The economic realm of human activity, looked at from the perspective of the entire human experience, can best be seen not simply as a progressive development of freedom, but rather as a series of phases in which new freedoms are made possible only by determining new limits and new responsibilities. So long as humankind respects those new lines of authority, freedom prospers. Without those limits, on the other hand, freedom dies. Legislative bodies around the world that fail to pass environmental laws in the name of freedom have an understanding of freedom that is ultimately self-destructive. We must learn, before it is too late, that the gift of freedom does not mean tearing down walls but relocating them. Just as a line is defined by the empty space that surrounds it, so is freedom defined by the boundaries around its edges. If we fail to appreciate this basic law of nature, if we continue to demand – on the level of the nation-state – freedom without limits and responsibility, we risk punishing our children or our children’s children.