Media Review

It is hard not to become discouraged whenever an environmental “state of the planet” report is issued. Inevitably, we seem to be that much closer to an ill defined but much-discussed “ecological tipping point” past which we are told there is no return. The obstacles to global ecological sustainability are particularly overwhelming in light of the triple ecological challenge: the attachment of consumers, especially in the developed countries, to their unsustainable and insatiable lifestyle; the relentless pursuit of corporate profit by companies that serve the consumer market; and the legitimate desire of the socially and economically marginalized populations of the developing countries for an equitable share of the world’s resources.