The linkage of economic and ecological concepts and models requires us to be more realistic. Ecological systems are not linear, equilibrium systems; somehow we must find a way to link economic activity to the dynamics and resilience of natural systems. Deutsch and her collaborators wrote

Of course, there is a changing view that economies and societies are also non-equilibrium CAS and have similarly dynamic properties – so the challenge is to find ways to link the environmental–socioeconomic systems-of-systems. Science will play a role in this linkage as a generator of new knowledge, but it must do so in a much more engaged and interactive form and with the recognition of complexity. Whatever form sustainability science takes, a form of ‘postnormal’ science will be involved. Orthodox economics assumes at least short-term equilibrium and the applicability of concepts of marginal utility and essentially instrumental values. Economic models assume ‘well-behaved’ linear dynamics around equilibria. We are going to need a heterodox economics and a set of governance arrangements that does not use outdated physics-based assumptions.