The book lists many supporting statistics: A common perception is that such progress from economic growth and technology is unsustainable due to worsening environmental problems.
As development continues and these problems are tackled, the environmental impact becomes a higher priority, and then steps are taken to reduce it.
This pattern can be seen for many environmental indicators, such as air quality, availability of safe water, sanitation, and DDT and PCB residues in human tissues, which initially declined with increasing development but have more recently improved.
The point is that far from being the inevitable product of a strong economy, environmental improvement is often the result of political struggles that could very easily have gone the other way."
Goklany in a reply stated "I am no more convinced than he is about the inevitability of progress" and that the book had stated "a democratic society, because it has the political means to do so, will translate its desire for a cleaner environment into laws, either because cleanup is not voluntary or rapid enough, or because of sheer symbolism.