From time immemorial, mankind’s relationship to nature has been far more adversarial than cooperative or convivial. Man has had to fight and scurry in order to ilk out a meagre living. The contest between man and nature remained vastly unequal until the Industrial Revolution when coal, previously considered “evil” as it came from underground, became widely used and thus changed the face of the earth in many ways. One way was the ability of man to be able to harvest more and more with less and less effort. Technical progress has increased man’s efficiency to such an extent that lately nature’s ecosystems have become overtaxed; they are unable to cope. The result is that these ecosystems can not return to a balanced equilibrium that is necessary to be able to provide  the services that man depends on for survival (clean water, air, arable land etc).