T he most important problems of our time are environmental. The issues going on with terrorism (our Orwellian war) are nothing in comparison. The "war on terror" is a complete and utter mistake of resources and funds, and has sadly taken everyone's eyes off the real problems of our time. We walk headlong into a class of disasters, the likes of which may be entirely out of our hands. No mobilization or rescue efforts will be enough. If people understood what is happening, if they really got it, they'd also realize that ignoring it shouldn't just be criminal, but a capital offense.

In the future, there will be a great sadness that the masses couldn't rise up to stop the idiots who are in charge. They will look back and say, yeah, people should have been locked up or kicked off the planet over this. The real terror to come was of their own making. Perhaps people will say, "Remember when we had small problems to solve, like one-off disasters, and battling terrorists?"

So why the chart of world population as the graphic for this? It's because you don't have this many people running around and not make a mess of the place, and to point out that we are in a phase of human history that is quite unlike anything in the past and that the problems we face may well sound too fantastic to believe if we forget this. 

Miscellaneous program on CBC on the politics behind the scenes

One of the many recent articles on the melting arctic ice caps: Arctic sea ice 'faces rapid melt'


Top 3 things you can do to minimize your personal global impact on the environment:

1. Don't have kids (it's a taboo subject, but shouldn't be). If you feel compelled, just have one, or adopt. Avoid IVF. If you have kids already, that's great, take good care of them so they grow up to be good people. (Please don't, however, pressure any of your friends to also have kids. It's hard enough for a couple to decide such things without external pressures. I see this all the time.)

2. Don't drive to work. Telecommute, take public transit or live near where you work. If you're an employer, allow workers to telecommute. It's not hard to arrange your life without having to drive most of the time. (Also, don't buy new cars — help move your country off a car-based economy.)

3. Back scientific organizations and political movements that are trying to help — they're willing to do most of the work, all you have to do is vote, fund or at least merely endorse them.