pataki economist, lecturer at Szent István University, Gödöllő and at Budapest University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration, Budapest.
- András Takács-Sánta ecologist, lecturer at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest.