Powerful and obstructionist: Why progress on sustainable development is slow

Humanity is consuming Earth’s biological resources at a rate that is well beyond its means, driven by the capitalist economic system at the foundation of human society which encourages over-consumption of finite resources to ensure the stability of that economic system. Maintaining a system that compromises the future survival and quality of life for the species is not true moral leadership, and it defies not only logic, a trait humans are thought to be uniquely capable of, but the biologically hardwired instinct of all animals to survive.