ABSTRACT

Acceptance of the reality of global warming is finally widespread, including even such reluctant players as the Bush administration and most of the oil companies. Denial has been unmasked, although large segments of Western culture have not yet accepted it, and governments and the fuel industry are not eager to take action. The ominous 'tipping point' of the global temperature may be less than fifty years away, that point at which gradual global warming tips over into out-of-control exponential heating. Fear is not the reason to change, however, for apocalyptic scenes often come back to haunt us with escapist solutions. Nonetheless, the tipping-point stands as a cautionary tale that global warming is not simply 'another problem' facing us; in many ways, it epitomizes the problem, the problem that starts with our false view of ourselves, the view that we are separate individuals who enter into relationships when we feel like it.