How is it that our supposedly intelligent species manages to do such damage to the precious and fragile planet that we inhabit? We ought to be able to work out what is best for us. We ought to be able to think of the future. But we don't. This perverse behaviour reflects our failure to understand the human personality. We have been powerfully influenced by misguided ideas about people and about what it is that makes for human flourishing. The Earth and Us is a book about people, our impact on the natural environment and the political, economic and industrial implications - and about how we all live our lives.