Environmentally Sustainable Growth
Prior to the agricultural revolution, humans were in balance with nature.
Once we learned to grow our own crops and domesticate animals, our numbers grew, and we freed up more and more people to do things other than hunt or gather food.
The concept of land ownership evolved.
Food was bartered for goods and services provided by non-farmers.
Then the concept of money evolved, and societies became much larger and more complex. Technologies began to grow exponentially.
We learned how to forge metals and began to think that we could mold nature to meet our needs.
We developed irrigation and then fertilizers and chemicals to increase farm yields. Individual farmers were squeezed off their land by land-barons and then large corporations.
Soon we populated every corner of the planet, and the natural world began to bend under the stress of the demands we were placing on it.
Fortunately, humankind is now awakening to the fact that growth must be environmentally sustainable.
Climate change has grabbed the spotlight early in this transition, but our newfound awareness of our global responsibilities is shallow and fleeting.
We’re Better Than That
Kenneth B. Little