ABSTRACT
In recent decades it has dawned on many of us that there can be no viable future for humanity without a healthy planet. Earth, water and air support the existence of an immensely complex living system, powered by the sun. We are part of this web of life and within a few generations we have used up most of the earth’s stored fossil fuel resources. Their transfer from the earth to the atmosphere is significantly altering its composition. From our ever-expanding urban centers, our tentacles now spread across the world. Our globalizing economic system is destabilizing the planet’s life-support systems – the very systems that support us, and the future of our children. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that there is now a 50 percent probability of a 5-degree Celsius rise in the earth’s temperature by the end of the century, which would be the end of civilization as we know it.
