'Threat to Human Civilisation Round Three Ding Ding'
Sanctimonious Guardian reading enviro-saints buying a Prius to collect their spawn from school while wearing jute pants will do the sum total of jack shit.

There are a sod of a lot of people on the planet, all of whom have aspirations for a better standard of living. There are finite resources. This is the classic boom/bust relationship seen in predator/prey population dynamics applied to humanity.

Historically, this leads to one of two things: war or famine. You have a situation where we've all forgotten about living 4 minutes away from nuclear vapourisation, as it might take up precious brain-space currently used for soap 'plots'. Pity that there are still plenty of weapons knocking around, in the charge of increasingly nationalistic and macho people (Hi Vlad, like the tie) who also happen to control an awfully large chunk of increasingly scarce resources.

Quick, the environment!

Or the fact that the very scenario that NATO spent so much time collectively cacking themselves over (Third Shock Army rolling West in a bangy shooty fashion) could well be replaced by the PLA 23rd Shock Army doing the very same thing.

Quick, the environment! A vole has got a cough!

The almost complete melt-down of sub-Saharan Africa into a puddle of corruption, suicidal public health programmes, looting of yet more resources and irritatingly smug pop 'stars' preaching at us.

Quick, the environment! Build a solar panel!

The increasingly likely carve-up of the USA into separate Asian / Hispanic / The Rest states. Demographics and all that, but please ensure that you keep that scary cow Clinton in a secure bunker. Muzzled.

Quick, the environment! Buy a bag for life!

The environment will do just fine. It's capacity to support squillions of people who all have a car, plenty to eat, education and 'ooman rights will not. Some species will die out, others will exploit new niches, the world will keep turning as it always has (good thing too as I think we've fucked the warranty). However, the increasing hordes of humanity will be faced with a smaller cake, and everyone will want their slice to be bigger than everyone else's.

Back to the old rule. War or Famine.

And on a final comforting thought, guess which G8 country currently is a net importer of food and energy resources, is reliant on sea transport (especially if we run out of jet fuel), yet has either sold or 'mothballed' so much of it's Navy that it could neither protect it's own trade routes nor defend it's own shores without help from Uncle Sam or (crucially) the EU?

Thanks, Gordon. Thanks Tony.
(osok Rebel without a clue, Wed 7 May 2008, 11:13, Reply)