The situation is very serious but we have technology and there is no going back. Technology is too good, too much fun.
The issue is to find the balance. The balance does not belong with the people who want to send everybody back to the land and "re-educate" them like Maoists. Nor does it belong to the "pave the earth" crowd.
How hard we make it on ourselves getting to the balance point is the issue. Wars, political fights, corporate greed, fat cats getting richer at the expense of middle class and working poor, water fights, the rat race, extinction of species, ....
Mother nature could care less. Though I applaud the picture, Nature will win in the end. Humankind can't kill nature, but nature can kill humankind. The only other outcome is a harmonious balance. I'm confident we will find it, eventually, but not confident about the process.
Nature doesn't have a memory, but humankind does and will not forget how certain segments of the economy sacrificed habitat and species for short-term gain.
How to get to the balance? Less trading in of last year's iPod for this year's iPod. Make things last. Repair them. Buy quality that will last.
[font size = +1]Reduce, Reuse, Recycle[/font] is more than a slogan.
It means think before buying. Buy for the long term. Repair. Hand down good equipment if you must upgrade. Think about how a product will be recycled (easily or with difficulty, heaven forbid not recycled at all) before buying. Use composting.
Climate change may require massive efforts like spreading high altitude sulfates to reduce insolation. That's technology, as a short-run fix, that will allow the climate to slow down while we get our carbon cycle better organized.
The balance is there. Our grandchildren will get there. It's up to us to make it easier for our children to achieve it.
= new reply since forum marked as read