Our Concerns
The ecosystems that we all depend on for our survival and the biodiversity they contain are the source and foundation of a healthy economy and the social well-being of humanity; however, ecosystems are deteriorating both locally and globally.
Throughout the world there has been an alarming loss of ecosystems and their biological diversity, widespread air and water pollution, global climate change, economic instability, and social deterioration.
We believe that these assaults on the Earth and ultimately on our social well-being stems from the way we think about and deal with the natural world. Our ideas about the Earth and the other creatures that share the planet with us have led us to 1) over-consume the world’s natural resources, and 2) continue uncontrolled, the growth of our population. Both of these factors, however, facilitate economic growth, a perennial goal of governments around the world. And economic growth invariably results in the appropriation, degradation, or even liquidation of natural ecosystems and their biodiversity.
Our primary concern is that few people on Earth today are addressing what we call the proximate cause of our environmental problems: economic growth. Most of us, including most environmentalists and conservation organizations, are simply addressing the myriad symptoms that the cause is creating, symptoms such as climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, fisheries declines, habitat loss, and a host of others.
Until we begin addressing the root cause—economic growth—we believe that little will change for the better.