Abstract

This chapter introduces an ecological economic understanding of the sustainability concept, which combines an emphasis on keeping within environmental limits with an ethical call to fulfil the basic needs of all humans. With a particular focus on the distributional aspects of sustainability, the chapter provides a framework for understanding and discussing social provisioning processes. Provisioning is about transforming natural resources into a total of products and services that is referred to as the real cake. The framework distinguishes between the provisioning of the real cake and the appropriation of the cake, between makers and takers, because both aspects are key to sustainability. The main message is that the transformation of appropriation processes should play a much more important role in sustainability transitions, which requires more debate about who the makers and takers are in modern societies. Although ownership in itself does not contribute anything to the provisioning of the cake, appropriation is closely related to property rights, which form the basis of large social inequalities. The chapter provides a critical discussion of the narratives that legitimise these inequalities and suggests counter narratives. In conclusion, the need for new narratives is related to the idea of social tipping points.