The Real Challenge for Environmentalists

On Friday, when most environmentally-inclined people were despairing about the the torturous climate talks in South Africa (since ended, good roundup and assessment here), a short op-ed appeared in the NYT, arguing that despair over the fate of the planet was getting a bit stale. The three authors of the piece--a journalist and two scientists--don't downplay the massive footprint of humanity, and the stress it has put on the planet's ecology. That said, as the authors note,