In today’s society, we constantly find ourselves in self-conflicting ideas and priorities, we have ended up with seemingly contradictory values that cannot function without the help of one another, a direct example of this is the tension between economic growth and environmental sustainability. Even though we are able to recognize our dependence on the earth’s resources, we do not recognize the connection between the economy and the earth. Perhaps the clear connection between those two aspects of modern-day society has been buried by our search for happiness through materialism and economic growth, or our fear and uncertainty of what to do in case our nations failed to attain higher GDPs and our businesses do not make profits.

Simply giving the issue a quick glance would confirm the well-accepted idea that the benefits of economic growth are many: the more that businesses and nations grow and profit, the more individuals have jobs, resources and quality of life… Yet in order to grow, the economy also feeds on natural resources and emits waste that pollutes the air and threatens the delicate ecosystems on which life on earth relies. These counterbalancing forces undermine the foundation upon which economic growth is built and, over the long term, create a sinkhole which will swallow up the economy, environment and society.

In order to loosen the tension between economic growth and environmental sustainability, we need to find a balance between the two. The only solution to this would be to develop new alternative sustainable energy sources, but also to find a way to contain the chaotic growth of our economy. More directly we would need to find a way to convince society that the only way to avoid an environmental disaster would be direct our way of thought towards more techno-centric and eco-centric views.

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