Sustainable Growth: From Vision to Reality

In the developed world, we have a far greater environmental impact than people in the developing world. But there is great political pressure in the developing world to increase material wealth, which will lead to increased environmental impact. That according to Steven A. Cohen, director of Columbia University's Earth Institute. In a wide-ranging interview he argues that the world's political stability and security depend on the maintenance of material wealth where it exists and economic growth where citizens are poor. But to achieve these goals, we construct an economy that does not destroy our planet's ecosystems. The good news, says Cohen, is that we have the capacity to develop methods of production and consumption that are less damaging to the planet-and create a circular economy in which all materials are reused rather than discarded. This transition has already begun, he says. We just need to speed up our progress.