People, too, are suffering from ecological stress. Even after a decade of declining poverty in many nations, 1.2 billion people lack access to clean water and hundreds of millions breathe unhealthy air. Poor people in countries such as the Philippines and Mexico are pushed to destroy forests and coral reefs in a desperate effort to raise living standards. But people have surmounted great challenges before, from the abolition of slavery in the 19th century, to the enfranchisement of women in the early twentieth. Change can move quickly from impossible to inevitable.
Industry is one key to environmental progress.
Last year, Ford Motor Company chairman, William Ford, questioned the long term future of both the internal combustion engine and the personal automobile, as his company stepped up its efforts to develop new transportation technologies. With oil, natural gas, and electricity prices all rising during the past year, Worldwatch says, the world has had a timely reminder that overdependence on geographically concentrated fossil fuels is a recipe for economic instability. In many regions, renewable energy is now the most economical and inflation proof energy source available, and can be installed much faster than the three year minimum for a natural gas fired power plant. Worldwatch coauthors Hilary French and Lisa Mastny note that failure to enforce many existing international environmental agreements is hampering progress on many fronts. One example of the potential influence of the E9 countries is the effort to slow climate change.