Dominique Bourg

“[...] the nation’s present and future well-being is now threatened by human control over the biosphere including its underlying mechanisms. As a result, a new challenge begets the state’s responsibility: anticipating and preventing future and irreversible degradations, even if it implies severe constraints to the present.”

“For modern philosophers, the government’s function is rather to contribute to the maximisation of individual interests and facilitate trade between nations. [...] Today, however, in a world of finite resources, where human activity threatens the ecological equilibrium, this conception is obsolete…”