If growth in nonmaterial parts of the economy exceeds the overall rate of growth, then there is a net reduction in the amount of materials needed to support economic growth and rising living standards. Yang noted in an aside that economic growth is likely to make a far greater impact on the environment than simple population growth for two reasons. First, global population growth seems to be leveling off, and the vast majority of population growth is coming in places where people consume fewer resources. Second, continuous economic growth is desired by virtually every government on the globe, with little likelihood of change. Furthermore, strong economic growth in industrialized societies demands much more in terms of resources than population growth in less developed societies.
Digitalization is, however, a double-edged sword.
By removing intermediaries, electronic commerce may cause prices to fall at the consumer level, encouraging a net increase in resources consumed. While these improvements in living standards may be terrific for individuals, the net environmental effect could be very problematic. By genomic biology, he meant biology derived from the understanding of the various genomes that are being mapped today in projects around the world. From mice to rice to fruit flies to humans, complete maps of the genetic material of a growing number of species are being assembled by scientists. But this knowledge, important as the achievement of discovering it has been, is only the raw material for the next stage of biological understanding.