10-28-2007, 08:37 AM
Quote:Everywhere you turn there's more bad news on the environment. According to a new report released by the UN, it's not just other species that are in danger, humans are too. The United Nations Environment Program has released the Global Environment Outlook: environment for development (GEO-4) report, and it doesn't make for happy reading...
According to studies, our use of natural resources is unsustainable. We currently use a third more than the planet has to offer, and that's with less than a 6th of the global population living in industrialized countries. Despite the rapid development of China and India, the resources simply do not exist to allow their billions of citizens to enjoy the same lifestyles seen in the US or Europe.
The human population of planet Earth is, in effect, maxed out on its credit cards and soon will have problems paying the mortgage. Unless concerted global efforts are made to address these mounting problems, GEO-4 concludes that we shall shortly pass the point of no return...
full article: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...anity.html
the UN report: http://www.unep.org/geo/geo4/media/index.asp