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Is the environment in peril? What do you think?

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We have to stop being me and start being we. It is time to take full stock of what we have created, reassess, regroup and reform. No longer are we isolated on the planet. We should not be abusing anything or anyone that including ourselves (the individual), the forests, the animals, the lakes rivers oceans, space, air.

How stupid have we become to think we can continue on the path of destruction from war, drugs, aids, hatred and intolerance, clearing the forests, expecting animals to live in micro-environments, polluting our water, ill health from incorrect foods and over eating, pollution of all kinds. Mother earth is tolerant but she is bigger than us - we need to place respect firmly in everyone's hands so that each person is empowered with the self control of complete respect to live in harmony on our beautiful floating blue ball in the universe. The earth and life is a fantastic gift that we each must cherish.

We live on a special planet. Earth is the only planet that can sustain life, as we know it. We need to collectively stop the reckless exploitation of natural resources, the pollution of air and water, and the ever-present dangers of nuclear or biological wars. We need to learn how to manage our environment and our conflict in a restorative justice manner.

No one is going to fix our relational, environmental and spiritual problems, but ourselves, so we may as well get started! The anthropologist Margaret Mead wrote: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Climate change is happening, but I'm not convinced that human activity is its sole cause. I think the fervor around this explanation gets in the way of competent, practical, human response to climatic conditions. So do some of our regulations designed with best intention to protect against possible health risk. Use of grey-water on backyard gardens comes to mind as a frequently prohibited sensible behavior. Our ancestors, my grandparents, and even my family on the farm when I was a child, used many means to maximize available resources. People tended to use more muscle power, stayed more physically fit, and traveled less. There are all behaviors that could have positive effect with climate challenges. Granted, folks maybe lived a decade or two less, but perhaps with less lengthy lingering in weak health over those last years. Where is our natural intelligent and sensible response to what is developing?

Yes, our environment is degrading day by day. We people are the main causes besides the natural calamities. We are not responding to the fact that environment we live is being destroyed and need to educate ourselves more on this topic to ensure safe world to live in for our future generations to come. We have to try like our ancestors to live with mother nature. With socio-economic developments around the world we also need to be responsible for the very existence of our environment. Let's be willing to preserve the beautiful world we live in.

When it comes to air pollution, the writing has been on the wall for a long time. Everybody has just been too blind to see it. Late last century there was a hole discovered in the atmosphere over Antarctica, which was the first major sign that something was going wrong. The response to that was weak. I believe the blame was too much use of freon 12 and it was banned in some countries. However the biggest causer were not brought under control, that being the big coal burning power plants, oil refineries, and the uncontroled cutting down of trees to name a few. We should have acted much sooner to put pressure on our governments to enforce strict laws on every big corporation in the world to clean up their act and stop polluting the air. Making slick advertisement campaigns is not enough. This thing can be turned around, but it's going to take a whole lot of work and effort. The longer we wait the worse it's going to get and if nothing is done soon, you might as well say life as we know is doomed.

I agree completely with Graham [seven comments below] -- humanity is still in denial

We have proven it by centuries of not taking the blame for our actions and still we do it. Human greed has done this to the world. It is absurd to imagine that the environmental degradation can be reversed. It can't but it can be minimized. The impact that our actions caused can be minimized. It's just a matter of trying. Or willingness.

This is a century where we have to change our minds, our views and our way of thinking. This is the time when we have to do something about Mother Nature.

If we don't do this now, we can never do it -- this is the last chance to save our generation and our future. We should do something.

Our environment is littered with different kinds of household wastes, in urban streets and gutters. This contaminates our streams, causes pollution, diseases, health problems that affect us.

The pace of life pace in the 21st century is too fast and we human beings' desires are unlimited. And the poor Earth has to release its natural resources to satisfy our selfish wishes. Hence, it is getting drained day after day.

Although most of us cannot go back to the old days, we still can slow our pace of living, long for fewer desires, try to be frugal and enjoy living a more simple life. In this way, it will do some good to our beloved Earth.

I am nearly 82. Forty years ago you could fly over the country with a splendid view for photography. Now the atmospheric pollution is so bad that the scenery below is almost obscured in detail and photography is inrffective.

Any extraterrestrial being arriving and circling planet Earth for the first time, and being unfamiliar with our atmosphere, would report back that planet Earth is on fire, and so it is! How do you get rid of the pollution which is already there and how do you remove the biggest single factors of religious bigotry and associated population explosion?

Bad thoughts and deeds by man have corrupted everything, climate is no exception. So-called world leaders of all hues should change their policies to be sustainable with natural resources and laws.

These men are blinded with greed for power and possessions, it is the extravagance of few and the not the needs of millions that is playing havoc with nature.

Such apocalyptic language. Why is it that there is no possibility for a warmer earth to be a better place? Longer growing seasons. More CO2 for vegetation. A bit of sea rise easily handled by dykes and levees. Why always a catastrophe?

And please, all of you who are so filled with certainty, first answer direct questions about earlier times when the Earth was much warmer and please don't ever say "warmer than I've ever seen."

That only shows your lack of respect for the geological length of time we should be referencing. Finally, should we really spend a trillion dollars to reduce CO2 with no assurances that it will make any difference, or are there other areas where it might be better spent?

Of course the environment is in peril. But we are too. The environment includes us. It is not something separate. Modern industrial societies have been developed on the back of cheap hydrocarbons. There are no realistic alternative sources of energy that can replace the cheap abundance of hydrocarbons, not renewables, not bioethanol, not nuclear fusion.

These may all play a part in softening the blow -- but the reality is a low energy future or we burn....Humanity is still in denial.

I just feel under a U.S. dictatorship and if we die in two generations it will be just because of this third world country (the real one), this cancer eating our planet out.

I hope that we Europeans will be able to re-educate our once loved children. I think the solution will be a fund to help US people, to teach them how to write and read, to give them something decent to eat, some decent public hospitals, take them outside their country to live with people and try to understand them...we should concentrate in helping US people (kept blind with hamburgers and SUVs) so that they can re-start thinking and help us to save our world.

