12 June 2026- The delayed disaster: understanding the “environmentalist paradox” – new article in The Conversation.
“Climates are destabilising, ecosystems are degrading and yet, on a global scale, average per‑capita income, life expectancy and education levels continue to rise. This gap constitutes one of the most unsettling paradoxes in contemporary environmental debate. Exploring all explanatory factors is essential for thinking about ways to act and communicate in the age of climate change.”.
Since the 1960s, warnings about the ecological consequences of economic growth and industrialisation have multiplied. Ecosystem degradation, resource depletion, pollution, climate disruption or the breaching of planetary boundaries: many scientific studies describe dynamics that could permanently alter human living conditions.
And yet: global life expectancy is increasing, extreme poverty has receded (at least until recent crises), education levels are rising, and average per‑capita income continues its long‑term upward trend worldwide.
This gap corresponds to what researchers called, around the 2010s, the “environmentalist paradox”: how can human well‑being, measured by dominant indicators, improve while ecosystems deteriorate?
- An article written by Jean-Michel Salles (Director of Research, CNRS, CEE‑M), Guy Richard (INRAE, DEPE) and Michel Colombier (IDDRI).
Read the article >>> (in french)