I wonder if we can apply principles used to design these systems to the larger problem of sustainability. Without information about "total costs" I don't see how to do this. It would be quite a job to determine these costs, but it would be interesting to explore what we could do given such information.
I view the current fight for sustainability as a fight to change the vocabulary, and thereby change points of view. The old vocabulary of unlimited growth and development is not sustainable. A tactic of the opposition is to make words associated with sustainability into four letter words: wetlands, endangered species, etc.
I think the clash between the old linear world and the cyclic sustainable world is most apparent when comparing word lists. We see this every day in our local newspaper here in Colorado as a fight between development and preservation. Preservation wins are often by attrition, by making things too hard and take too long to change. This causes what is called "Aspenization", where limiting land development makes housing very expensive and forcing the working people "downvalley".
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