Poverty and inequality at a time of increased ecological risk

Despite an abundance of literature over the past thirty years or so, which deals with the precarious balance between unrelenting productive activity and the risk to the planet¿s resources and biodiversity, the truth is there has not been much serious consideration given to the relationship between continued economic exploitation and the need to conserve a rich and sustainable environment. It has been pretty well understood from the outset, of course, that the natural environment is the source of most of the raw material for what we produce and consume. However, since more and more people are coming to the realization that these resources are finite in nature, many are beginning to see our current exploitative practices as leading to an inevitable depletion of nature¿s biodiversity and richness. To the point that it is conceivable that soon we will no longer be able to support the kind of rapacious economic exploitation we have become accustomed to. In addition, we must realize that most industries are configured so as to not only consume these limited natural resources, but to generate a continuous stream of noxious waste and by-products.