This will help us to visualise what a sustainable world really should entail and thus allow us to set practical targets to aim for. Overconsumption Greed, individual and corporate, frequently combined with short-termism, is a major contributor to the current crisis. Though self-interest may be an inevitable aspect of human nature, the population has also been subject to relentless political, economic and social pressures encouraging indulgence. We need to develop a framework that discourages overconsumption. Lack of awareness and understanding of ecology is a major hurdle to be overcome.
Many people now live in an almost totally man-made environment.
That their existence relies on many delicately balanced natural processes, the continuance of which is affected by their own decisions, may be hard for them to grasp. The relentless voice of the market economy still dominates the media with exhortations to ever more consumption. Uncontrolled technology Technology must be made to serve the long term needs of mankind in an ecologically and socially acceptable manner. Within the overall constraint of limits to population and per capita consumption, we must still act against inappropriate technology. Such solutions are unacceptable.