There can be no doubt that there is a limit to the number of people our planet can sustainably support (i.e. not just in the short-term). There can also be little doubt that this limit depends on the kind of lifestyles these (7 - 9 billion) people lead: whether materially very modest and undemanding, at one extreme, or extravagantly materialistic, at the other.

I need hardly point out the extreme to which most of us tend (when we have the money to finance it), or the direction in which our growth-dependent economy and money-based sense of “success ” and social status are driving us.

I was also struck by what the executive in question (Mr Robert Diamond, an investment banker with Barclays) had to say: 

"I don't think there is a lot of jealousy now. When [I] joined Barclays the company had understood that to build up an investment banking business it was necessary to pay well for outstanding performance." 

He is implying, of course, that other people were - and probably still are - jealous of the amount of money he is making. He is right, of course. Who wouldn't like to make £15 million a year? However, and this is a rather important point, the source of such jealousy is the same as that which motivates Mr Diamond himself, and lies at the very heart of our economy: it is our animal nature. If Mr Diamond had a harem of many beautiful wives and was able to add 10 more each year, most heterosexual men would be profoundly jealous. It's the same with money (the most versatile form of power): it appeals very strongly to our animal nature.

Like all animals, evolution adapted and programmed man, Earth's Greatest Ape, to succeed in the struggle for survival and advantage in the natural environment. However, with the advent of civilisation, this struggle (and the focus of our behavioural programming, which our economy has developed and been honed to exploit) transferred to the artificial "socio-economic environment ", which is where Mr Diamond achieved his "outstanding performance".

This "outstanding performance" relates to making money in the "socio-economic environment ", which has replaced the natural environment as the place where we (as individuals and in groups) struggle for survival and advantage.

In the "socio-economic environment " the struggle for survival and advantage translates as the struggle for power and social status, which now largely boils down to making money (in the local, national and global economy). Unfortunately and with dire consequences for our children and coming generations, there is far more money to be made from plundering our planet (e.g. extracting natural resources and selling them) than from conserving it.

The question is, why aren't we doing anything about it?

The answer is, because we are in denial of the situation, despite it staring us in the face. Facing up to it means recognising that our growth-dependent economy and grossly materialistic way of life are deeply rooted in our animal nature and fundamentally unsustainable. There is much that has to be changed, including many of the values, attitudes and (material) aspirations on which our entire socio-economic order is based. 

What would Mr Diamond, and millions of others, do, if they could not make money from helping to plunder our planet? That is why it is so difficult to face up to. But in so doing we are saying to our own children and to coming generations that they they must die, so that we can live (and make a living) - at least for a time - in the manner to which we have become accustomed.