Anti-Clock

I am currently reading a book called 'The Winds of Change' which argues that civilizations have prospered and collapsed in conjunction with climate change, which may or may not be true. Certainly resource depletion profoundly affects the stability of a society, and sometimes the availability of those resources is affected by climate changes beyond human control. Yet the current debate over climate change is unlikely to change the eventual outcome, because neither individuals nor societies seem willing to alter their lifestyles until a crisis is upon them, and that crisis apparently will arrive despite the warning signs we have all witnessed. Maybe wisdom-or skyrocketing prices -will encourage a reduction in human consumption sufficient to avoid planet wide suffering, but so far most Americans are ignoring the issue in their personal habits, and at any rate, with other societies clamoring for the American lifestyle the breaking point will eventually be reached.
Other than living simply in my personal life, I do not worry much over such possibilities, nor dwell on pessimism, for I see a kind of inevitability to them in our human nature. The planet has endured major environmental catastrophes in the past, so either by our own hand or through some external force, Humans likely will become one more extinct species. If there is anything to conclude it is that it is a shame, simply a shame, that with our intelligence and foresight and capacity to do good we have chosen instead to live so vainly and selfishly. Rather than to have been honorable stewards of our world and lived to our highest potential, we have consistently chosen to waste our potential-not all of us of course, and not always intentionally-but often enough to have created our present predicament. So the population continues to grow, and the oil and the oceans and our other resources continue to be depleted, and so?...The juncture of all these global issues is coming within the lifetime of our children, whether we are ready or not