ABSTRACT
In the twenty-first century, the world is a place of unrelenting and ever-accelerating change. Financial turmoil sends the global economy from the heights of boom to unprecedented depression in a few short months; the price of oil skyrockets to over five times its previous long-term average and then tumbles down again in a matter of weeks (Figure 1.1); after taking a hundred thousand years to reach just over 6 billion, the world’s population will grow by almost 4 billion in the next 40 years1 (Figure 1.2); the extent of arctic sea ice, in steady decline since the middle of the last century, falls off alarmingly in 2007 and 2008;2 emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere are rising faster than ever before.3
