I'm starting to realize that the big crisis of our age is not pollution, it's not global warming, it's not even the economy. Instead it's self-righteousness and the power to act on one's self righteousness to disasterous consequences. One of the most healthy things in the world is a degree of doubt in one's conviction because it opens the door to understanding. However, there is always a group of people who feel absolutely certain in their views. With that courage in their convictions, they act with malice and are convinced of their lack of malice.
We see this in the last 8 years with terrorist acts, fabricated presence of weapons, rampant speculation and a general sense of entitlement polluting human interaction. What's different in that the foibles of human nature now can be leveraged to new levels. That is the danger of our environmental and economic peril. We have seen economic weapons of mass destruction, the question to ask now is what is our environmental WMD that is in clear sight. Many people knew what was going on with the sub-prime crisis, and it was stewing over time before it just blew up. Are we at a same point environmentally where things can spin out of control?
What amazes me about the environmental naysayers is how confident that they are right. Granted the doomsday advocates can be just as shrill, and in the same way they are weakening their argument. They have the danger of being accused of crying wolf. If you meet someone who is self righteous in anything, you should be scared. For those who cannot believe they can be wrong, usually are at somebody else's expense. What gives me hope is that we have an incoming administration that focuses less on rhetoric and litmus tests, and on understanding the limited understanding of the world that we have. Knowing our limits and our weakness is what makes us better, accepting them is called humility. If you read that as giving up, read the post again.