For years, we have told ourselves a convenient story: maximize short-term profit and comfort while pushing the real costs into the future. This apparent cynicism took hold because it was politically convenient. It seemed easier to defer the consequences of short-sighted choices— strategic dependencies, industrial fragility, and the erosion of natural capital— until geopolitical shocks and accelerating biodiversity loss made the bill unavoidable. At this point, the environment ceases to be a separate chapter and becomes central to competitiveness, security, and democratic resilience. Written in a lively, polemical voice, the book advances a clear proposal: put nature back at the heart of our accounts and decisions, realign incentives and public policies, demand innovation without greenwashing from business, and restore an active role for citizens in collective choices.