We like to think of ourselves as a problem-solving, future-oriented proactive species. Are we?

Are we in Hawaii demanding that our leaders promote technological advancements to meet the challenges of the 21st century? Are we demanding that action be taken to lessen the deleterious effects that climate change and overpopulation are having on our state and the world?

Before this century is out, there will be more than 10 billion people on Earth. What will Hawaii be like then? What will our warming planet be like then, after a million or more species of plant and animal life have become extinct?

How will everyone find food and water and enough arable land to survive, let alone survive comfortably? How will large non-domesticated animals avoid extinction? How will our dwindling sea life escape sustained decimation with billions of more mouths to feed?

The overriding question is: Will we even try to reduce the catastrophic consequences of climate change and overpopulation before they become irreversible?

Robert Griffon

Makiki

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