Here we stand in the midst of our fortune, in which we all know that our continued behavior will abruptly bring an end to our life as well as our generation. Now we have to think about what we do, what we know and what we think. Remeber that opportunity comes only once.

We only have one life, and we only get one chance so we should try our best to save our environment. There many people who want to sit under the shady trees but we have to be the ones who are planting those trees, so lets join hands for a better future for all of us.

Looking around me I see the portents of man's extinction in the nearer future than most are prepared to consider. We may witness man's final whimper.

I have come to realize that the environment is not in peril. Nature has all the forces to take care of itself and to maintain the same amount of energy to sustain itself.

But human beings are at peril, and they live in the fear that ultimately destroying the environment is going to destroy them. The fact is and remains that human beings are the root cause of their own catastrophe, and will not stop until they perish, along with them making many living organisms also perish.

The status quo in every walk of life is likely to continue because it suits the powerful. It is like local money lender lending money for interest and taking it back with muscle power. Does he ever wish his borrowers getting economically as sound as him?

There is every tool to keep the poor poorer, especially the media. The media, which is run by rich people and which is the most powerful tool in keeping the global status quo, is not likely to come with real solutions to the world's problems.

I would like the whole world to persuade the British government to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants living in Britain. They are being made to work like slaves by business owners who exploit them and also pay them peanuts.

They are the ones who actually give credence to the economy of the country by doing odd jobs and paying tax and National Insurance, which they are definitely not going to get back as tax returns unless they are granted amnesty.

There are lots of people who are holed up, who can't go back home as they have nothing to fall back on. It is a gross violation of human rights in my view.

I think that the U.S. should ratify Kyoto along with other nations. I also think a plan should be designed for developing nations that are creating a large amount of greenhouse gases such a China or India.

The thought of what our once beautiful planet will be reduced to if people worldwide do NOT get involved and ensure they recycle everything possible, petition against obnoxious factory emissions, water and air pollution, litter etc, etc, scares the living hell out of me and it also saddens me because in reality not enough people seem to even give a damn!!!

There's strength in unity and everyone, regardless of age, should become more environmentally conscious. We cannot wait for government leaders or political figures to do anything constructive because quite frankly they're no good at it. Their primary concern is money, more money and power!!!

The fast decline of the Earth and all her beauty is bottom of the agenda. In a perfect world, we would breathe fresh clean air, drink good clean (chemical/aluminum free) water and the sky would be a REAL blue, acid rain would be no more, animals would roam freely and people would care about how the animals they eat were treated before they were killed, people would genuinely care about every living creature, plant and creation.

We would live in a GREAT place if people started to give a damn again!!!

The issue now is global climate change. Personally, I believe it is an issue of overpopulation than an issue of global warming.

Human life has taken on the breeding habits of rabbits. If we do not change the senseless procreation on a mass account the situation will only perpetuate itself.

As of right now, the environment is a growing issue which we are forced to deal with, but let's try to fight the root problem. We can try to find a place on this Earth for all of us but unfortunately some of us will start having to live in trees and eating insects and not worry about our HD LCD big TV screens. Thanks to Marc B. of Toronto (comment below)-- we can't do this with all of our money and guns. Beautiful.

Many aren't aware, but there were more greenhouse gases during the dinosaur era then we have now. Even if we did cut these gases out by 100%, global warming will still occur because climate changes radically every 800,000 years. These changes may not sustain humankind anymore than they sustained the great lizards.

Here's the solution -- all humans should turn vegetarian/vegan!!!

And I mean in every sense of the word because a true V/V would not only stop consuming precious life but also be involved in recycling, conserving and regenerating life, and using sparsely, naturally produced fuels (such as biomass) for energy use/mobility.

That's it. Following that lifestyle will solve all issues of deforestation, water/air/land pollution, extinction of species, greenhouse gas emissions, most diseases etc.

I encourage EVERY person, especially those reading this, to seriously consider this action because it is the simplest and most efficient way in addition to changing the entire mindset of an entire generation all at once.

Plant life has survived 3 billion years of unimaginable cataclysms, meteor strikes, mass devestation. The answer is staring you right in the face -- return to a nature-based society and valuation system where everyone gets a share based on the effort they put in, a share based on real value, not bars of gold that are completely useless to our survival.

Humans are but walking plants and trees. ~ Julius Caesar.

Shame on us for forgetting. Either we take control of this situation and fix the health of this planet with the very plants that ensure the survival of all life, or the earth will take care of the biggest threat to the survival of life -- us. Not like we can fight nature with all the money and guns we have.

It is necessary and urgent to make the changes to clean the environment -- we all know this, only the governments don't know and don't want to change.

Life is fragile, we must cradle life gently, in our hands. If we destroy our natural environment, we will die.

I think that all on Earth recognize that we are heading for tremendous problems ahead. What can we do about it? There is much, but we must raise our minds to solar harnessing and this will give to us fuels for the future.

Light harnessing holds the key to future fuel supplies and this must be investigated by our scientists. Light can be and is absorbed into dark elements and it can be stored for release as power but as yet we do not have the knowledge. Light is compatible to all on Earth and this is where the answers lie.

Why are Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand not suing the Indonesian government for refusing to stop plantation burning, which is affecting air quality seriously, adding to global warming?

Well first of all, I am a 16-year-old exchange student from the United States. I really do not like the way the US government is handling the issue of global warming. To me, I am not scared of what they are going to do, but what they are not going to do. The Kyoto protocol should be more than a mere 25% reduction (in emissions). It should be a hell of a lot more.

There is a solution though to the power demand - solar power and wind power. Clean, free, power.

I agree that we, the people of the world, have a responsibility to strongly influence our government. I think it is time that we set aside our ridiculous differences and focus on how we are going to survive and help the endangered wildlife survive.

