There is a widespread underlying debate on the link between prosperity/wealth and environmental impact. This is quite summarised in this post by Alex Tabarrok and its comments: ‘dematerialization: humanity biggest surprise’.
In the Industrial Age there is no doubt that prosperity meant a greater impact to the environment, linked to much increased material and energy consumption, even if protection of habitats improves local ecosystems.
Environmentalists propose de-growth approaches to limit resource consumption.
As we move towards the Collaborative Age this observation is changing. Dematerialisation changes the relationship between wealth production and energy, while renewable energy expand in richer countries. The strain on local ecosystems created by poverty and overpopulation is also increasingly recognised as a wealth destruction mechanism.
Poverty, not prosperity might now be the true enemy of environment.
