A) Humans have outstripped our biology: Humans’ unique prowess for invention has allowed us to outstrip our biology. That is, over the last 10,000 years we’ve been able to increase our population beyond what natural selection allows all other lifeforms to do and, despite the damage we’re doing to the environment, we somehow believe that this growth is right and good.

B) We live in a world where planning for the future extends to only months and years.

C) Inventions that lower natural resource use actually end up making things worse: Having to do with our celebration of human innovation, when an invention lessens the use of natural resources, (which should make environmentalists happy) it actually has the perverse effect of making it cheaper, and thus more accessible to a larger population. As more people enter the market for this product or service, more resources than before are consumed, if it’s a technological breakthrough, jobs are lost.

However, financial profit for business owners increases, which further centralized monetary or product sector control, spurring owners to look for more opportunities, which then actually grows the economy, repeating the cycle.