One thing I find interesting is that humans tend to take more care of their environment as prosperity increases. It isn't subsistence farmers campaigning for n

One thing I find interesting is that humans tend to take more care of their environment as prosperity increases. It isn't subsistence farmers campaigning for nature reserves. Even compare poor versus rich housing areas - you immediately know which one has more "green". Prosperity is strongly correlated with (and some argue caused by) trade and specialisation. Compare this with anti globalisation and "local" movements. It is certain that the latter leads to subsistence if taken to its logical conclusion. So perhaps the best thing to do for the environment is to encourage even more globalisation, only let "local" win when it does by the same measures, and have more trade and hence specialisation. As a bonus, more prosperous humans tend to have fewer children. Matt Ridley's Rational Optimist has a lot more detail about prosperity, trade and specialisation. Here is a Ted talk to get you going http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_ridley_when_ideas_have_sex.html http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_ridley_when_ideas_have_sex.htm...