It was because of this most unnatural development that man overcame the bounds that nature had been maintaining on humanity for millennia through disease, predation, and more importantly, a limited food supply. Humans have intellect and culture. This culture dictates how a people live and how they interact with the surrounding landscape. If a culture is sustainable, the protection of the environment is built right into the culture, such as is the case of many native and aboriginal peoples around the globe. European cultures based on consumption and Calvinism are not Earth friendly institutions.
Economical balances replace ecological balances.
Sadly, these European cultures have taken over the word and destroyed nearly all the native and aboriginal cultures. Humans in such cultures cannot ignore the laws of nature and expect to survive. Disasters will likely occur as people do more and more foolish things to nature without realizing the weight of their mistakes until it is too late. I once heard a Native American say that we are creating our own monoculture of people by mixing the world s population together, and that one day humanity will be wiped out by a disease that feeds on this uniformity. This is a possibility.