Nature heals itself over time: trees grow back, endangered species grow their numbers, etc. Even deposits of fossil fuels reconstitute themselves, albeit over m

Nature heals itself over time: trees grow back, endangered species grow their numbers, etc. Even deposits of fossil fuels reconstitute themselves, albeit over millions of years. So nature isn't exactly a fixed pile of resources that we draw from. The earth isn't a closed system. Sunlight, which is for all intents and purposes infinite, is a vital resource for the world's food supply, plants, and everything that depends on them. With 7+ billion humans on earth, if you knew nothing about the water cycle, you might think that the oceans would run out of water in a few centuries. But ocean levels are rising, not falling. Because much of the water we consume goes back to nature one way or another. It's more complicated than zero-sum.