Pity everyone's function seems to be to maximize the short-term gains. Politicians, businessmen, even struggling families - it's not their job to think about those massive long-term costs.
Pity everyone's function seems to be to maximize the short-term gains. Politicians, businessmen, even struggling families - it's not their job to think about those massive long-term costs.
Sure we may lose some species like a red tree beetle, but at least we get another Walmart parking lot and more suburban McMansions!
Continuing our growth and destruction of the planet is a bet with very unequal payoffs: we gain very little marginal value from more development, but the permanent risk of ecosystem destruction could lead to massive long-term losses.