Is the global economy inevitably at odds with environmental conservation?
Speth: When the economy grows very rapidly, environmental impacts tend to increase. The global economy has doubled in less than 20 years, but the environmental community isnt willing to say growth is the problem. And we havent been willing to tell the public the truth about prices. We have this idea in our society that everything has to be really cheap, especially energy. But if we had prices that were honest from the point of view of their impact on society, of national security costs, then we would be paying very high prices for a lot of things that are cheap today. And if we dont have honest prices in our economy, we will never have a market economy that is steered toward environmental objectives. E: Especially given our current eco-nomic state, most people dont want to contemplate paying more for anything. How do you suggest framing that proposition? Speth: We have to get the markets straightened out and get the prices right. Thats going to take a lot of courage because it means li
