Mark, you are unduly gloomy. Perhaps you subscribe to the myth of the 'good old days' when people lived in pristine, pollution-free environments and were healthy and happy. Perhaps you subscribe to the precautionary principle, which would in effect freeze technological change.

I'm 75 years old and I lived in and remember well a much more polluted environment than the present surroundings in which you live. In much of the U.S. coal was burned not only in factories but in every home, and black snows were common. Toxic water pollution was widespread, and drinking water in many areas was much less safe, primarily from bacterial contamination. Hazardous wastes were spread about much more widely than now. Food supplies were much less safe than they are today, and medical care was less effective and less available than today.

But my father often told me when I was young, how much better off we were then, than when he was young. People lived in even less safe and attractive surroundings, subject to common debilitating or deadly diseases from food and water, lacking cultural amenities and communication, not to mention a much lower level of medical care. Really grinding poverty was widespread.

When I was born, my life expectancy was many years less than the life expectancy of a baby born today, and when my father was born his life expectancy was still shorter.

As it happened, I spent my career pushing for national environmental policies, legislation and regulation. The environmental legislation of the 1970s demonstrated that people can dynamically react to recognize and tackle problems.

Do you believe that global trade and the spread of technology around the world has been bad for people? Please look at the video presentation at <http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=hans_rosling>. Professor Rosling's statistics show amazing improvements in longevity and quality of life in those parts of the world that have adopted the benefits of science and technology, and horrible quality of life in those parts of the world that have been unable or unwilling to accept technology.

There will always be challenges, and any attempt to 'stop the world' and freeze progress would be to accept defeat. Whether global warming caused by burning fossil fuels turns out to be a significant challenge or not, other challenges will arise, because the earth is not and never has been a static system. It will change, and we must adapt or perish.

If we adopt the precautionary principle, we will become wusses, and we will die off. :-)