Another raging problem is far more alarming than the credit crunch today. This economic meltdown has some immediate solutions that are concretely possible. The bail out is an example of an immediate and concrete solution. What surpasses this economic problem is the raging environmental problem that is currently devastating the world today. This has far more alarming effects, in the long run and over the long haul.

A more alarming crisis is on the horizon. This one is more fundamental and crucial than any stock market issue. If this one crashes, it would be equivalent to practically all the major stock markets in the world crashing. Environmental assets are the foundation for all life on earth. They are also the major determinants of prosperity on the planet.

The world has been under-valuing or devaluing these environmental assets, causing the impending ecological credit crunch. Losses in this environmental wealth will lead to gross poverty and deprivation. This can cascade into several other social and economic problems on a global scale.

75 percent of all peoples in the world are now known as ecological debtors. These are countries where national consumption has outstripped their country’s biological capacity. They have overdrawn from the ecological capital that is present in the planet. In most parts of the world, natural wealth is overconsumed by deforestation, land conversion, soil, air, and water pollution, overfishing, and destructive mining. These adverse practices have all been spurned by man’s overconsumption.

The collective will of the people is not enough to assure this. Society will need pertinent laws and regulations. It is the political will of governments, as implemented by their leaders, which can ultimately assure the success of these ecological efforts.

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Via Global Footprint Network