Should we stop growing the economy? As Donald Trump reverses climate policies, many environmentalists argue that we need less growth rather than more.
How economic success is ‘harming nature’
Need for change?: Approximately 75% of the land's surface has already been significantly altered by human actions. Glossary
EU - European Union. An economic and political union of 27 countries.
Economic growth - The process through which a country's wealth increases over time.
Biodiversity - Biodiversity is all the different kinds of life you'll find in one area — the variety of animals, plants, fungi, and even microorganisms like bacteria that make up our natural world. Each of these species and organisms work together in ecosystems, like an intricate web, to maintain balance and support life.
Extinction - Completely dying out.
GDP - Short for Gross Domestic Product, the measure of all the goods and services produced inside a country.
Net zero - When the gases going into the atmosphere are balanced by those being taken out of it.
Greenhouse gases - Greenhouse gases, which increase the atmosphere's capacity to hold heat, are vital to life on Earth: without them the planet would be freezing. But human activity is disturbing the delicate balance that created the conditions for life as we know it. Carbon dioxide is responsible for 60% of the manmade greenhouse effect, but we also produce smaller quantities of methane, ozone and nitrous oxide, which are even more damaging.
