Most Venn (bubble) diagrams relating Environment, Society and
Economy look something like this: But, while convenient for
identifying important conceptual interlinkages, there are some
very obvious difficulties when it comes to representing Reality
for decision-making... For example, Society (human culture)
cannot actually exist outside the Environment, and an Economy
(trade) does not exist without the Environment (for materials)
or Society (to give it meaning). However, the first diagram has
increased an implicit modern misperception that "We do not need
the Environment (at least a local one) to survive". So it
represents how we tend to behave and make decisions - separately
and unsustainably - unconsciously relying upon resources from
further and further away for survival and, beyond that, to
thrive at the expense of others (in 1990, about 8 people
suffered for each 1 person thriving - currently that number may
be as high as 20 to 1 - and growing). A more physically accurate
image might look something like