Today, more then ever, our lakes and streams are inundated with the fallout from acid rain. As a life-long fisherman, both commercial and sport, I have noticed a sharp decline in most species of salt water and fresh water fish.

One thing that could help is by having children take part in stream reconstruction, putting natural barriers in brooks and streams to create eddies -- this raises the oxygen content thus promoting growth in marine life.

Children of all ages can help clean debris from the water course, and it gets them out of the class, it works well.

We must educate and empower women in poor countries and we must introduce simple technologies that reduce deforestation and erosion of arable land. Solar ovens have proven useful, as an example. Drilling wells for irrigation and drinking water also help, but some of this water should be devoted to trees for erosion control, sustained yield harvesting and cleansing the air of greenhouse gases.

We must also remember that Nature abhors a dominant species and will control its numbers through disease and violence among members of that species. We may well solve the problem by killing ourselves off. I only hope we don't take everything else with us.

The people are just like an alcoholic in that we have to admit there is a problem before a correction can be made.

The issue is that, though the population in general may admit the severity of the situation, if our leaders do not, mainly due to manipulation by capital interests and the belief that doing so will change our "American way of life," then for the most part we are doomed.

Only regulation in concert with private actions will ever change the fundamental view and better use the meager resources of our small planet.

Now that the big oil companies are quietly buying up all the alternative fuel producers, it's just a matter of time before oil is phased out.

It's far too late to prevent the collapse of our planet, though. David Suzuki pointed this out over 20 years ago -- it was already too late then.

Everyone is right here except the guy who believes the world is just fine because the Bible says so. Wake up folks. The real problem here is people. Too many of them in fact.

Everyone wants to carry on their family name and procreate. It seems that our parents and others have programmed the masses to believe that they too must have babies to somehow complete themselves. I feel this is a very selfish attitude today given that the world population is out of control and only getting worse.

With the world's population as it is today, we have no hope of sustaining ourselves. Pollution, deforestation, energy demands, water shortages, temperature increases, all can be blamed on our burgeoning population.

We have become cockroaches. We are an infestation like a virus or a plague, we are out of control. No amount of wars and pestilence is going to bring our population back down. The one thing that will wipe us out in the end is our lack of self control. We are a greedy selfish race that only wants more.

I am disappointed in and outraged by my country's apathy toward resource use. We are a selfish, all-consuming nation who has lost sight of the real values of life.

The media should team up with all the scientific and environmental organizations to constantly bring knowledge into homes around the world about resource consumption, overpopulation and the changes forecasted in the earth's atmosphere and land.

The media spends so much time on J-Lo, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, etc, which no one cares about. Turn that energy to something more worthwhile. The media can help save the world it they decide to do so.

We are yet to realize that the party is over - we have squandered our resources . Time to take stock - reassess our priorities.

We are beginning a project here in Costa Rica. The foundation that we have started is called the La Reserva Forest Foundation. It will be involved in the regeneration of tropical, indigenous forests.

This will not be tree farming but an attempt to regenerate native forests without thought of monetary return. We will pay landowners $300 per hectare, per year to devote their denuded or forested lands to the regeneration of natural forests to help fight global warming by carbon absorption and also help increase habitats for all the life that is trapped in small forest "islands" enabling them to move and have more range.

One fact, that has been proven, scientifically, is that the young trees are more efficient at carbon absorption than mature trees. We have proven, here on our 40 hectare private reserve that the forests CAN be regenerated in 8 years time, and we are seeing a great increase in the wildlife here.

Thanks to Al Gore's new book, "An Inconvenient Truth," we find a worldwide audience now, willing to do something about the dire state of world, and start helping our Mother Earth to heal. It's all up to us!!

If the permafrost is melting and people won't give up their lifestyles then were asking for trouble. The signs are all there but governments seem more concerned with being popular than taking unpopular actions.

So ultimately, the outlook is bleak. Its seems people don't really want to think about it, it's too much to even contemplate. It's easier to ignore and hope it is all a mistake and it will go away. Some mistake.

Since the creation of Adam and Eve, man has been the biggest threat to himself and everything that lives. Clearly, if we don't apply the brakes now, there is going to be a heavy price to pay for our folly.

Take, for example, my country -- Uganda. First, in a stupid attempt to double generation of hydro-power, a new dam was constructed parallel to an already existing one by dividing the water flowing in (outflow from the lake) to run the turbines into two. Now the lake (Lake Victoria, or Nyanza) is fast drying up (three meters below the normal level) due to too much water loss.

Secondly, the heavy tropical forests all around the lake have been given to so-called "investors" to turn into agricultural land. These forests were useful in a number of ways:

a)They reduce soil erosion into the lake.
b)They facilitate the rain-making process.
c) They conserve underground water, because of their dense foliage which covers the land from the hot tropical sun.
d) They serve as filters for the rain water and sewage that flows into the lake from the surrounding towns and cities.

Another concern is the way we use the water from the lake. Over a million households draw water from the lake through the National Water and Sewerage Corporation. However, 90% of that water (about 200 million liters a day) doesn't go back into the lake because of lack of sewerage network/grid, which would recycle the water back into the lake.

With Uganda's rapidly-growing population (at 3.4% annually) coupled with all the other misadventures we are undertaking, one can be sure the world's second-largest freshwater lake will be no more in the next 40 years -- at best.

I think the environment is in great danger due to human activities, mostly deforestation in hilly areas as a result of over-population and the search for land for animal pastures and farming.

I think sustainable measures should be taken by every government to reduce the escalating destruction of the environment.

Is the environment in peril? This is a loaded question.

Time and time again we have established that our environment is in peril. The real question should be, "What can you do to save the environment?"

We all have answers including myself, the problem is no one will listen. If you create a section on CNN, who knows maybe you'll solve something, I know I have.

I am concerned about the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. The multinational oil and gas companies have had deaf ears to environmental degradation and environmental racisim as result of their activities.

I wish to appeal to them to see to take Nigeria as a living place -- where they also live. Gas flaring should be reduced as soon as possible.

