第6题
ourse that, unless it is changed, could lead to grand scale catastrophes. At the same time, we are unlocking formidable new capabilities mat lead to more exciting lives and glorious civilizations. This could be either humanity's last century or the century that sets the world on a course toward a spectacular future.
(1) We live on a small, beautiful and a totally isolated planet, but its population is becoming too large; enormous new consumer societies are growing, of which China is the largest; and technology is becoming powerful enough to wreck the planet. (2) We are traveling at breakneck speed into an age of the extremes—extremes in wealth and poverty, extremes in technology and the experiments that scientists want to perform, extreme forces of globalism, weapons of mass destruction and terrorists acting in the name of religion. If we are to survive, we have to learn how to manage this situation.
Formidable problems confront us, but this is a book about solutions—many solutions. With these solutions we will bring about the change in course, a great 21st century transition. (3) If we get it right, we have an extraordinary future. If we get it wrong, we face an irreversible disruption that could set humanity back centuries. A drastic change is needed in the first half of that 21st century to set the stage for extraordinary events in the rest of the century.
(4) Humankind has been able to thrive for thousands of years because nature provided it with resources like topsoil, underground water, fish in the oceans, minerals, oil and wetlands, but these resources are finite, like cookies in a jar. We are using up many of these resources, and some don't have substitutes.
During the lifetime of today's teenagers, fresh water will run out in many parts of the world, making food production difficult. Many fish species will be too depleted to replenish themselves. Global warming will bring hurricanes far more severe than Katrina and will cause natural climate- control mechanisms to go wrong. Rising temperatures will lower crop yields in many of the world's poorest countries, such as those in central Africa, (5) The immense tensions brought about by such catastrophes will occur in a time of extremism, religious belligerence and suicidal terrorism, and this will coincide with terrible weapons becoming much less expensive and more widely available.'
This interconnected set of problems has an interconnected set of solutions. If we humans implement these solutions, we can gradually achieve sustainable development and a sustainable but affluent life.
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