The structural causes of overshoot over which people have the most power are the ones we did not change in chapter 6, namely those that drive the positive feedback loops causing exponential growth in human population and physical capital. They are the norms, goals, expectations, pressures, incentives, and costs that cause people to bear more than a replacement number of children. They are the deeply ingrained beliefs and practices that cause natural resources to be used more wastefully than money, that distribute income and wealth inequitably, that make people see themselves primarily as
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