As the twentieth century ends, scientists and politicians finally have begun to acknowledge the severity of the assault being endured by the global environment. For approximately the last 30 years environmentalists have been announcing that the world has reached a dangerous level of toxicity. In World War III: Population and the Biosphere at the End of the Millennium Michael Tobias argues that "our unrelenting proliferation" is going to lead first to overpopulation, next to an unsustainable environment, and third to the final extinction of all life forms. Now as this century draws to a close, experts and amateurs alike have begun to recognize that the world may soon reach toxic levels which could eventually make the earth uninhabitable. By focusing on the year 2025 as a target date, government officials, corporate leaders, scientists, environmentalists and ordinary citizens can begin to pool their resources and outline appropriate strategies for reducing active threats to the earth's sustainability. Al Gore as evidenced by the recent publication of his book, The Earth in Balance, has been actively seeking to make a commitment to a clean-up of the environment a corner stone of his Vice Presidency's environmentalist and educational policies.
Sustainability recognizes that the earth has limited natural resources, that humans are part of the natural world and subject to its laws and that humans live best when they submit to and cooperate with nature. A healthy ecosystem depends upon conservation, recycling, renewable resource use, restoration, population control and adaptability to its sustainability. To sustain the natural world there must be an acknowledgement that humans exist as part of nature and not as superior to it. A "green" environment will prevail if human values are recalibrated allowing for a greater concern and priority to be given to the natural world. Environmental ethics arise when scientists, politicians, u...