A few comments on Kohler's message on comparative environmental stress:
First the qualitative aspects of economic growth need to be considered.
There is some evidence supporting a contemporary peak negative impact
for economies in the mid range of GNP per capita, i.e., poor countries
have low impact, rich have low because of investment in environmental
protection. However, this pattern doesn't apply to all impacts (e.g., C
emissions).
Second, future growth (yes growth, not Herman Daly's steady-state) in
rich countries with economies constrained by red/green movements should
ultimately occur with much less environmental stress as a result of
solarization, industrial ecology, dematerialization of technology etc.
Economic growth itself is not the real issue, rather its qualitative
aspects and political economy (see Commoner, Making Peace with the
Planet, and Science & Society Fall 1996, Marxism and Ecology issue).