The drinking culture here in Asia is a strict procedure. When you pour a drink for your friend, you can’t just nonchalantly pour some alcohol into the cup. You have to pretend to be holding up your shirt sleeve as you pour, and fill the cup to the top. This symbolizes your wish for your friend to have a full life. And when you pour the drink there is one heightened focus – don’t overfill the cup.

The Limit to Growth, a 1972 study, predicted growth in the human ecological footprint. The researhers used computer simulations and discussed the impacts on a finite planet. There was a sustainable path versus a business as usual path that human civilization could take. 

Those involved in the MIT study suggested we move away from the old market forces approach and to a more cooperative approach. In actuality, societies have followed the business as usual approach – more growth, and less of the natural world to go around.
So, human society has been growing, almost to 8 billion people. The earth’s resources are finite. Our business as usual approach is filling the drink nonchalantly. We don’t have the heightened focus as we fill the earth up.