The environment is the only thing on the problem horizon that has the capacity to affect every single person on the planet.
Think about it: as bad as AIDS is we can implement strategies to deal with it. (and especially if certain religious bigots stopped preaching against using condoms – YES – I AM talking about the Pope)
Also AIDS is a disease: current drugs mitigate against the worst effects; we might eventually get a vaccine; education stops the worst effects.
But rising sea levels won’t pay any attention to your efforts to educate against it! (on any timescale less than 50 years and on any physical scale less than the entire planet)
If there is a rise in sea levels, of if the Gulf Stream stops, or if there is more global warming then we will ALL suffer. Everybody needs to act NOW against this threat.
And other bigots – like George Bush – should stop consciously planning for Armageddon and placing blind faith in technology and do something NOW. If we all consumed like the Americans then we would need four planets to support us.
And guess what? – we ain’t GOT four planets.
Recycle NOW. Lobby your politicians NOW. Buy energy efficient goods NOW. Insulate your home NOW. Walk or cycle to work one day in five NOW. Buy a hybrid car NOW.
If we all fail to do this we ain’t gonna have much of a planet left to live on soon.