Green Extremism Is Rooted in One Conviction: Continued Economic Growth Is Absolutely Impossible, Given the Limits of a Finite Planet; Only If This Notion Is Discredited Can Eco-Radicalism Be Shaken

In the pages that follow I will argue that each of the four essential postulates of radical environmentalism outlined above is directly contradicted by the empirical record. “Primal” economies have rarely been as harmonized with nature as they are depicted; many have actually been highly destructive. Similarly, decentralized, small-scale political structures can be just as violent and ecologically wasteful as large-scale, centralized ones. Small is sometimes ugly, and big is occasionally beautiful. Technological advance, for its part, is clearly necessary if we are to dev elop less harmful ways of life and if we are to progress as a human community. And finally, capitalism, despite its social flaws, presents the only economic system resilient and efficient enough to see the development of a more benign human presence on the earth.

But a critique of these notions, however sound, misses the fundamental point. Ultimately, green extremism is rooted in a single, powerful conviction: the continued economic growth is absolutely impossible, given the limits of a finite planet. Only if this notion is discredited can the edifice of eco-radical philosophy be shaken.

--Martin W. Lewis, introduction to Green Delusions: An Environmentalist Critique of Radical Environmentalism (Durham: Duke University Press, 1992), 9-10.