The environment in Nigeria is a nightmare. But it's a lot worse in the oil producing areas.

Yes, we all ask for development which supposedly comes hand in hand with the establishment of multinational oil companies, but what do we get in return?

An already messed up environment getting a whole lot worse, leaving its poverty-stricken inhabitants worse off than they were in the first place.

Yet they rake in billions of dollars from the same area. It's truly saddening.

I agree with most of the above and have felt this way since Earth Day,1969.

One big issue that has been overlooked or ignored is the quality and quantity of breathable AIR.

Most of the oxygen-producing plants are the phytoplankton in our oceans. As the oceans warm up and become more polluted, the plankton decreases -- note the brown tides, coral decay, etc.

Furthermore, there is an increasing incidence of asthma and other breathing-related illnesses. For those of you who think that our planet will always have sufficient air for all life forms, think again.

The diminishing oxygen production can very easily escalate into a "catastrophic event," so that minor worries like the oceans rising another seven to 10 meters, and flooding the island I live on, will be of no consequence if the air becomes completely unbreathable.

This is a situation that will happen if we do not immediately change most of our easy lifestyle, and could happen much sooner and faster than most people realize. I realize that this major issue will probably be looked at as another environmental scare tactic, similar to the ones written about in the 1970s about global warming.

I have never believed in the end times, but the more I read about global warming the more I fear my kids will live in a world much different than ours.

Everyone has a lot to say and I do believe the "alarmists" are correct. It seems overwhelming to look at but I also agree that we as individuals must take responsibility and be part of a solution, not part of the problem, as some have suggested.

But can someone offer some hope? Some individual accountability? What can I do to help? I can't afford a hybrid car. Any and all suggestions would be refreshing rather than more languishing in the peril we face.

I would like to know which politician I should be hounding on this matter. I am disqusted at the manner the United States has handled this matter, considering we produce 25% of the world's CO2!

The environment is not in peril. We can certainly make it a worst place to live. But, if you are a Christian, you know that according to the Bible this planet will last at least one thousand and seven more years after the Rapture. So, can we destroy the Earth, not even if we wanted to. Again, we can make it a terrible place to live, but destroy it, I don't think so.

We now live in a world where we have to travel far and wide to experience a touch of unspoiled nature. Yet, everyone seems to be quick at assigning blame. "It's the big corporations". "It's the Western world". "It's the government".

No actually, it's everyone of us as INDIVIDUALS. They simply supply what we demand -- a modern world. A world where things happen at the touch of a button and the sight of skyscrapers is more common that of trees.

So what have we done as individuals to save the environment? Altered our thirst for modernity? No. Developed compulsive recycling disorders? Definitely not. Demanded environmentally friendly modes of transport? God forbid.

This planet is not equipped to deal with our thirst for modernity. We have shown utter disregard towards Mother Nature and now she's doing the same. Perhaps she's also showing us how arrogant we are -- this planet was never ours to destroy, just to respect -- and we couldn't even do that much.

The environment has been in peril for quite a long time and we have been feeling the effect for a while too. Governments need to take responsibility for their actions, ie the greenhouse effect. We need to get more energy-efficient with solar, wind power sources.

You only have to look at recent events around the world to see, we are all suffering already.

And yet we still get in our cars and consume, we won't change until it's too late -- that's human nature.

Get rid of money (it's always been said to be the root of all evil) and go to a barter/trade system.

we have to eliminate the greed in society, it is a human curse that we will never be able to control unless we get rid of money.

Everyone goes to school, everyone has food, everyone works, everyone produces, everyone has access to everything, no one has more than anyone.

Simple

I think that 2+2 is always 4 and never 5, meaning that if we are disturbing the natural eco system then the result will be devastating, and nothing can change that future.

Look, we are all taking from the Earth and the environment, and what we are giving back? Pollution! If we will fail Mother Earth, surely it will fail us.

OK, what is the solution?Only by closely understanding the vital elements of the eco system and instead of changing the eco system by damaging it, changing our lifestyle to match it.

Even if it means overlooking the entire material progress of mankind, we must make revolutionary changes in our lifestyles and bow our heads in respect of Mother Nature so it can allow the next generations to live prosperously.

Change is the answer in an environmental point of view -- alternative sources of energy, whether it be solar, water, wind, forest restoration. Whatever it takes to make the world greener, where it was before, is a solution to our world's problems. The greener the world the richer it will be...

Even though everyone knows how dangerous tomorrow will be, our behavior is still the same, because we don't believe the awful thing will happen to us.

I think this is what humans are. They always know what is right and what is wrong -- unfortunately, we choose the wrong thing more often than not.

Sure, we are in peril! I can't even begin to describe the extent of the destruction we're causing!

What really bugs me is that the comments I read here all back up what I have just stated, while this whole 'thing' here seems to be sponsored by Shell!

Why don't they and their 'mates' just stop drilling 'oil' - read: the blood of mother Earth!

Wait till Earth shivers and shakes off those oil-mosquitos before they murder her!! You really, really believe she would let that happen?...

However obvious the change in global climate has become and will continue to become, leading powers and corporations will do 'little' to stop the expansive effects of climate change.

The pollution cascading into the environment at increasing rates is simply cash mounting up on the other end for the companies, etc.

It is not the people that need to make the first step; they can recycle and that is good. However, for widespread change to occur, the companies need to step in and say: "We are willing to cut profits for an electric car" or "We are willing to make commitments to use alternate fuels to heat homes."

Unfortunately, few are willing to lose money to take such leaps of faith into the unknown. Because of this fear, we seem to have doomed ourselves into a cycle of cataclysmic proportions upon this Earth.

Unfortunately, man has become so greedy and obsessed with money and power. Governments and huge industrial corporations don't care a damn about tomorrow but how much profits they can make today.

It's simply a case of human nature and the only way to change our environment is to change attitudes. Unfortunately, this will only take place when people start to realize that their survival is in jeopardy, and I'm afraid it will then be too late. I am really concerned for our kids!

