The fragile planet: Thoughts of a green prophet

When the history of environmentalism is definitively written, one theme above all others, which Professor Commoner helped to shape, will stand out: the realisation, so long in coming for humankind, that the earth is finite.

For millennia, there had been the assumption that the planet was limitless, and we could plunder its natural resources, from fish to forests, without any fear of them running out; we could dump waste to our heart’s content on the land and the sea, and it would be absorbed without harm; we could dream up an infinity of new inventions and be heedless of their side-effects.

The Independent