“Why are ecologists and environmentalists so feared and hated? This is because in part what they have to say is new to the general public, and the new is always alarming.”
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Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons.
Education can counteract the natural tendency to do the wrong thing, but the inexorable succession of generations requires that the basis for this knowledge be constantly refreshed.
Of course, a positive growth rate might be taken as evidence that a population is below its optimum.
A coldly rationalist individualist can deny that he has any obligation to make sacrifices for the future.