Although much has been said about global environmental awareness, this issue can be resolved better if there are concerned volunteers who will take the initiative and could participate actively in taking global solutions and actions.

Is the environment in peril? No, I think hydrogen cars will be much better to run -- as the greenhouse affect widens we can save part of the ozone layer of the Earth.

Appropriate solutions must be undertaken seriously.

I believe the Earth is in great danger, and each and every one of us should get involved in helping to preserve what is left.

There will be no future for the coming generations without the participation of everyone.

As a citizen of this planet Earth, I am very much concerned about our global environmental degradation -- deforestation, and the over-exploitation of our natural wildlife by mankind.

The rate of destruction of our natural treasures is beyond the norm: we will pay a big a price!! We must start to do something now to stop deforestation and the pollution of our air, water and land.

It is puzzling that despite the hype about gas flaring and its consequences in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, the multinational oil companies do nothing about it. When are they going to start converting it to energy?

This is one of the warmest years that I have ever experienced here and it worries me.

Every major civilization before us has been brought down at the peak of their existence.

Soon enough we'll have the same happen us, the only difference with our global economy so close and the consumption of our natural resources, we have brought this upon ourselves.

All the other civilizations were brought down by war. We, on the other hand, have waged war on the Earth itself and we've beaten it to the point of it dying -- we will soon go with it.

Man is full of evil and good. Man destroys the Earth (both nature and the human social environment) for love of money and fame. Can man be stopped? Who can control man's lust for money, property, fame, etc?

Man has a small planning office termed a brain. This tiny brain can cause a huge catastrophe which can affect millions of people. Is it worthwhile to have a brain full of ideas on how to formulate business at the expense of other people?

Do we have to sacrifice each other for the sake of our selfishness and individualistic progress in life?

Yes, we are facing a dilemma. We are the people, we are changing our planet so fast. It's time to take a step backwards and think about what we are doing to Mother Earth.

The fundamental problem behind almost every problem described in these essays is that people are driven to place personal comfort and self-gratification above every other desire.

Survival instinct has, in the human condition, warped into the desire for a big car and a hamburger. People won't change until their hamburgers are in jeopardy.

The answer is easy. Big nations, especially the USA, have to stop polluting the Earth. Eighty-five percent of world energy is used up in the USA and Europe. Control this abuse and you will control the environmental problem.

Is the environment in peril? Yes! It's absolutely a serious problem. But, what can we do for it?

Economies, fuel and mankind only are polluting the planet. Politicians, religious groups and every person in the world should do something!!!

The environment of the Niger Delta in Nigeria is in great danger.

Everything is polluted. The economic mainstay of the people, gone. The people are poverty-stricken. Their blessing has been turned to a curse thanks to the Nigerian government and the multinational oil companies.

I do not understand how is it possible that we have reached the peak of our civilization, and problems such as this one, and other health related problems, have become worse.

Are we a product of our own development, and if so, why do we want to have so much technology if we don't know how to use it?

We know we are polluting the world in such a way that there will be devastating consequences.

People say: 'We still have time.' I'd say, it is already too late. Let's face the consequences of these actions, and when that happens, let's not blame God for it. We deserve it all.

We human beings are very resourceful; unfortunately one of the greatest collective achievements in our modern time is to mass self destruct.

What are we waiting for?

What is the point of having ambitions and dreams, of wanting to HAVE and ACHIEVE, when life as we know today will not be there anymore in 30 years from now?

We need to take responsibility for what we are part of. As Gandhi used to say: BE the change!!!!

It's just a scare tactic the media uses to get attention. I believe we are altering the climate, but not as drastically as environmentalists make it out to be. Species die, it's a part of evolution, right?

"It's just a scare tactic the media uses to get attention. I believe we are altering the climate, but not as drastically as environmentalists make it out to be. Species die, it's a part of evolution, right?"

Joshua, what about studying some scientific reports, or maybe just opening your eyes to what s happening on Earth, or in your country (tornados, storms etc?

And yes, a lot of species die. Our problem is, humanity may be one of them...

It is not news to anyone that our planet is in danger, and mankind too. If we don't become conscious of what the consequences could be, it will be too late for things to get better.

The solution is in OUR hands. It is not easy and it will not be easy, but we need to work on it otherwise the next generation are not going to be living on the planet as we know it now.

Concerning changes in the weather, the Western world is focusing on the problem of carbon dioxide emissions.

But in the poor countries of the South, over-grazing by goats and cows is destroying the environment at an alarming pace and no one seems to worry much, yet.

Currently, the Earth's population is too huge. People abuse energy -- using low efficiency methods, wasting things and emphasizing the enjoyment of material goods too much. Every nation makes the most efforts on economic growth.

These habits are caused by humanity's selfishness -- something not shared by other creatures on Earth.

We are extending the same attitude to the environment as we do to everything in life that is not personal -- in fact, it is even worse off because our environment has no audible voice.

We have been blindfolded with greed. Let's save the environment for our children.

Doesn't anybody here have a bit of hope for the future?

Stop wallowing in postmodern guilt and look at what we've achieved: lifting more people than ever before to an unprecedentedly high standard of living, curing age-old diseases, connecting the globe together, exploring space.

More technologically-advanced societies are actually less damaging to the environment than poorer societies, and our priority should be lifting billions out of poverty so they too can enjoy what we have.

Issues such as energy depletion and global warming concern me greatly, but I agree with people like Amory Lovins who believe that we can maintain our standard of living while reducing resource consumption manifold. That's the kind of attitude we need, not pathetic doom-mongering despair.

Alternative energy sources, stifled for years by low oil prices, will truly change the world in coming years. Capitalism will provide a solution once it has an incentive.

Someone here asked: 'Are you willing to give up your car, move into a small house or apartment and eat only locally produced food?' Is that somehow supposed to be a big deal?

I own a Prius, use renewable electricity and eat organic food, and find my lifestyle perfectly adequate. Get off your fat asses, stop criticizing big business, the government and other people and do something!! The world will be fine.

