Mankind's Final Century?

Is this the final century of mankind? If not the final century almost certainly the beginning of the end. How long can the earth go on supporting an exploding population whilst the politicians turn a blind eye. You only have to look around to see that we are on the edge of destruction. World population is doubling at an ever increasing rate and yet resources are dwindling, how will we support ourselves in twenty to thirty years?

There is so much we take for granted, and assume that emerging technologies such as solar power, wind power etc will save us. However all these sources rely on petroleum products, whether it is in the materials to produce the solar panels and wind turbines or the transport of them. I hate to say it but I really think we are going to live through some very interesting times and I really think that in the next 30-40 years the human race will make decisions that will either ultimately destroy us or allow us to continue in much smaller numbers. I do worry what the future holds for my little Elizabeth and William.

I think we should all learn from Easter Island as what happened there is a good analogy of what may happen to us. They were an isolated society who were advanced for their time. They were capable of great feats of engineering, moving stone heads of 70tons across the island and erecting them. However when their natural resources (mainly wood) ran out they descended into anarchy. Now if one translates the island into modern thinking, the island would be the Earth. The tribes on the island would be the nations of the world and the trees would be the equivalent to our oil. When the island was discovered by Europeans the few remaining islanders came out in canoes and the first thing they wanted was wood to build canoes with. We are not going to get rescued by some alien race, we are it and we have to deal with the problem we are creating.

Maybe I worry too much and I should say sod the future live for the present but then where would that leave Elizabeth and William. I wonder if I am alone in thinking that the end is nigh or whether we all know it is coming and we just turn a collective blind eye to it.