ABSTRACT
Nature no longer seems inexhaustible, at the very moment when most modern thinkers have been persuaded that Nature is all we have to hope for. The latter crisis is not my concern, except to remark that the case against ‘supernaturalism’ has yet to be made. It is not that we have reason to believe that there is nothing beyond Nature, but that ‘we’ have decided to ignore the possibility. The former crisis seems certain.
For generations, we have assumed that the efforts of mankind would leave the fundamental equilibrium of the world's systems and atmosphere stable. But it is possible that with all these enormous changes [population, agricultural, use of fossil fuels] concentrated into such a short period of time, we have unwittingly begun a massive experiment with the system of this planet itself.