Is the environment in peril? You mean are WE in peril.

Us humans are not very conscious of the fact that we are very self-centered and we think highly of ourselves.

That is, of course, understandable to a point as we are smart and we can talk and we technically control the world. The big deal right now is not to save the environment; it's way more complicated -- it is to save the environment so we can save ourselves.

I am not saying that we shouldn't save ourselves. I am pointing out that we are not doing something 'special and amazing to save the Earth.'

We are doing it for ourselves. People who don't 'save the environment' for reasons such as time complications etc should be ashamed of themselves. So come on! Save the world save YOU and your FAMILY!

It seems clear to me that natural disasters and various weather changes are accelerating due to human activity.

People are not conscious of what they are doing to the world as they don't feel the effects of pollution over time. They will only feel it when the next rainstorm comes, destroying everything.

The number of people destroying the environment is bigger than the number of who care about it.

So let's teach the world to care when a friend, a neighbor or anyone does something that harms the Earth.

If we don't do something about the Earth's problems, we -- the Earth -- will perish, probably soon.

We could be doing so much more recycling. like making every wrapper recyclable, and we could also convince people looks aren't everything. The world is.

There's no doubt in my mind that our fragile ecosystem nowadays is confronted with lots of difficult to answer environmental problems.

In addition to this, I firmly believe that we -- mankind -- are to blame for the relentless disaster to our natural habitat.

Moreover, I totally agree with your point of view and I'd like to add something else: if we want to call ourselves civilized in this day and time, we ought to do whatever we can about environmental policy, especially the industrialized countries around the globe, with a view to sustaining our planet as a safe and secure place for posterity.

At the end of the day, we should not put the blame for environmental disaster on the technology itself, actually it's the way in which we use the technology.

One of the disastrous results of globalization is a path leading away from self-sufficiency at local levels. There is a mindset that you should be able to wake up in Italy and eat oranges from California.

There seems to be no consciousness of the cost to the environment.

The planet is doing fine, human beings might be in trouble, though.

If you ask anyone what is important -- their health, the health of their children, a clean environment and what they would be willing to give up to attain it -- I'm sure the vast majority of people would be happy to compromise their "standard of living" and luxuries and toys in order to live a healthy life and see their children and grandchildren grow up.

Yet despite that, we are destroying the very place we live out of greed for meaningless distractions and toys.

Shame, a beautiful planet -- a veritable Eden in the universe, and at our best we aren't so bad really -- all to be lost in poison and disease, heat and flood, war and death.

Quite frankly, in my opinion it's not so much a question of the environment being in peril, but rather the human race.

The environment will change and adapt; after all, it has done so for millions and millions of years. The question from my point of view should be: will we -- the human race -- be able to adapt fast enough to the changing environment, before we make ourselves extinct as a species?

We have treated the ocean like a sewer and we will pay for this act sooner or later.

We continue to pollute the air we breathe, it is only a matter of time before another major disaster hits. The waters are warmer than ever, making it ripe for hurricane season soon. We reap what we sow. I am not optimistic at all.

Let's face it folks, WE are the plague that covers the Earth.

No other species in history has caused such widespread destruction. We are quickly approaching the end of our reign on this planet.

If we do not realize soon that our ways are killing everything, and ourselves, then we are doomed to extinction just like the rest of the species we are killing off.

YES, there is global warming, far faster than our governments are letting us know. YES, there are countless warning signs and indicators that we are harming the Earth.

Name me one positive impact the human race has had on the Earth in the last 300 years? Not one. All that can be done now is to sit and watch as humanity destroys itself, and only the strong survive.

This is a serious problem, and we are running out of time. We must act together. Remember: NEVER, NEVER give up. When there is a will there is a way.

We've been turned into consumers and are rapidly consuming our planet. Politicians should be jumping for joy -- mission accomplished.

Stay the course. Science and capitalism will surely solve all of our problems.

As far as other comments go, if these people were really serious about the environment, then they should give up all of the advances society has made in the last 100 years -- this includes medical breakthroughs, technological breakthroughs, engineering, etc, ALL of which wouldn't be possible without ENERGY.

We'll survive, we'll find a way. The world is at our disposal -- not the other way around.

Our Earth is not a lost cause, and it does no one any good to think of it as such.

That being said, we are in dire straights. Wake up people. We need to stop our wasteful lives and try to reverse this mess. Don't just get self-righteous and blame some big company -- all of us are responsible.

One person CAN make a difference. Stop wasting so much. Recycle as much as possible. Quit being lazy. Clean without chemicals. Support environmentally friendly products (don't be cheap), and boycott the planet-killing products.

If it's money that makes decisions, we can hurt them where it counts. We have billions of people on our side. Take $1 from each of them and stop giving it to the greedy non-caring and you will see action.

The environment isn't in peril -- we are. When we all die off from our own stupidity the Earth will sigh in relief and clean itself as it has for millions of years. The forests will reclaim the vast urban sprawls we have built and in time everything we built will return to dust.

Brian Navy has it right; the Earth always rebounds!

Compared to the sun, the Earth is insignificant. Compared to the Earth, mankind is almost insignificant.

Only mankind in certain places is in danger of extinction. Don't compare New York City to the Congo. Don't compare Brazil to the Sargasso Sea. Don't compare a factory in Pennsylvania to Mount Vesuvius. Do compare man to animals who consume all the food in their environment so their numbers dwindle to almost nothing!

It's not only governments that have to recognize the problem, it's individuals as well.

Corporations are greedy because people are greedy. Maybe we should start taking responsibility for our own actions. Corporations won't keep building the gas guzzling SUVs, etc if people stop buying them.

Is the planet in peril? No. The people that inhabit it? Yes.

The lack of effort of governments is only half the problem. The true nexus of the issue is based on our individual excesses.

Easy steps such as driving fuel-efficient cars and installing new windows on homes are both within reach of the average person and cost-effective.

We need to stop blaming the government or corporations for their inaction. The buck stops with each and every single one of us.

