Economic growth should not be equal to environmental degradation

Economic growth does not have to come at the expense of environmental quality. Anyone who says other wise is just plain wrong. Sure that's the way we (governments and businesses worldwide) have done things in the past, but it most certainly does not need to continue. I'm not an economist by any stretch of the imagination, but it doesn't take a big long equation to prove that at a certain point environmental degradation will end up destroying economies (and already has.) Of course this won't happen tomorrow, or next year or five years from now, but if things continue as they are it will happen sooner than we expect. A little smart planning and long term thinking will go a long way in creating a sustainable world.