Resources: for today, for tomorrow, forever?

It may seem the U.S. has been in a political and conceptual cacoon for the past few years. More than even usual. Perhaps it is time to look beyond our self-imposed, poisnous belief in American exceptionalism? Perhaps we Yanks really are simply humans living on a small planet, and not a super-empire like the world has never seen before? Is there a lesson to learn from a modest little nation with a very different approach to resource management and use?Even ecotourism has its issues and its downside, even if you ignore the carbn footprint of the air travel.