Hey Lagunans, I've just been mulling over some rather academic stuff, and I thought I would share. Hopefully it'll get you all thinking and writing and sharing your comments.

The way I see it, the market is out of sync with the environment. Business-as-usual is a self-destructive course. But I do not think it

is the amount of consumption and growth or even the inequality of it.
Rather, it is the type of growth. By type, I am referring to the
details rather than the macro-effects--so globalization, democratic
capitalism, and inefficient global institutions are not necessarily
part of the problem. The details are the actual products, advertising
strategies, and demand-management techniques of business. I think that
currently, consumption is artificially (driven by marketing and
advertising) associated with waste, disposal, and pecuniary
consumption. This does not have the be the case. There is and
certainly can be (with the right market prices and government
intervention) an unlimited market for 'sustainable' products and
services, that propel growth to entirely new levels and do so because
they are consistent with the health of the natural environment. I
think that sustainability is the next IT revolution. Imagine if the
huge amount of wealth and production associated with the IT revolution
went hand-in-hand with environmental conservation rather than
degradation.