Sustaining OurselvesHow can we best meet the needs of today and tomorrow?

Take action to repair & protect crucial resourcesWe must take urgent measures, including government regulation and pressure on businesses

Examples: • fossil fuel surcharges and tax incentives• ration water and electricity• join binding international agreements• consumers can buy more second-hand products1

Focus the power of markets & technological innovation

2We can offer the right incentives so that inventors, entrepreneurs, and markets can solve our resource overuse problems

Examples: • use shareholder activism to force businesses to

develop more sustainable products• businesses can license energy efficient

technologies to developing nations at reduced cost

• increase tax credits for renewable energy• eliminate govt. subsidies of nonrenewable energy

Transform our culture

3We need to reconnect with the longstanding American values of frugality, altruism, social connections, and living within one’s means.

Examples:• people can move closer to family members• schools can provide training in trades, gardening,

and other “self-reliance” skills• citizens can educate family, friends, and neighbors

about helpful lifestyle changes• government can pass laws against sprawl and

provide incentives for people to live closer together

Take action to repair & protect crucial resources

1We must take urgent measures, including government regulation and pressure on businesses

Trade-offs: • will raise prices of fuel, food, and other staples• rationing limits personal freedoms• US leaders would have to answer to international

entities• this limits consumer’s choice and access to

technologically advanced products

Focus the power of markets & technological innovation

2We can offer the right incentives so that inventors, entrepreneurs, and markets can solve our resource overuse problems

Trade-offs: • cheap licensing reduces profits of companies and

creates new competition for them• forces governments to predict with technologies

will be successful• eliminating current nonrenewable resource

subsidies will result in higher prices for consumers, disproportionately affect those least able to pay

Transform our culture

3We need to reconnect with the longstanding American values of frugality, altruism, social connections, and living within one’s means.

Trade-offs:• limits many people’s employment opportunities• skill training reduces time spent on traditional

school subjects• not everyone appreciates hearing about lifestyle

changes and relationships might suffer• restricts people’s choices about the kind of

dwelling or neighborhood they want to live in