[suidinguilelf]

Ray's got part of the issue, too many people, but there are more effective ways of living than many populations are currently engaged in. If you compare consumption levels across the world it is obvious which populations are sucking up most of the good stuff, whether it be fuel, food, electricity and on down the road. Every known organism on earth is limited by a variety of factors, most of which depend on resource utilization. Humans have so far been able to overcome those limitations through new technologies, hence we've pushed our carrying capacity steadily higher. Likely we are near the true limit now. Blame agricultural advancements as the main culprit - and likely that is where the house of cards will eventually fall.

Biothanasis has the other end of the issue - human perception at its base level. Simply put, ideas like "this is mine", "I want more", "hand's off buddy", "you're not like me, therefore I'll fight you", etc., etc. are fueling the fires of our ultimate demise. These base reactions come out of our animal nature. When we lived in small nomadic groups it wasn't so much a problem likely, but as we settled down, accumulated a bunch of stuff (notably food stores), grew in numbers that had to be fed and protected, and so on (get a book on the development of civilizations if you don't know what I'm talking about), we started to get quite nasty and defensive at times. Just look at the 20th century if you don't believe we are a warring species. All that fighting, we each other and with every other living thing in the world, has to stop.

I can only picture two scenarios for this all to work out; one, a drastic drop in population world wide by some kind of dramatic event (likely famine coupled with disease if climate change gets bad enough) OR; a shift in basic human mentality with the focus on "me" to the focus on "everything IS me". It is hard to chop a person down when you see them as being an extension of your own being. In the end, that is the simple truth, much like the often said, "do unto others" idea. We have to extend that to all things though, not just people, the whole shebang. We need to FEEL that, not just give lip service to it, and then act on it (which will be easy if we feel it). Just a stupid dream? Maybe, but I think it's our only shot. Otherwise it will be more of the same until this world really can't stand our presence anymore.