These investments are needed in the short term to offset the decline in worldwide consumption spending that underlies the global recession. More importantly, they are needed in the long term, because a world crowded with 6.8 billion people (and rising) simply cannot sustain economic growth unless it adopts sustainable technologies that economize on scarce natural resources.
短期内，我们需要进行这些投资，来抵销全球范围内消费开支的下降，这是这种下降引发了全球的经济萧条。更为重要的是，这种投资也需要长期进行，因为我们人类所生活的地球挤满了68亿人口（数量仍在增长中），它自身是无法实现经济的可持续增长，除非能采纳可持续发展的科学技术对稀有的自然资源进行有效利用。