I hope it isn't too late yet, but Americans just don't seem to care enough to do something about it. Perhaps if the rest of the world would force us to change our lifestyle through economic and political sanctions we could still do enough to save the planet.

We, after all, don't own any part of it and have no right to destroy it. We must consider what we are leaving for the children ten thousand years from now.

If we believed in reincarnation.... we would quickly clean up our act.

I think the thing most people are afraid of change. Everyone likes the ability to have what they want when they want, regardless of the consequences. This means hurting the earth and the future well-being of those on Earth.

I don't think that this is portrayed well enough in the media, schools, at home, etc, that our consequences will effect the young and their children and generations to come.

No change can happen without a complete move away from growth-based economics. The ramifications of this are enormous. Personal consumption in the West needs to decrease by at least 75%.

I believe the change will only come when resource depletion forces us this way. Yes, the corporations are greedy but we buy from them. Are you willing to give up your car, move into a small house or apartment and eat only locally produced food?

Long term destruction for short term gain is happening all over the world. Our leaders, who we elect to make these tough choices have abdicated their responsibility to do so in order to maintain their popularity.

Fortunately, mankind is but a small cog in the wheel of existence, and Mother Nature always will do what she must to protect herself. Prepare yourself for the worst.

Life has always consumed life in a constant cycle on Earth. With the onset of the industrial era we became the first creatures on this planet to consume not only life, but the remains of all previous life in the form of carbon compounds.

The result has been exponential population growth in a finite ecosystem. In the end, Mother Nature will win.

The planet will go on without us, and the last surviving self-aware creatures will realize too late that we were not ordained as the end of evolution. Hubris will again cast us out of Eden and the meeker forms of life shall inherit the earth.

The planet and life in general cannot wait. Drastic action must be taken. Impeaching the current stubborn and unconcerned president would be the logical first step. What happened to the environmentalists of the 1960s? Why are they not in power?

People, let alone politicians, have often cared little for the long-term. To us, long-term is next month, next year, or at most the next few years, but what's at stake here is the future generations of humankind.

Politicians are to blame, but the root of the problem is miseducation. That's why we need the Internet, and Web sites like these, to make a change.

We've built up such a monstrous amount of consumerism, eating up energy and using fuel for our overly convenient lives that it is very difficult for me to understand how we are going to stop this and get things back on track.

Obviously, when given the choice between action and letting things continue to slip, we must act. It's our natural instinct for survival.

The U.S. puts such a strong hold on economics, saying that making changes to help the environment will hurt its economy. Well, what good is an economy if there is no world in which to have one?

Mother Nature is giving us the warning signs and time to do something about our ravishing of the Earth. If we don't, she will.

It's scary, the sense of entitlement which people have become accustomed to, with little regard for the effects on the environment from the throw-away mentality

From pollution from cars and factories to purchasing the newest consumer goods, the environmental effects are going to be disastrous. It's very sad that it appears society is waiting until it's too late to really wake up and take it seriously.

Our president makes our country look like an arrogant, self-centered, greedy place by not letting us participate in the environmental protocol. Deeply disturbing.

We have enjoyed the good life to date without much worry as a nation. Fortunately, but slowly, there is an increasing awareness of our environment. To quote John Stuart Mill: "One person with beliefs is equal to a force of 99 who have only interests."

I would worry more about man than the world. The world has been around for a few billion years and it has gone through a number of transformations. Man on the other hand has been conscious for, what, ten or twenty thousand years?

He's fragile and can only comfortably live in narrow bands across the globe. While he might be able to adapt short term, long term his fragility is likely to render him extinct, much as he has caused the extinction of numerous other species.

Because the United States is the biggest economy, it is the focus of every environmental risk, but that focus is misplaced.

The United States, for all its consumption, is less than three hundred million people and has a much higher efficiency in its consumption that the rest of the world.

The true global risk lies in the developing world, China and India with their billions and high consumption/low efficiency, along with Brazil, Africa and Indonesia stripping the countryside of every tree possible, while their populations explode without adequate resources to clothe, house and feed those people.

It is easy for those countries to say, well, United States, you're calling the kettle black, but the truth remains that those countries and their absence of considered policies to manage their growth are the true threat to our globe, and while the United States can continue to impose more Draconian policies to restrict its own contribution to environmental damage, its effort will do little to stem the real threat to our world from the unbridled growth in Asia, Africa and South America.

Sad to say this, but I think we're in trouble.

I mainly feel bad for the animals because it's not their fault. I feel that humanity deserves what it gets because all we care about is business/money instead of our environment and health.

Maybe when more natural disasters, floods, diseases, etc happen, we'll finally wake up before it's too late.

Tragically for our world, the corporations of the world will milk the world of our resources until it is no longer economically profitable for them.

By that time the damage will not be reversible. And tragically for the world's population, America, an economic powerhouse, will not spearhead leadership to prevent this tragedy.

The planet is not in peril. Our (human) existence on this planet may be in peril.

This planet has survived environmental change far greater than the changes we appear to be causing. In the big picture, the universe cares not whether we exist or not.

However, for our personal well being, we probably better start working harder to slow the changes we are causing.

We have undone, in the last 100 years, what it took billions of years to create.

The beauty, splendor and gifts of this world are in serious danger of becoming extinct. What is so troubling to me is that our glut seems unstoppable.

For the sake of money and progress we use up and throw away everything we encounter. In the name of wealth, progress and our personal happiness, we destroy the most stunning and mystifying creatures on our planet.

When did we become so arrogant that we could not see our obvious path of destruction? When did we lose our spirit with nature and mankind?

We humans show no regard to the planet or other species.

The planet has a way of healing itself, by ridding itself of species destroying it. As a citizen of the U.S. I am embarrassed that our nation has no regard to these issues. If we do not address these issues, man is doomed.

The world is definitely going downhill. I can't see anything drastically changing as long as money is the main goal. The greed is what will eventually be our demise.

