In many cases, wasteful, inefficient or short-sighted production and consumption patterns are putting at risk whole ecosystems, disrupting their normal functioning and reducing their potential productivity, now and for the future. This is perhaps the most unsustainable aspect of human economic activity today. The scenarios for 2010 presented here are daunting. At the same time, they are not inevitable. Rising consumption needs can be met, but that they should be met in more imaginative ways.
Possible solutions use familiar policy concepts and currently available knowledge and technologies.
Imagination is required only to summon the will to put them into effect.