The Necessary Revolution

Looming Disaster

The world is in horrible, dangerous shape. The existence of life depends on “clean water, breathable air, fertile soil, pollination and a stable climate.” These essentials are under severe attack. Wetlands, grasslands and forests are vanishing. Half of the world’s major rivers are polluted or depleted. Each year, environmental degradation forces 50 million poor people to leave their villages and migrate to cities. As a result, half a billion people live in horrific slums or squatter camps. Such people live bereft of social harmony, a situation sure to result in upheaval.

But the worst of the story is that the world is getting notably hotter. Global climate change, caused by the atmospheric accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and other greenhouse gases, is a hugely disturbing fact, not a theory. A dangerous side effect of the Industrial Age, global climate change is the most serious looming planetary catastrophe, an insidious nightmare. As fossil fuels deposit excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the gas causes widespread, continuous heating and damage. For instance, as the oceans absorb CO2, the water’s acidity increases, destroying coral reefs...