Karen Christensen: You believe we can shift the current economic paradigm to one that permits growth while protecting the planet. Please explain how.
Steven Cohen: Those of us in the developed world 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, and that pressure will lead to increased environmental impact. Our political stability and security depend on the maintenance of material wealth where it exists and economic growth where people are poor. But to achieve those goals, we must learn how to construct a high-throughput economy that does not destroy our planet’s ecosystems.
The good news is, we have the capacity to develop methods of production and consumption that are less damaging to the planet. The goal is to close the system of production and consumption and create a circular economy in which all materials are reused rather than discarded. This transition has already begun. We just need to speed up our progress.
