This chapter discusses the following questions: What is the relationship between poverty and environmental degradation? Can the obstacles to sustainability be overcome by raising national per capita income levels? Can policies directed towards poverty eradication also contribute to reducing pressures on the environment? Are wealthier people around the world confronting the problems of sustainability, responsibility and what is their level of responsibility to support environmental protection and conservation in areas inhabited by the poor? The author argues that as long as the expansion of capital is enlarging the ranks of the poor and impeding their access to the resources needed for survival, sustainability is not possible. Profound changes must be made to facilitate a strategy of favorable to sustainable development. The form of development outlined here is based on a structure of local autonomy that allows people to rebuild their rural societies and produce goods and services in a sustainable fashion.
