situation because we have interfered in their defensemechanisms. The vegetation cover, glaciers and marine biomes are like the skinwith important participation in the planets temperature control. Maybe theEarth could support a large amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is its vegetationand the oceans were intact. Since they are not, this burden accumulated overthe glaciers.This is the partof global warming which is usually not mentioned. There is a commitment in themedia to show that the CO2 from burning fossil fuels is solely responsible forglobal warming. It gives to the public the idea that global warming is themain, if not the only one environmental problem we face. In fact, globalwarming is just a fever. The disease is much more severe, it can potentiallykill the patient. Sad to say this, but the disease is we, humans, since we haveextracted from the earth three times more resources than it would be able toreplace at its maximum capacity. We have behaved as grasshoppers in planting,eating up to the last green stalk.In an attempt tominimize the effects of our lifestyle, much has been said about sustainabledevelopment. Unfortunately sustainable development has been represented as amere action for compensation. Many products currently present on their labelsmessages like "This product has offset its carbon emissions by plantingtrees," or "This product is environmentally sustainable." Theseactions, if real, are usually mere palliatives. Most of the time, companieshave not taken any concrete action. They just bought some carbon credits andcontinued to do things as they always did. A few companies have adopted realsustainable practices like fighting waste, energy efficiency and true supportto environmental programs, such as Brazilians SOS Atlantic Forest Institute.Surprisingly, these companies realized that sustainable action reduces costsand increases profits.Here I quote from theBritish scientist James Lovelocks book "The Revenge of Gaia" (BasicBooks, 2007). I have read a lot about climate change, but only Lovelock seemsto have a structural view of the problem, a physiological view in fact.Lovelock speaks convincingly about the Gaia theory, how the Earth can maintainhomeostasis, i.e. maintaining a highly dynamic and theoretically unstable environmentin equilibrium. Showing a great knowledge in the area, although he admits thatthis is an area that we are only beginning to understand, he makes it clear theways we are interfering. Also he shows the extent of the damage. This damage isso great that, according to Lovelocks opinion, it is not sufficient asustainable economy, but a sustainable retreat, in parallel to an army inretreat when there is no way to win the battle. Although fatalistic (andsometimes only fatalistic discourse takes effect), his point of view has been continuallycorroborated by numerous scientific studies.But how can weconciliate a sustainable retreat to the needs of poorer countries growing? Welive in an unfair situation in which 10% of the population consumes 90% of theresources. The remaining population lives in situations ranging from just abovethe poverty line to the extreme scarcity. Piped water and sewage are luxuriesthat many do not even know exist, and medical care is just unthinkable. Thesepopulations often derive their living from the land without proper techniques,which simultaneously degrades the soil and produces an insufficient livelihood.Id like to