As Charles Eisenstein argues so brilliantly in his book
The Ascent of Humanity, the root problem is man's separation from nature -- a profound alienation that causes us to think the world consists of only two classes of things, humans and resources. All our over-consumption, over-growth problems can be traced back to that single issue.
What we
will do about the problem depends in large measure on what we
can do about it, which depends in turn on what the origins of that attitude are.
There are those (like Jay Hanson of
dieoff.org fame) who feel that the origins are largely biological, that our genetics compels our behaviour, and that we have created a world-view that is consistent with, and exists solely to justify, that behaviour. If they are right, we're hooped -- that position says that despite our conceit of sapience we are little more than genetic automata and our program will simply run to its logical conclusion.
That perspective doesn't seem totally supportable to me however, since humans lived sustainably for hundreds of thousands of years, and have only demonstrated this dysfunctional growth lust for the last few thousand years. That implies that at least some of the roots of our trouble are to be found in our cultural narrative, as expressed in myths like the Fall. If the fundamental disconnect is cultural, then we should be able to transcend it through changing our story. It seems reasonable to think that such a change could be precipitated by a close encounter with limits of the worst kind, as appears to be happening right now.
The evolutionary psychologists may have glimpsed at least part of the truth, though, in that our behaviour probably did evolve along with the rest of the organism. In that case the question becomes to what extent we are ruled by nature (genetics), to what degree by nurture (culture), and whether we may be at least somewhat free agents. Given that there is no hope whatever for our species if the biological determinists are completely right, and that there is in fact no proof that they are
completely right, I have thrown in my lot with the "cultural narrative" crowd. We are coming up to a tipping point at which the underpinnings of our story are going to be exposed for the death-dealing lies they are. At that point there is a good chance that, like an alcoholic who finally hits bottom, we will take responsibility for our beliefs and actions, and thereby transform ourselves.
Since there is no realistic hope for a technological solution to the converging crisis, this transformation is the last avenue open to us. I accept that it will occur only as a result of the coming events, and so will give us very little buffer against them. However, I also happen to think it's the best avenue open to us as a species, and I have promised to do everything in my power to facilitate the enabling personal transformation in as many people as possible.