  The co-evolution of economic and ecological activities represents one of the
fundamental challenges in the realm of sustainable development. This study on
the word trends in mainstream newspapers from the UK and China reveals that
both early-industrialised countries and latecomers follow three modes of
economic and ecological co-evolution. First, both economic and ecological words
demonstrate an S-shaped growth trajectory, and the mode underscores the
importance of information propagation, whilst also highlighting the crucial
role of self-organisation in the accept society. Second, the co-occurrence of
these two type words exhibits a Z-shaped relationship: for two-thirds of the
observed period, they display synergistic interactions, while the remaining
time shows trade-offs. Lastly, the words related to ecological degradation
follow M-shaped trajectories in parallel with economic growth, suggesting
periodic disruptions and reconstructions in their interrelationships. Our
findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the co-evolutionary
mechanisms that govern collective behaviours in human society.

Physics and Society;Quantitative Methods