Globally it's not at all clear there have been increases in inequality. When I was a kid in the 60s '3rd world nations' were impoverished going on starving, now they are mostly prosperous, have 4G, plenty of food etc. China especially was getting by on maybe $300/yr GDP and now has western style prosperity. The US may be more unequal but there is 90%+ of the world that is not the US.
It may seem nitpicking but it's basically an essay on economics and it makes me disregard the rest a bit when they get basic facts wrong. Also in terms of stability things have been fairly stable given the pandemic, fingers crossed.
Re affluence and the environment probably what we need is pricing for externalities in things like fossil fuels - people can be rich in non damaging ways - make artworks and sell them to each other for $1m+, build eco buildings, gardens etc - it doesn't have to be SUVs.