How do we safeguard our environment for future generations?

Only a saint could answer this question patiently. We know what we’re doing wrong: we consume too much. We know what we have to do: consume less. We know how to do this: tax consumption and pollution properly. We know why we don’t do this: it would be political suicide to introduce sensible taxation, which would lower our standard of living. (Let’s not kid ourselves: for all that some countries are much better than we are on environmental issues, none is really close to what is necessary.)

I can only hope that we have enough time to play this one out at the current snail’s pace before the planet’s ecosystem implodes. I’m hopeful.

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Last updated 2005/02/27