One of the weirdest things about most debates that pit environmentalism against well-being (usually presented as economic growth) is the way that opponents of stewardship act like regulating this or that will suddenly cause the economy to collapse. It's peculiarly un-American, dressed up as gung-ho patriotism based on a hedonistic view of the American Dream.
So it's always nice to be reminded that people, not just Americans, but all sorts of people, are really good at problem solving. The International Herald-Tribune has a nice slideshow of socially responsible design. The first one is underexplained, but the remaining, mostly focusing on troubles in developing countries, are all fascinating. And click through them all--the last slide is startlingly relevant.
Sadly, they left out one of my favorite of these kinds of things: the merry-go-round water pump. Remember it when someone says that fighting global warming can't be done. Solutions are everywhere.