The research and action agenda implied by these considerations is urgent and ambitious. That agenda requires identifying the critical factors and setting priorities among many efforts. There are increasing numbers of successful cases where products made with less transformation of materials and energy and less environmental impact have at the same time made firms more profitable. Such cases must be understood and multiplied. At the same time, societies need to examine their values and consider how goals can be met with the least damaging consumption.
Scientists can help to understand the causes and dynamics of consumptive behavior.
They can also develop indicators that track environmental impacts and link them to consumption activities, build understanding of how environmental and social systems respond to stress, and analyze the effectiveness of different strategies for making and implementing policy choices in the presence of uncertainty. These are exciting challenges. Social and natural scientists can and must work with private firms and public officials to produce innovations and the incentives to implement them, locally and globally. As scientists but also as citizens of the world, we must strive to see that its riches are used in such a way that our descendants throughout the world can continue to enjoy them. We hereby emphasize our intention to help stimulate these important efforts by the international community of scientists.