What accounts for the view that we cannot protect the environment while simultaneously providing for people's needs?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The root of this dilemma is the disconnect humans have from the natural environment. Technological advancement has altered many blue? and white?collar job categories of occupations where people spend their time inside a building in an urban environment. As a consequence, we have lost the qualities of beauty and peace of mind that nature offers and also the perception that humans are connected to the environment. Often we view nature as an economic commodity and environmental degradation as separate from our own lives. This perception has led to rampant negative human impacts on natural systems without consideration of the consequences. Environmentalists in the 1960s and 1970s became desperate to reduce what they saw as human depredation on the environment. Citizen outrage forced politicians to take action, and the easiest course of action was legislation encompassing a regulatory approach. Governments enacted laws and regulations that limited what businesses, individuals, and government agencies could do. As a result of this top?down, punitive management that seriously affected short?term profits, many people began to see environmental protection as adversarial to making a living.