Greed is damaging our planet

This is possibly the most pessimistic Front Bit I've ever written, but it must be said; I don't believe this planet can be saved.
I say this because I believe there are too many forces lined up against all the people trying to do good by the Earth. There are those for the planet, and the others - not against the planet, but too immersed in the accumulation of extravagant wealth that the Earth's health must take second or third place.
And never the twain shall meet.
A term I came across in a book worth reading - Melting Point, by Dr Eric Dorfman - is "the carrying capacity of the planet".
Our spherical home, spinning silently in space, is capable of sustaining only so much life. The human population has recently reached the 7 billion mark and that provides a lot of work for the planet to do.
There must be room enough for us all, which doesn't seem to be a problem if we don't mind concreting the green spaces.
There must be enough food for us all ... and suddenly we want those concreted green spaces back again.
There must be a way to be able to dispose of the waste we create without compromising the health of the planet. That waste includes that from our bodily functions, our own dead bodies and the rubbish we actually build factories to manufacture.
The Earth's resources must be able to create enough energy for us to exist in the manner to which we have become accustomed.
And the Earth must be able to cope with the damage we do in our day-to-day living - probably the biggest ask of all.
At some point the equilibrium must falter; where that is I don't know but there has to be a finite number of people the Earth can sustain. After that, science fiction takes over and we look to space for new colonies.
The point is, the Earth's population is at odds with itself because a large percentage of us are indulging in unfettered commercial enterprise. Business used to be a good thing, until along came corporate greed.
People trying to accumulate excessive wealth is nothing new, otherwise we wouldn't have the King Midas fable, amongst others, but with the rise of corporate giants and businesses spread across most of the globe, the pursuit of profit to the detriment of all else has become pandemic and a serious threat to the health of our home.
These businesses have no self imposed limits and the amount of profit they wish to procure is whatever their imaginations can produce and then some more. To create these massive profits they need ever growing markets. To provide these markets they need unlimited numbers of people to buy the product or use the service. Therefore they are in favour of never-ending growth and bigger - much bigger - populations.
Sales targets increase, they never decrease. Sales people are under constant pressure to provide bigger profits no matter what the human cost. When that is on a multinational scale the potential damage to society and the Earth we inhabit is catastrophic. But who cares when the objective is to accumulate ridiculous amounts of wealth for a small number of people?
There is a word that seems to have lost its place in the English lexicon - that word is "enough". Has any chairman of any multinational business in the history of the world ever said to its board of directors, "I think we have enough."? I think not. The operative word that fuels business these days is "more". There is no limit to more; it just keeps expanding to fill the perceived need.
That's why I fear for the future of the planet and the ordinary people who inhabit it. There needs to be a huge shift in the mindset of the greedy or the well-intentioned saviours will never make headway and, in the words of Dad's Army's Private Frazer ... "We're all doomed".
I've been watching Kiwi Living on Friday evenings, that blatant copy of a dozen other shows, this one hosted by Miriama Kamo and Michael Van de Elzen. In doing so, I have been subjected to the affected accents of "style guru" Luke Bettesworth. Does anyone else think he sounds like Rambling Syd Rumpo with Kiwi vowels?
[Rambling Syd Rumpo was a parody of a troubadour, played by the talented Kenneth Williams in a radio show called Round the Horne]
I'd be interested in your comments on any of the points raised today. My contact details are on this page.