We need a paradigm shift in which economists, politicians and ecologists alike recognise that humans are more than mere producers or consumers.

THE EARTH’S SURFACE is wafer-thin yet everything in and on it connects and cannot be understood except as part of an integrated system. This unity has been recognised from the earliest days of human observation.

Indeed, it was the stuff of religion. Gods and goddesses were seen to embody specific elements, ranging from the sky to the most local spring. The notion that the Earth itself was alive was part of Greek philosophy. Leonardo da Vinci saw the ...

 

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