Of course the environment is in peril, how can you say otherwise, honestly? Are people blind or just so money- and profit-hungry that they are too ignorant to take action?

Our president refuses to acknowledge the problem because he himself is too money hungry, with all his oil and timber investments.

They have no fears, they will be long gone by the time that the massive problems come to term.

Why? That's all I ask. The technology is there, why not separate ourselves from the oil hungry animals of the rest of the world and their suppliers. It would support our economy with more jobs at home, where they say it would hurt our economy, and we would be safer in the fact that we would not be so worried about all these militant-prone countries that control all the oil

When will we learn, and when will our government work together to really make us more productive and safer?

It is indeed, the end of the beginning; not necessarily, the beginning of the end.

Greed is one of the reasons for man's destruction of the Earth. God created perfection -- man has destroyed it.

I think that there has to be a mind shift. A recognition of crisis must occur for action. Most people are unconscious about the issue, and need awareness to understand.

If we do not cure our addiction to oil our grandchildren will suffer the consequences. We most stop this now before it is too late.

The world will be fine. It is the human race that is in trouble.

The Bush administration is putting profit for his corporate cronies ahead of the Earth's environment. Our children and grandchildren are going to have to pay for this greed and negligence.

I believe that a drastic change in all environmental policies must take place throughout the world in order for us to recover from the industrialization of our beautiful planet.

This task will be impossible to accomplish because every person on the planet is bickering over events that occurred hundreds and thousands of years ago. They have avoided the present and the future of environment for some inexplicable reason.

If the greedy politicians in this country would join the rest of the world by trying to reverse our environmental problems, maybe we could give our children a world to look forward to living in!

It's too late for us to do anything. The world is run by greedy corporations that'll do anything for money. We can kiss this world good-bye.

It is never too late. However, I agree that people's lifestyles need to change. For example, in the US itself, people prefer disposable products so that they don't have to clean/wash them.

With this attitude nothing can be done. I this continues I would agree with Jo: "It's too late for us to do anything."

To all those in other countries, I apologize for our current president's lack of interest and belief in the environmental issues we face today and in the future.

Having been in environmental filtration of water and air pollution for the pulp and paper and chemical industries my whole adult life, the word peril isn't sufficient to describe the synthesis of inorganic chemistry which is killing us all.

In the U.S. our industries have cleaned up what one can see, taste or smell in our environment, making for a cover-up of the hazardous inorganic chemicals in our air and water.

In those so-called Third World countries such as Egypt or Morocco, they do not even try to hide the pollution of the air they breathe. Trying to obtain a clear photograph of the sunrise from the plateau at Giza is impossible because of the air pollution.

In Morocco, the cleaners must wash the blackened diesel oil pollution from outside areas every morning.

Isn't it amazing to compare what the world was at the beginning of the 20th Century to what it is now?

The devastation we have caused as humanity is truly startling -- the astronauts could even see the devastation and deforestation from their shuttle.

This is a scary thought indeed, especially when you take into account that the world has a finite amount of resources, but capitalism and cooperate greed is all that those in power people seem to care about.

Soon you will need to wonder what it was like 10 years ago, as it's changing so fast. Mostly for the worse. And no thanks to the most developed countries.

Changes of the magnitude needed to save the planet now can only come from government.

We need leadership and direction. We have procrastinated too long and now, at the eleventh hour, we suddenly find the day of reckoning is upon us.

This need for change has been hidden from a largely unthinking, unconcerned American public for years. The longer we wait, the more difficult these changes will be. It is imperative our government take charge now.

This is an issue that required urgent attention by the late 1970s at the latest.

However, as with all the really important issues that we elect governments to actually deal with, this issue requires a long-term view and approach, which politicians don't find sexy.

My prognosis is it will have to get a lot worse before the politicians and big business seriously attempt to find a workable solution for sustainable global development.

It is my view, however, that with CO2 levels now at 381ppm (parts per million), it is too late.

The environment is in definite peril -- and unfortunately many countries (the U.S. being a major culprit) are more concerned with their financial wealth than whether or not future generations, flora and fauna will have an Earth to live on.

First, the U.S. government has to recognize the problem and believe it exists. Use of alternative fuel sources is a must. Simplifying lifestyles is another.

I think it is time the United States took the driving seat in the environmental cause.

The U.S. prides itself on being a pioneer in helping the world live peacefully, so why not help the world clean up?

I hope that in the near future our presidential debates will have a more weighty focus on life-sustaining issues such as the environment, rather than on life-ending issues such as war.

Our environment is indeed in peril. Previous and current generations have done little significant to reduce or eliminate the "environmental injuries" incurred by our own selfishness and comfort.

Nature has a way of immediately calling our attention to the fact that we all need to change our methods -- and rapidly.

We are living under the cloud of a 100-year-old carbon-burning industrial era. NOW is the time for all good men to come to the aid of nature.

It is very frustrating when politicians seem to totally ignore the problems and the world carries on with violence and wars.

I don't know what one person can do to help, apart from trying to keep their own neighborhood environmentally as clean as possible.

I agree that we are in a dire situation regarding our planet, due to the greed of people in power and the lack of things such as public transportation and conserving energy in the home.

Today we live in a world driven by the hunger for profit to satisfy materialistic desires, all focused on the short-term.

Some are ignorant and unaware of the implications of their actions while others just "can't be bothered".

The progress of mankind shouldn't be based on what he HAS but what he IS.

I look at the world now and wonder what it was only 100 years ago. I feel sadness for what the world will become.

The very way we live kills us, and we are addicted to everything. How can we change our method of transportation? How can we invent new forms of energy?

I'm very sad for the future, because we cannot profit until people buy into change -- everything to chemicals to fuel

Our method of living is consumption. Eventually we will consume the world.

The environment is very much in peril. In the name of development we are damaging the environmental system on earth.

The environmental system can adjust to some changes, but after a point it breaks and is irrecoverable. We are heading in that direction. While we still have time, we need to understand how grave the problem is, and work on a solution.